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Neon Genesis Evangelion

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is a controversial and extraordinarily popular Japanese animated television series, begun in 1995, directed and written by Hideaki Anno, and produced by Gainax. It takes place in 2015, fifteen years after the catastrophic event known as the Second Impact, reportedly caused by a meteor strike, which wiped out half of Earth's population and tilted its axis. Just as humanity is finishing its recovery from this disaster, Tokyo-3, a militarized civilian city located on the last dry sections of Japan, began suffering attacks by strange monsters referred to as Angels. Conventional weapons are useless against the Angels, and the only known defense against them are the biomechanical mecha created by the paramilitary organization NERV, the Evangelions (Evas).

Although the series starts as a regular mecha anime, the focus quickly shifts from action to flashbacks and analyses of the primary characters, particularly the main character Shinji Ikari. The creator/director, Hideaki Anno, suffered from a long period of depression prior to creating Evangelion; much of the show is based on his own experiences in dealing with depression and in psychoanalytic theory he learned from his psychotherapy. As a result, characters in the anime display a variety of mood disorders and problems with emotional health, especially depression, trauma, and separation anxiety disorder.

Evangelion consists of 26 television episodes which were first aired on TV Tokyo from October 4, 1995, to March 27, 1996, and was followed by two movies: and The End of Evangelion, each first screened in 1997. Death and Rebirth is essentially a highly condensed re-edit of the series (Death) plus the first half of The End of Evangelion (Rebirth), while The End of Evangelion is a fully developed extension to the end of episode 26, intended as an alternate presentation of the series ending. The two movies were subsequently re-edited and re-released as a single movie, Revival of Evangelion (1998). Two additional DVDs, subtitled Genesis Reborn and Resurrection, were released. They contain both the original final six episodes and director's cut of episodes 21, 22, 23, and 24 of the series.

Contents

Plot summary

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In 2000, a group of scientists conducted an expedition in Antarctica where a large being of light, deemed by them as the first Angel, Adam, was discovered. On September 13 an attempt was made to capture it which ended in apparent failure when it proceeded to self-destruct, creating what would be called the Second Impact. The true nature of the Second Impact was concealed from the general public, who was led to believe that the devastation was caused by a small meteorite, traveling close to the speed of light, impacting in Antarctica.

In the conflict with Angels, mankind is represented by the mysterious organizations NERV, GEHIRN (which started out as the investigation team for the Second Impact but became NERV later on), SEELE, and the Marduk Institute. NERV is, in theory, under the control of SEELE, but NERV has its own agenda, driven by its commander Gendo Ikari. NERV carries out two tasks: to defend the Earth from Angel attack with a small number of Evangelions (Evas), and the Human Instrumentality Project, which, according to Gendo, is the path to unite all human minds into one enity.

The Eva Unit 02 (piloted by Asuka Langley Sohryu) landing on the missile destroyer USS Ramage, while fighting an Angel at sea.
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The Eva Unit 02 (piloted by Asuka Langley Sohryu) landing on the missile destroyer USS Ramage, while fighting an Angel at sea.

The Evas have the outward appearance of massive humanoid robots and can apparently be piloted only by children conceived after the Second Impact (14 year olds). Pilots are selected by the Marduk Institute, which is later discovered to be composed of about 108 ghost companies (108 is the number of sins in Japanese Buddhism, and the number of beads on a typical Buddhist rosary/mala), but Gendo Ikari and Ritsuko Akagi are actually in charge of selecting pilots. It is frequently speculated that qualifying pilots must have lost a mother, whose soul is used as the soul of the Eva (This has been debated due to the probability that Rei is a clone of Yui and therefore doesn't have a technical 'mother' but some fans believe that Yui's soul was split between Unit 00 and Unit 01 [further evidenced by the fact that both are deemed Prototype Eva while Unit 02, which if this assumption were correct would have a non-split soul, was the first "official" Eva Unit]. This theory coincides with Rei and Shinji's ability to synchronize with each other's Evas. Others believe Naoko Akagi's soul was used for Unit 00, coinciding with Unit 00's trying to kill Naoko's tormentors). The Evas also appear to behave under the influence of the soul inside it. One example is when Unit 01 goes "berserk", acts without control of its pilot or NERV and refuses to shut down (or in one instance, to start without Shinji). Unit 00 goes berserk and lashes out at the tormentors of Ritsuko Akagi's mother, apparently attempting to kill Rei. Though Unit 02 does not ever go truly berserk, Asuka says in The End of Evangelion that she feels the presence of her mother protecting her in the Eva and Hyuga Makota announces that Unit 02 is berserk. The term "berserk" really only befits the actions of Unit 00; Unit 01's actions were focused, restrained, and beneficial to NERV's missions.

Each Eva has its own designated pilot, due to the bond between the pilot's soul and the soul of the Eva; otherwise, any other person who tries to synchronize (simply put, to technically work as one mind) with the Eva is more likely to be refused. That is not to say that it is impossible to synchronize in such a situation, as is shown in an experiment in Episode 14, in which Rei and Shinji synchronize with each others' Evas. It is later apparent that the Evas are not really "robots" but rather living, biomechanical organisms, in contrary to the popular belief of the general public. While Ritsuko does mention at the beginning of the series that the Evas do have some biological components to them, the extent to which the Evas are biological is not immediately apparent; it is finally revealed, towards the end of the series, that Evas are essentially Angels (units 00, 02, 03, and 04 made from Adam, the first Angel, and 01 made from Lilith) onto which mechanical components are incorporated during its creation — part of the reason being to restrain and control them.

