Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン, Shin Seiki Evangerion^?) is a Japanese media franchise created and owned by Gainax. Most of the franchise feature an apocalyptic mecha action story, which revolves around the efforts by the paramilitary organization NERV to fight hostile beings called Angels, using giant humanoids called Evangelions that are piloted by select teenagers (of whom Shinji Ikari is the primary protagonist). Other works deviate from this theme to varying degrees, focusing more on romantic interactions between the characters, side stories which did not appear in the original works, and/or reimaginings of the conflicts from the original works. The franchise began in 1995 with the titular anime directed by Hideaki Anno and has since grossed over 150 billion yen.^[1]

Development

Neon Genesis Evangelion first emerged out of a deal struck between King Records representative Toshimichi Ōtsuki and director Hideaki Anno^[2], whose proposed sequel to Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise had recently fallen through, over drinks for a TV anime project ("something, anything").^[3]

Though the original plot line for Evangelion remained relatively stable through development, production proved to be turbulent: Sadamoto's authorship of the promoting manga caused problems, as multiple publishers felt "that he was too passé to be bankable";^[4] the stylized mecha design that Evangelion would later be praised for was initially deprecated by some of the possible sponsors of a mecha anime (toy companies) as being too difficult to manufacture (possibly on purpose),^[5] and that models of the Evangelions "would never sell."^[6] Eventually, Sega agreed to license all toy and video game sales.

A sudden shift in tone occurred in the series around episode 16, partially due to scheduling restraints (drastically reducing the number of frames that could be drawn for each episode)^[7] and the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway on March 20, 1995 (with Anno removing elements of the plot he thought would be too similar to the real-life attack).^[8] While Anno had promised early on that "every episode [would give]...something for the fans to drool over," he began either removing fan service or juxtaposing it with scenes of emotional trauma.^[9] The problematic schedule and Gainax's reputation for delivering episode prints at the last minute also resulted in more experimental approaches, with several episodes reusing shots, using uncommonly long still frames, flashing frames of often rhetorical introspective (Japanese) text and the final two episodes changed from their original concept into a psychological analysis of the main characters.

The resulting 26-episode anime, animated by Tatsunoko Productions and Gainax, and co-produced by TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems, was broadcast from October 4, 1995 to March 27, 1996 on TV Tokyo. It was critically and commercially successful and acclaimed for its innovative imagery, concepts, and refreshing take on the mecha genre and anime as a whole (though not without controversy, as reception of the latter quarter of the TV series was sometimes hostile to the point of death threats). It was later aired across Japan by the anime satellite television network, Animax. The series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1995 and 1996.

The series' unexpected success would not only spawn countless derivative works and imitators,^[10] but established a whole franchise based around a number of distinctive features: a stock set of distinctive characters such as Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langley Soryu, Rei Ayanami, Toji Suzuhara, and others such as Misato Katsuragi (for a complete list, see here); a number of philosophical, psychological, and religious themes; and an idiosyncratic vocabulary of symbols and allusions drawing heavily on Christian and Kabbalistic symbolism, Buddhist beliefs, and the Japanese otaku subculture.

Films

E-mail response to Evangelion: Death and Rebirth: "Anno, I'll kill you!!! Anno, I'll kill you!!! ..."; included in The End of Evangelion.

Graffiti spray painted on Gainax Headquarters front wall: "Tenchuu" (Divine retribution) "Ikari (Kanji meaning: angry) rape-man"; image was included in The End of Evangelion.

Death and Rebirth

Gainax launched a project to create a movie ending for the series in 1997. The company first released Death and Rebirth on March 15, which consisted of a highly condensed character-based recap and re-edit of the episodes 1-24 (Death) and the first half of the new ending (Rebirth, which was originally intended to be the full ending, but couldn't be finished due to budget and time constraints).

End of Evangelion

The project to complete the final episodes (retelling episodes 25 and 26 of the series) was completed later in 1997 and released on July 19 as The End of Evangelion.

Revival of Evangelion

A movie compilation of a reedited version of Death (known as Death(true)²) and The End of Evangelion, Revival of Evangelion, was released on March 8, 1998.

