Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Japanese: 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン Shin Seiki Evangerion) is an anime television series, begun in 1995, directed and written by Hideaki Anno, and produced by Gainax. It takes place in 2015 AD, fifteen years after the catastrophic Second Impact, reportedly caused by a meteor strike, which wiped out half of Earth's population and tilted its axis. Just as humanity finished its recovery from this disaster, Tokyo-3 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 mechas created by the paramilitary organization NERV, the Evangelions (Evas).

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.

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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 Death and Rebirth, 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).

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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. The truth is that the story in End of Evangelion had always been planned by Anno, but was unable to be done properly due to budget and censorship restraints in the original series.

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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.

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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. 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, though usually for the purpose of adapting to audience demands. The shift in tone corresponded with a shift in Anno's worldview that would lead him to abandon the "otaku lifestyle" and temporarily leave anime for more serious live-action film.

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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. The staff of the project have said that they originally used the symbolism of Christianity (a religion practiced by around 1% of the population in Japan) only to give the project a unique edge against other giant robot shows. In assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki's own words: "we just thought the visual symbols of Christianity looked cool".

Related Topics:
Bandai - Sega - Giant robot - Kazuya Tsurumaki

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In response to this, fans argue that the show reveals an extremely complex understanding of kabbalah, Christianity, and psychological theory and that if the show was strictly a commercial venture, it would not have such an uncommercial 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 as being the work of an auteur such as Hayao Miyazaki.

Related Topics:
Kabbalah - Auteur - Hayao Miyazaki

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