The secret second task, The Human Complementation Project, also known as Instrumentality, intends to start an artificial evolution of mankind. Considering the religious implications of the term "evangelion", this event was said to bring about the salvation of mankind in the context of a newly created Earth and uniting humanity into one enity. SEELE is the main driving force behind this project, for reasons unknown, but they mention that humanity must evolve or it will die, thus the need for a forced evolution. This artificial evolution strives to merge all human souls into one by disposing the individuals of their AT-Fields that separate egos from each other. This causes their bodies to revert to LCL. When everyone comes to this state, they will no longer feel the pain or loneliness that would typically precipitate from interaction between humans; it is comparable, but not equal, to death.

The plot of The End of Evangelion and the plot of the series seem to diverge at the end of series episode 24. In the series, episodes 25 and 26 consist of abstract introspection by the characters, especially Shinji. The ending is left open to interpretation: clearly, Shinji eventually overcomes his issues with others and comes to accept being with them, but whether Instrumentality follows through or if it occurs at all are left unanswered, directly. The specifics of Instrumentality are not explored in the series, either. In End of Evangelion, Shinji is directly involved in the initiation of Instrumentality, but ultimately rejects it at the last moment. There is some debate as to whether The End of Evangelion is a complement to, or a replacement of the TV episodes 25 and 26. The highly stylized nature of these episodes leaves them very open to interpretation. Some fans believe that the final scene of episode 26 where all of the characters are shown telling Shinji, "Congratulations" is a sign that Shinji accepts the Instrumentality Project and therefore is at odds with End of Evangelion. Others believe that the characters are congratulating Shinji for finding his own identity, as his realization that he is an individual identity is the deciding factor in whether or not Instrumentality will occur (therefore, the characters are congratulating Shinji because his decision to remain an individual means that they can all remain individuals) - this interpretation is reconcilable with End of Evangelion. The line is sometimes considered to be a reference to the end of Space Runaway Ideon, in which case it ironically implies a Pyrrhic victory and death. Yet another group of fans sees the final two episodes as being a part of the introspective detours from the second half of End of Evangelion.

Characters

The characters of Evangelion.
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The characters of Evangelion.

The main character of Evangelion is Shinji Ikari, a shy, dour, and adolescent boy, who becomes an Eva pilot. For years, up until his mysterious summoning at the start of the series, he lived apart from his father with one of his teachers. Other primary characters include: Shinji's fellow pilots Rei Ayanami, a silent girl frequently accused of being unemotional; Asuka Langley Sohryu, a fiery, proud, red-headed girl; Gendo Ikari, Shinji's mysterious father and NERV's commander; Misato Katsuragi, NERV's head of strategy and tactics; and Ritsuko Akagi, NERV's head scientist. Most of the characters are struggling with their positions in their environment, as individuals and as a part of a whole. The pattern of relationships between the characters is complex.

According to Hideaki Anno, Evangelion was an attempt to make all perspectives into one, creating characters that represent different things to different viewers to make it impossible for everyone to arrive at a single theory. To some viewers, the characters are psychological representations, while to others, they are philosophical, religious or even historical.

In the U.S., one of the most popular theories is that Rei, Asuka, Shinji, and Misato represent the different methods people use to validate their own existence and individuality, and to separate themselves from their fellow human beings (analogous to the concept of AT-Fields). The characters' personalities reflect their tactics, and their interactions reveal the nature of each in respect to each other.

While Shinji, Rei, and Asuka arguably represent the Ego, Superego, and Id respectively, these are not the only things the characters represent in the series. Rei and Asuka's last names come from Japanese and American ships from the Second World War (Japanese destroyer "Ayanami", Japanese aircraft carrer "Soryu", and US Navy's aircraft carrer "Langley" (CV 1)). Additionally, Ikari and kaji mean "anchor". Director Anno was also influenced by Ryu Murakami's novel Fascism of Love and Illusion (愛と幻想のファシズム), and names such as Aida, Suzuhara, etc, are from this work of fiction about war based on Kanji Ishihara, a Lieutenant General in Imperial Japan.

The Magi Supercomputers (revealed in the series to contain aspects of their creator, Dr. Naoko Akagi's mind) have also been seen by fans as representing the Freudian psyche, namely Mother/Balthasar Ego, Scientist/Melchior superego, and Woman/Caspar Id. This is furthered with them representing these respective aspects, and the creator of the Magi Supercomputers.

Other interpretations include:

The character designs have also contributed to the popularity of Evangelion. The attractive designs of the three main female leads, Asuka, Rei, and Misato have been immortalized in the dōjinshi community and in subsequent anime.

Symbolism

One of the many intriguing features of Evangelion is its extensive use of symbols and imagery from outside sources, and the varied meanings that may be found in them. Their interpretation varies from individual to individual.

The most prominent symbolism takes its inspiration from Judeo-Christian sources and frequently uses iconography and themes from Judaism, Christianity, and in some cases Freemasonry. Some staff members from the project have said that they originally used Christian symbolism (Christianity is practiced by around only 1% of the population in Japan) only to give the project a unique edge against other giant robot shows. As assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki has stated in interviews: "We just thought the visual symbols of Christianity looked cool." Whether this mindset changed over the course of the series' production, or has any relation to creator/director Hideaki Anno's symbolic intentions, is still a point of contention among fans.

It is clear that Adam and Eve (in other languages, such as Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, called Eva) are a direct reference to the first human beings from the book of Genesis. The Christian cross is often shown, frequently represented by energy beams shooting up skyward. The second angel Lilith (also known in mythology as the name of the first wife of Adam, and first vampire) is shown being held on a cross and is later impaled with the legendary Lance of Longinus. The Angels may well be in reference to the angels of God from the Hebrew and Christian texts. It has been theorized by some that the 17th Angel, Kaworu, represents Jesus due to his forgiving and thoughtful nature. However, this has not been verified by the series staff. The Magi supercomputers are collectively named after the Magi who were mentioned in one of the synoptic Gospels as having visited Jesus at his birth (Some fans have also chosen to interpret the triplet nature of the magi to represent the Holy Trinity of Christianity, or—in the field of psychology—the Freudian concept of the Ego, superego, and id of the unconscious mind, among others.)coincidentally they also share the names of the three wise men - Melichior, Balthazar and Caspar. The Tree of Sephiroth (Tree of Life)—an illustration of ten orbs showing the relationship between heaven and earth—is also mentioned. The list goes on and on, with multiple equally plausible interpretations existing, and references to areas other than Judeo-Christian concepts also appear, most notably concepts held by Freudian psychology.

Historical context

NERV's logo featuring half a fig leaf. The caption reads "God's In His Heaven, All's Right With The World." This is a reference to a song from Pippa Passes which is a poem by Robert Browning.
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NERV's logo featuring half a fig leaf. The caption reads "God's In His Heaven, All's Right With The World." This is a reference to a song from Pippa Passes which is a poem by Robert Browning.

From the period from 1984 to the release of Evangelion, most highly acclaimed anime had a style somehow distanced from the usual styles of anime. For example, Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro (1988), and Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) were both low-key works, and Akira (1988) took most of its influence from American comic books. Mamoru Oshii had been quoted as saying that nobody wanted to watch "simple anime-like works" anymore. Evangelion, however, shows the reversal of this trend. It fully embraced the style of mecha anime, and in particular shows a large influence from Yoshiyuki Tomino's Space Runaway Ideon; particularly, there are scenes in End of Evangelion which are clear homages to the last movie for the Ideon series.

The series started broadcast after the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway on March 20, 1995, and production occurred around the period of the attack. The feeling of constant anxiety in Evangelion can be seen as a reflection of the constant anxiety Japan felt after the attacks destroyed the image of Japan as a clean, violence-free society.

Evangelion is thick with allusions to biological, military, religious, and psychological concepts. Though the religious and biological concepts are sometimes (perhaps intentionally) used in ways different from how contemporary Christianity or biology used them, Anno's use of Freudian jargon and psychoanalytical theory is fairly up to date with what was contemporary theory at the time. For example, we can see in a paragraph, circa 1990, from literary theorist Victor Burgin which might be described as "Eva in a nutshell":

"In the terms of the thermodynamic model which informs Freud's concept of the death drive, what is feared is the "entropy" at work at the heart of all organization, all differentiation. By this same token, however, the woman also signifies precisely that desired "state where everything is the same": the pre-Oedipal bliss of the fusion of bodies in which infant and mother are "inextricably mixed", that absence of the pain of differing, condition of identity and meaning, whose extinction is deferred until death."Burgin, V. (1990). Geometry and Abjection. In J. Fletcher and A. Benjamin (Ed.), Abjection, Melancholia, and Love: The Work of Julia Kristeva (pp. 104–123). New York: Routledge.
However, one should also note how heavy the series leans on existential philosophy. Jean Paul Sartre's own writings on human psychology were very critical of both Freudian psychosexual explanations and behaviorist theories, which treated the human mind as though it were governed by mechanisms.

Response

When first aired in Japan at a time slot intended for teenagers, Evangelion was not especially popular. However, when aired again in a time slot more suitable for adults, its popularity exploded and rekindled many adults' interest in anime.

Different endings

After the ending of the TV series, Gainax and Hideaki Anno received numerous letters and emails from fans, both congratulating and criticizing the last two episodes. Among these were death threats and letters of disappointment from fans who thought Anno had ruined the series for them. Prompted by these responses, Gainax launched the project to create a movie with a "proper" ending for the series in 1997. Due to scheduling difficulties, they released consisting of a character-based recap of the entire series (Death) and half of the "proper" ending to Evangelion (Rebirth). The project was completed later in the year, and contained the complete section of Rebirth, i.e. End of Evangelion. The film made around $12 million at the Japanese box office. (Blockbusters in Japan usually make $40-60 million, and a movie is considered to have done well if it makes more than $10 million.).

Despite the success of End of Evangelion, its ending was considered controversial by many fans. Some believe that it was a manifestation of Anno's frustrations with the fan culture that attacked his original ending, and used End of Evangelion as revenge against those. Others have argued that Anno intended End of Evangelion to be the proper climax all along but that he was unable to show it because of budget restraint and television content laws. It is possible that Anno attempted a succès de scandale, purposely ending the TV series the way he did because he anticipated the frustration of EVA fans. This would help ensure the success, popularity, and controversy of End of Evangelion. Another theory that is not commonly talked about is that it was to supplement the last two episodes; some believe the last two episodes occur in Shinji’s mind, while the movie showed the events occurring to the world. Yet another theory is that neither endings are what Anno initially planned for the conclusion. Due to budget, he was unable to produce this ending for the TV series; due to the negative response of fans, he did not feel the obligation to share the "true" ending when given the opportunity to. Thus, this hypothetical "true" ending was never to be witnessed. Ultimately, many have come to the conclusion that it will be up to the viewer to decide the finale, as everyone has different interpretations. A final theory based on this requires a deeper understanding of the television show. It proposes that the final episodes of the TV series represented one path a being (namely, Shinji) could take upon the finalization of the Human Instrumentality Project. The "choice" depicted in the TV series consists of Shinji becoming one with others. The Human Instrumentality Project's goal was to cease suffering, pain, violence, etc. by reforming all of humanity into a homogenous form akin to the original primordial sea. This process involves an entity shedding its Absolute Terror Field (AT-Field) and rendering the orange substance shown in End of Evangelion. In this form there is nothing to be self-conscious about because there is no self. Conversely, the choice shown in End of Evangelion has Shinji rejecting the homogenization and affirming his boundaries of self. Though this decision leaves him susceptible and alone (in a sense), he retains the freedom of his own individuality. There is debate over whether End of Evangelion, being the final statement, is intended to be the "correct" statement. It is possible that Anno preferred his original choice as presented in the TV series, or even that the two endings exist for fans to interpret them for themselves as they wish. The theory of a pre-planned ending in addition to episodes 25 and 26 is backed up by some evidence, including a still in the intro depicting Unit 01 with wings and still-frame shots of the deaths of Misato and Ritsuko which appeared in the TV ending. The deaths of these two characters correspond to events in End of Evangelion and would tend to disprove the theory that the tragic and violent end of various characters in End of Evangelion is due to Anno's frustration towards some fans. In addition, the plot of End of Evangelion does seem to match that of the TV series, providing closure to things such as the Instrumentality Project, the true purpose of NERV, and the private agenda of Gendo Ikari.

On the other hand there is some evidence that Anno's frustrations began earlier than End of Evangelion, and that this film was the culmination of a growing anger as evidenced by the sudden shift in tone around episode 16 (It is also worth noting here that in this episode the Angels were going to speak to Shinji, but the creative team dropped this in favor of a more original concept in which the Angel shows Shinji various images within his mind, while he 'talks' to himself.). Several sources ([interview with Kazuya Tsurumaki], [interview with Hiroki Azuma]) seem to indicate that although Evangelion was sketchily pre-planned, the story details were open to alteration, possibly for the purpose of adapting to audience demands or more likely (regarding Anno's tastes and fights with sponsors) free directorial decision making. The shift in tone and style corresponded with a shift in Anno's worldview that would lead him to abandon the "otaku lifestyle" and temporarily leave anime for live action film making. He made his live-action debut with "Love and Pop" in 1998 (posters were designed by longtime collaborator Yoshiyuki Sadamoto), then went back to animation with the 26-episode "His and Her Circumstances", then made the live-action "Shiki-Jistu" in 2001 (which used brief pieces of animation in key scenes), and was uninvolved with animation until his participation in supervising (but not directing) the 2004 Cutey Honey OAV Project.

Commercial origins

Despite being generally highly regarded, the series has received criticism due to the many religious and psychological references, which some viewers saw as being superficial. Additionally, the primary corporate backers were toy companies Bandai and Sega, giving rise to the criticism that the series was simply intended as a strictly commercial venture.

In response to this, fans argue that the show reveals an extremely complex understanding of psychological theory and that if the show was strictly a commercial venture, it would not have such a noncommercial ending. It can also be argued that the show's content was, in the end, more influenced by Anno than by Bandai, though despite creative conflicts between the sponsors and the director, the series was not widely perceived during its run (1995-96) as being the work of a visionary director or auteur such as Hayao Miyazaki. This general opinion changed somewhat when Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion came out in the late 90's, bringing Anno more respect and recognition as a filmmaker as well as fair amounts of fans of his work. It can be argued also that the wide distribution of his series through ADV Films and television in Europe, Australia, and the Americas has also contributed to his standing.

Influences

Evangelion is a work with a variety of different source materials for its core composition. Its central themes are heavily based on Freudian Psychoanalysis mentioned above as it concerns the characters and general plot creation, as well as Existentialism. Freud was a target of criticism by Jean Paul Sartre. The underlying principle behind both behaviorist and Freudian theories is that the mind is nothing more than a complex machine and that emotions are a sort of mechanical evolutionary protection to the ego. This basic premise bothered Sartre, a champion of free will. Sartre had been a part of the French resistance when the Nazi's occupied his homeland during World War II. The excuses people used to justify their course of actions ("I had no choice," "I was just following orders," "I was going to be killed" etc) ignored the fact that even in the grimmest of circumstances, people have options. For Sartre, consciousness IS freedom, and freedom makes one responsible for the choices one makes. Freudian theory attempts to explain away choice as a result of complex drives that subconsciously motivate decision, which would make free will an illusion, and also render no one responsible. Both Freud and Sartre were influenced by writers such as Nietzsche Husserl and Kierkegaard, sartre even uses some of the ideas Freud popularized, but under Sartre's writings they leave a human psyche that is autonomous and responsible.

The core tenet of Existentialism is that human beings ultimately influence their own reality, through the choices they make. Since human beings are physically trapped within their own bodies, their thoughts and actions are trapped within their own realm of knowledge, never to be shared in their most personal form with anyone else. Essentially human beings are alone, without any sort of method by which to break away from such loneliness. However, according to Existentialism, human beings, partly because of their isolation, are uniquely free to choose their own interpretations of events, to create their own realities and most importantly, to own these realities as true expressions of their world and themselves. As such, the Human Instrumentality Project of Evangelion is an attempt to break down the barriers that separate mankind, and Shinji's ultimate decision is whether or not the limitations and inherent freedoms of the human condition as individual creatures are good things, or whether they should be denied. Though open to speculation, this is evident in both the televised and Movie endings of the series. A new beginning for mankind is created as a direct result of Shinji's choices after Instrumentality occurs in The End of Evangelion.

However, there are more specific instances of Existentialism's influence on Evangelion. For instance, episode 16's title was translated as "Sickness Unto Death, And..." in the English subtitled version. The Sickness Unto Death is a book written by Søren Kierkegaard (one of the first, and most religiously-oriented Existentialists) regarding the human condition as a type of Despair. Namely, that Despair comes in three forms: Despair at not being conscious of having a self; Despair at not willing to be oneself; and even Despair at willing to be oneself. Viewers will note that Rei, Shinji, and Asuka can each be seen to resemble a different kind of Despair. Rei has no soul of her own, and loses her "self" in each reincarnation; Shinji is desperately trying to overcome a lack of self confidence; and Asuka covers up her own despair and inner turmoil by acting overconfident, and giving the appearance that she is self-assured.

As well, in the very final televised episode, Shinji is shown a world in which there is absolute possibility. It is depicted as a simple white background in which the only drawn figure is Shinji, floating about in absolute nothingness. Through Shinji's own free will, he is able to create the ground, rules, and in fact the whole world around him. To view it another way, only by negating certain possibilities does Shinji's reality form. In other words, he is absolutely free to create the world as he wants, to negate only what he wishes, and leave only what he knows will give him happiness. This is a direct echoing of Jean Paul Sartre's assertion in his book Being and Nothingness, in which he views consciousness as the ultimate factor in determining reality - it is a power which can negate certain things, and create a new subjective reality in the process. The fact that everytime he wishes for something he compromises some of his freedom is also reminiscent of the wish concept in Michael Ende's The Neverending Story. Sartre's concept of "being for others" is also a very obvious theme developed in the series, the idea that one's self is shaped by how it is seen and how it interacts with other humans. While living with other beings can cause suffering (Sartre even went so far as to say in "No Exit" that "hell is other people"), it also provides reflection and definition to how one sees themselves and provides choices on how to interact with society.

Evangelion also shows influences from a rather unusual (and controversial) figure, the science fiction author Dr. Paul Linebarger, better known by his pseudonym, Cordwainer Smith. Linebarger had an extremely unusual background - he was raised in China, became the god-son of the nationalistic leader Sun Yat-sen, and during World War II, worked in psychological warfare on behalf of the U.S. Army, including propaganda efforts by the U.S. against the Japanese. Linebarger's rather unusual work included strong influences from both East Asian culture and Christianity. Moreover, his work revolves around his own concept of the Instrumentality of Mankind. [link] Anno Hideaki has acknowledged Linebarger's influence on Evangelion, and insisted that his own series' Human Instrumentality Project be translated into English in a way to pay homage to Linebarger, although the two authors' conceptions of "instrumentality" are extremely different. [link]

Philosophically, the Human Instrumentality Project is a representation of the idealism developed by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: a unification of all conflicts and tensions between societies, knowledge, and consciousness through a sort of historical evolution. In Hegel, the present seems to be the peak of human society because it has been constantly progressing towards an absolute reality and an absolute knowledge. In addition, Hegel's view of reality was that it was externalized by the essence, or spirit, human consciousness. Hegel's philosophy dealt with the absolute and mankind as a whole, and its popularity in the mid 1800's concerned Søren Kierkegaard, especially in matters of faith, which he felt was something that was extremely personal. He reacted against this view of the world by focussing on the individual instead of the whole, and existence over essence. It is very easy to see how this concern for the individual prompted thinkers like Heidegger and Sartre in their theories of existentialism. The conflict Kierkegaard felt between Hegelianism and the individual is dramatized throughout the later episodes of the series as well as the movie "End of Evangelion."

Interestingly, Sartre also was fascinated by Jewish mythology- yet another theme present in Evangelion, from the story of Lillith to the Chamber of Guff.

However, as much as Evangelion owes to the past, it also has a large influence on a variety of anime shows in the present as well. The psychological nature of the show influenced later works such as Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997) and Serial Experiments Lain (1998), both of which, like Eva, center around an ambiguous world-changing event to come. The show "His and Her Circumstances" (1999) which was also directed by Hideaki Anno shares many of the techniques (the experimental 'ripping-apart' of the animation and use of real photographs) and portrayed psychological conflicts in much the same way. More superficially, "Evangelion" started a wave of using Christian symbolism in other anime and related fields. While many find that the video game Xenogears (1998) shows obvious and major signs of being heavily influenced by Evangelion, its creators (Xenogears co-creator/co-writer Soraya Saga in particular) have denied this vehemently. Some feel that RahXephon is another work that bears strong influence from this series. Evangelion also dramatically changed the design of giant robots in many animated works. Previously, almost all mecha or giant robot shows took their "mechanical suit" designs from Gundam, Mazinger, and other similar shows from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Evangelion however changed this with its fast and sleek Evas, making a noticeable contrast to the arguably bulky and cumbersome looking Patlabors and Transformers of the past. Indeed, the style set and created by Evangelion has become the standard for most mecha shows since the late-90s.

Evangelion also introduced a new wave of fans who are far less interested in the technical aspects of science fiction anime and more interested in analyzing the metaphysical symbolism that they perceived, in contrast to Gundam and many previous anime of the hard science fiction genre.

Evangelion has also been explicitly referenced and parodied. In the Digimon Tamers series, a lot of Evangelion elements were used in the back stories for the three main children, their friends, and D-Reaper. The same can be said for both WarGrowlmon and Gallantmon Crimson Mode, as they were modeled after EVA-01. Gainax's own His and Her Circumstances and FLCL had a few Eva parodies, as did Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. Invader Zim's Christmas episode had a cameo parody of Evangelion (a reference to when Shinji was assimilated inside Eva Unit 01). In addition, in the same episode, a building can be seen with the label "MEMBRANE, friend of earth, enemy of santa" painted on it. This is possibly a reference to NERV.

Furthermore, "Evangelion" has also been referenced in American media as well. In the 2002 movie "One Hour Photo" starring Robin Williams, the "Evangelion" real model action figure by Bandai, can be seen in several parts of the movie. The first time we see the figure, is when the York family visits the SavMart (a parody of Walmart) chain store, whereas the character Jake (Dylan Smith) begs his mother to buy him the "Eva" 05 action figure. In another scene, we see Robin Williams's character, Sy, offering the figure to Jake for free. However, Jake rejects the offer after telling him that his parents do not allow him to accept gifts. It is interesting to note that despite EVA 05 being mentioned as a good guy in the film, the series of the toyline is still referred as "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and that the graphics on the blister card (with Japanese writing) are left untouched; some movies and shows usually rename or repackage an existing product with a generic name/graphic logo to save money from royalty fees.

In the game Final Fantasy 7, a suit of armor is located in the Battle Arena of the Golden Saucer. It is in fact the armor that Asuka used in the episode Magma Diver, and just to dispell any doubt, when searched it shows that it is "Type D" armor, the same name as Asuka's in that episode.

Even Anno himself decided to poke fun at his work. In the Eva soundtrack Addition, a twenty minute audio drama was included that reunited the entire voice acting cast, titled "After the End." The drama is set after episode 26 and has the characters discussing a sequel to the show, clearly breaking the fourth wall. Anno is believed to be featured as a guest voice in the piece, taking on the roles of the "Space God" and "Black Space God."

A fandub parody was also made, , during the wait for Manga to release the films. The film features Gendo Ikari as a pimp with his own theme song, and Shinji is just oblivious.

In the online community, Eva is a common source of parody. English image board 4chan has a meme ("zOMG! Teh Rei!") based on the character Rei Ayanami. Numerous webcomics, such as Tsunami Channel and Punks and Nerds, have featured Evangelion tributes.

It should be noted, and can be argued, that certain elements of the Gameboy Advanced game parallels certain elements present in Evangelion. The characters of Cage Midwell, Ares Enduwa, and Myona Alderan share traits with Shinji, Kaworu, and Rei respectively. Also encompassing the ZoE series as a whole, the issue of evolving humanity by use of Metatron also mirrors the Human Instrumentality Project and that the Orbital Frames could be stand-ins for the Evangelions.

Translation notes

The translated dubbed versions of the series and movies of Evangelion were done by ADV Films and Manga Entertainment. In some aspects they can be misleading, and even contradictory to the original, causing increased confusion towards the show, and increasing the likelihood of outrightly wrong interpretations for numerous English-speaking audiences. Some of these more confusing lines were re-recorded for the 'Platinum Edition' DVD in 2004.

Title

The Japanese title for the series, Shin Seiki Evangelion, is composed of two parts: "Shin Seiki" and "Evangelion." The two translate literally from Japanese and a borrowed term from Greek, respectively, as "New Era/Century" and "Gospel." The decision to call the series Neon Genesis Evangelion in English was originally made by Gainax, and not, as some fans have believed, by translators.

The title, Neon Genesis Evangelion (νέον γένεσις εὐαγγέλιον), appears to be wholly Greek. It literally translates to "New Beginning Gospel" and is read in two parts. Neon, the neuter form of the word "Neos" (νέος, νέα, νέον), literally means "new" or "young." Genesis (γένεσις, εωσ, ἡ) means "origin, source" or "birth, race" and is also the Greek title for the first book of the Hebrew Scriptures, describing the creation of the universe and early Hebrew history. The Japanese term for the first book in the Bible is "Souseiki", perhaps a wordplay (with two different beginning and ending kanji) with "Shin Seiki" in the Japanese title. Evangelion is an Anglicized version of the Greek "εὐαγγέλιον" (euangelion) for "good news", and is typically translated "gospel" in the Bible. Initially, the word meant "good messenger", the prefix "eu" meaning "good" and "angelion" meaning "messenger" (from the same word that means "angel"), and was used to describe the runners who brought news in ancient Greece. It only came to mean "good message" or "good news" over time and eventually became most commonly associated with the Christian gospels. [link] This dual meaning may be the reason both the series itself and the "mecha" are called Evangelion.

There has been some debate over the correct pronunciation of "Evangelion." The original Japanese, as well as all secondary dubs including the English one, use the pronunciation "e-van-'g&-li-&n" with a hard 'g'. Based on this official usage, is has been argued that the correct pronunciation employs a hard 'g'. Other anime titles, like Blue Gender also use a hard 'g' sound. However, it has also been argued that based on related words in English, such as "evangelist", the 'g' should be presented softly as a 'j' sound, such as it was in the film One Hour Photo to refer to the anime, as well as by numerous parties who, fans scoff, "don't know anything." While many defend the official pronunciation, others point out that many loanwords borrowed from other languages into Japanese have their soft 'g's transformed into hard ones, as is the case with "legion" (sometimes pronounced with a hard 'g' in Japanese), and "Magi" which is exclusively pronounced with a hard 'g' in the original Japanese. The irony of this ongoing argument quickly reveals itself to those who know that the Anglicized use of a soft 'g' in words akin to "evangelist" or "legion" is in fact a deviation from their original pronunciation in Ancient Greek, Biblical or Attic. Furthermore, the Japanese use of the hard 'g' in such cases is based specifically on direct translation from the original tongue. Also, the decision of Gainax to title the series Neon Genesis Evangelion in English, as is expounded above, suggests at least some knowledge of the Greek origin of the words, and could even be viewed as an attempt to emphasize the Greek connection. At any rate, if the word "Evangelion" were in use in Modern English, the pronunciation would by all means employ a soft 'g'; however, it is not in use save this special case, in which the word has been taken directly from Ancient Greek to Japanese. As such, the hard 'g' pronunciation ought to be considered correct. In Episode 18 of the series, preparations for Unit 03 are being announced by both English and Japanese members of Nerv (from respective branches). At 9:57, an unidentified native English speaking male (with a slightly noticeable Southwest/Southern United States accent) speaks over the announcer "Data link to Evangelion Unit three established." Here, the pronunciation of Evangelion is with a hard "g" sound giving audible phonetic legitimacy to the pronunciation throughout the series.

Additionally, the term "Eva", a frequent abbreviation of Evangelion used in the anime, is the name of the biblical Eve in Greek, coming from the Hebrew name "Chavva" meaning "breath" or "life." There are frequent allusions to the biblical Adam and Eve throughout the series, as well as to the Evangelion's relationship with the Tree of Life. "Eva" also functions as the German (among other languages) variant for "Eve", matching GEHIRN, NERV and SEELE.

Other words

The term [Gehirn] is German for "brain". [Seele] is the German term for "soul". [Nerv] is the German term for "nerve".

"Children," the plural of "Child", is used to refer to each of the Eva pilots in the singular (e.g. Shinji is the "Third Children", not the "Third Child.") This is intentional, and not a translation error. The English language dub produced by ADV, however, uses the word "Child" instead of "Children."

The Japanese word used to refer to the Angels is shito (使徒), which literally means "messenger" or "apostle." The usual Japanese word for "angel" is tenshi (天使). It should be noted, however, that the English angel is derived from the Greek for "messenger" (ἄγγελος, ου, ὁ). Unlike the translation of "Children" into "Child", which was altered by ADV, the use of "Angel" in the English dub was specified by Anno and Gainax. Furthermore, the word "Angel" can be seen appearing on video screens in NERV HQ during Angel attacks, and this was the case in the original version of the series as broadcast in Japan; it is not an alteration to the ADV release.

"N² mine", as translated by ADV, is technically not an error since the Japanese word heiki (兵器) is a term that means weapon; but this usage fails a semantic test as mines are not used in the same manner they are used in the series (for example, being dropped from planes and being used in suicide missions).

International releases

United States

In the United States, the television series debuted on VHS in 1997 and on DVD in 2000 by ADV Films, while the movies were distributed by Manga Entertainment, each using most of the same voice actors. The series was one of a small number of anime to be broadcast, subtitled, on San Francisco Bay Area PBS member station KTEH, and has also been broadcast on The Anime Network. The first two episodes were aired, after heavy editing, on Cartoon Network's Toonami block as part of a special called "Giant Robot Week" in 2003. The entire series began on October 20, 2005 airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block Thursday nights at 12:30 a.m. Reruns of previous episodes were shown on Saturday nights at 1:00 a.m. It is no longer run on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, for the time being anyway. Unlike the show's run on Toonami, the Adult Swim run is only lightly edited, usually the seven dirty words. However, the slides which reflect the character's feelings have been replaced from their original japanese lettering with english subtitles on the bottom. The slides aired on Adult Swim are fully written in english, with a slight delay allowing easy reading.

Europe

In the United Kingdom, the series and its accompanying films were released on VHS (Dub only) and DVD by the British divisions of ADV Films and Manga Entertainment and aired on the UK's Sci-Fi Channel during the summer of 2002, along with Martian Successor Nadesico and Blue Gender. Evangelion and Nadesico would later have a second run on that channel. Although the show itself was unedited, the ending credits of early episodes were sped up in order to preview the next episode alongside the ending theme.

The Catalan release of the series first aired in 2003 on Canal 33 as a part of late-night anime show. Although the Catalan dub was uncut, many fans complained about changes in the voice of Rei Ayanami.

The series was first released on VHS and DVD in Italy by Dynit, formerly Dynamic Italia, and broadcast over MTV Italy. It enjoyed great success, quickly gaining it a cult status. The manga, also translated in Italian, was released by Panini Comics under its Planet Manga inprint. The Evangelion movies were never broadcast on TV, but were released in 2005 in Italian on DVD by Panini Video. The series aired weekend mornings, dubbed, in Portugal on SIC, starting December 8, 1997, suffering several schedule moves in that timeslot. It was later released on DVD in 2002 by Dynamic Portugal, subbed and dubbed.

In Germany it was broadcast in 1998 and again in December 2000 and January 2001 by VOX once a week after midnight as a subtitled version. The first professionally dubbed German version of Evangelion did not appear until the ADV's release of the Platinum Edition DVD set in 2005. In Poland, the TV series aired twice over 2005 and 2006 on the computer-themed channel Hyper. Despite being rated as "for 12 and older", the show was not edited or censored but dubbed through the Polish practice of "simultaneous translation" by a lector. In Finland, Subtv first aired the episodes weekly in the beginning 2005. Additional "Director's Cut" episodes were aired after the original 26. They were scheduled at various times between [22:35] and [02:00]. A rerun of the series began in March 2006, now with two episodes per week. This broadcast uses Japanese language with Finnish subtitles.

Elsewhere

Evangelion was the first anime series to be broadcast by Australia's SBS Television and aired in prime time. News of the broadcast slowly spread, and as a result, there was an upsurge of viewers midway through the season. Consequently, SBS decided to rebroadcast the entire series, despite the fact that it had not yet fully completed the original run. This meant that SBS broadcast Evangelion twice a week, with the original run shown on Saturdays at 8:30 p.m., beginning on the January 2, 1999, and the second run shown on Mondays at the same time, beginning on March 22, 1999. The success of Evangelion prompted SBS to gain the rights to several other anime series like , Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, Studio Ghibli films and many other anime features, including the two Evangelion movies, which it later broadcast in their entirety, with both Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion screened again in 2005. The entire series and the two movies are now available on DVD through Madman Entertainment [link], along with a new "Platinum" edition of the series. In Chile, the television series was broadcast on Sunday evenings by Chilevision during May-July 2002, with episodes dubbed into Latin American Spanish but unedited, and was later rerun twice during January through March 2003. For the rest of Latin America, and between 2000 and 2003 (in numerous occasions) Evangelion was broadcast on the Venezuela-based, anime and animation satellite channel Locomotion(which later became Animax). The series was also internationally broadcast in Latin America by Argentinian cable channel I-Sat during 2003 and 2004.

Related media

Manga

The manga of the series, written and illustrated by series character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, has been serialized in Shonen Ace since February 1995. The serialized and volumized editions are both published by Kadokawa Shoten. The manga exists as a separate entity from the anime, and features a number of distinct differences. Some examples being that Shinji has brown eyes (instead of blue eyes in the anime), Shinji and Rei's relationship is strengthed more, and there are 12 angels (instead of 18). Drawing from the original story outline, the completed anime series, as well as his own artistic freedom, Sadamoto has portrayed an account of the story that has both distinct convergence and divergence with the anime version. The series is still in production with ten out of twelve planned volumes completed.

The manga is translated into English in North America by VIZ Media and in Singapore by Chuang Yi, and the Singaporean translation is imported to Australia by Madman Entertainment. The manga is also translated into Brazilian Portuguese by Conrad Editora, Mexican Spanish by Editorial Vid, Argentinian Spanish by Editorial Ivrea and French by Glénat, Swedish by Bonnier Carlsen, Polish by Rafał Rzepka, Danish by Hans Kristian Bang and Finnish by Sangatsu Manga.

An additional manga of the franchise is ', written and illustrated by Fumino Hayashi. The manga was originally serialized in Asuka Comics, and later reprinted in the U.S. (again in serial form) in the anime/pop-culture magazine Newtype USA under the title '. The U.S. reprint covered only half of the first volume, leading to speculation that ADV Manga would continue to publish the rest of the series (as it did with Full Metal Panic!), a speculation confirmed in the April 2006 issue of Newtype USA in the form of a full page ad for the series. There is also the Shinji Ikari Raising Project.

Merchandising

Merchandise for Evangelion still comes out fairly regularly despite the fact that it is eleven years old. A large deal of the merchandise has an amusingly detached or even hilarious non-relation to the dark nature of the series, which is why Hideaki Anno is so opposed to them. The series has also spawned various computer games, including Girlfriend of Steel. While Girlfriend of Steel was shoehorned into the original plot, the sequel to the game, Girlfriend of Steel 2, takes place in a complete alternate universe. This later inspired a manga, which uses most of the Evangelion characters in a "normal" schoolyard drama series. A Nintendo 64 Evangelion game, simply titled Neon Genesis Evangelion , featuring the main fights from the orignal Anime and using multiple voice clips and images from the original series, was released by Bandai in 1999.

Live action movie

Pre-production of a live action version of Evangelion was announced in May 2003 by the American company ADV Films (which holds world-wide rights to the series outside of Asia and Australia), and will be made by ADV, Gainax, and Weta Workshop Ltd. It is estimated to be released as late as 2010. Hideaki Anno, the director of the anime, will not be directing this live-action film. Although Matt Greenfield has stated that many A-List Directors are interested in the project, no names have been announced yet, though Robin Williams has expressed interest in the film. [link] There is no definitive information on what the movie will focus. [link]

Super Robot Wars

Aspects of Evangelion have made numerous appearances in the Super Robot Wars series by Banpresto. First included in Super Robot Wars F Final, characters and mecha from Evangelion have since become extremely popular parts of the series, and have appeared in Super Robot Wars Alpha, Alpha 3, MX, and other releases.

See also

Characters and beings

Lists

Music

Related information

References

External links

Official websites

Fan websites

Articles/Misc.

Neon Genesis Evangelion by Hideaki Anno
TV Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Films: | The End of Evangelion | Revival of Evangelion | Live action film
List of characters in Neon Genesis Evangelion>Characters: Asuka | Gendo | Kaworu | Misato | Rei | Ritsuko | Kaji | Shinji | Toji | Yui
Evangelion (mecha)>Eva Units: Pre-Unit 00 | Unit 00 (Zerogouki) | Unit 01 (Shogouki) | Unit 02 (Nigouki) | Unit 03 (Sangouki) | Unit 04 (Yongouki) | Unit 05 | Mass Production Evangelions
Angel (Neon Genesis Evangelion)>Angels: Adam | Lilith | Sachiel | Shamshel | Ramiel | Gaghiel | Israfel | Sandalphon | Matariel | Sahaqiel | Iruel | Leliel | Bardiel | Zeruel | Arael | Armisael | Tabris | Lilim
Video Games: Girlfriend of Steel > Girlfriend of Steel 2 | Evangelion 64 | Shinji Ikari Raising Project | Shinji and Good Friends
Misc: "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" > Expanded Universe | Glossary | Human Instrumentality Project | Media | Red Cross Book | Timeline | Topics |

 

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