Rebuild of Evangelion series

On September 9, 2006, Gainax confirmed a new animated film series called Rebuild of Evangelion, consisting of four movies presenting an alternate retelling of the TV series (including new scenes, settings, and characters) and a completely new conclusion to the story.^[11] The first of the new movies, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, was released in Japan on September 1, 2007 and the second, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, on June 27, 2009. The third film, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, will be released in the fall of 2012, with the final film planned for release in 2013.

Media

The Evangelion franchise has spread from the original anime into a number of different media, with some following the official canon (of the 26-episode anime series and its two related films or the new Rebuild series) and others differing on important plot points originally introduced in the anime.

Manga

A number of manga series based on the anime have been released, mostly notably the official series by series character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, which was first serialized in February 1995 (eight months before the series' official premiere, in order to promote interest). Three other manga have been created, based on non-canonical video games: Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days by Fumino Hayashi, Shinji Ikari Raising Project by Takahashi Osamu, and Gakuen Datenroku by Min Min.

Evangelion is also popular among doujinshi,^[12][13][14] inspiring notable titles such as "Evangelion RE-TAKE" (an unofficial sequel to the End of Evangelion^[15][16]) and even works by famous manga artists, such as "Birth of Evangelion" by Yun Kōga.

Books

This article lacks ISBNs for the books listed in it. Please make it easier to conduct research by listing ISBNs. If the {{Cite book}} or {{citation}} templates are in use, you may add ISBNs automatically, or discuss this issue on the talk page. (March 2012)

This article is missing information about the "Groundwork of Evangelion" books. This concern has been noted on the talk page where whether or not to include such information may be discussed. (March 2012)

• Newtype 100% Collection: A 1997 collection of Newtype Japan's coverage of Evangelion, particularly of artwork^[17]
• Death & Rebirth and End of Evangelion theatrical pamphlets: Limited edition supplementary booklets were distributed in Japanese theaters during the initial run of both Evangelion: Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion. The latter pamphlet, nicknamed the "Red Cross Book" by overseas fans, contains descriptions and defintions of many areas and terms in the Evangelion storyline that the series left unclear.
• Der Mond and Die Sterne: Two German-titled art books of the work of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, including concept art, character designs and renditions, and commentary about the Evangelion series. Both books also feature selections of Sadamoto's work on earlier and later works (such as Nadia, or Fatal Fury 2).^[18]
• 2015//The Last Year of Ryohji Kaji: A limited edition, Japan-only publication by Newtype in 1997. The book is a combination photo/text book profiling the character of Ryōji Kaji through 16 mission "documents" left by him. The included letters, notes, and poems were written by Hiroshi Yamaguchi (a writer on the original TV series) and the photographs (including digitally-altered pictures of Evangelions, Angels, and other series-related objects) were taken by Ichiro Kamei.

Radio drama

A parody radio drama, Neon Genesis Evangelion – After the End, was released in 1996 as part of the NEON GENESIS EVANGELION ADDITION album. The story features the anime's original cast reuniting to star in a new Evangelion series, while attempting to change various themes of the series to make it more popular/accessible than it already is.^{[19][20][21][22]}

Music

CD albums

The albums NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, NEON GENESIS EVANGELION II, NEON GENESIS EVANGELION III, EVANGELION:DEATH, and THE END OF EVANGELION were all released on DVD-Audio on December 22, 2004.

CD singles

Video games

Neon Genesis Evangelion has spawned a number of computer games, as well as making numerous appearances in other titles such as the Super Robot Wars series by Banpresto. None of these games have been officially released in English.

RPG/Adventure

Mahjong games

Card games

Miscellaneous

GAINAX is planning to release a game for mobile phones and has begun a contest for designing a new character that will be introduced in the game.^[40]

Pachinko

A number of Evangelion-themed pachinko and pachisuro machines are offered at pachinko parlors:

• CR Neon Genesis Evangelion (Pachinko)^[41]
• CR Neon Genesis Evangelion Second Impact (Pachinko)^[42]
• Neon Genesis Evangelion (Pachisuro)
• CR Neon Genesis Evangelion —Kiseki no Kachi wa— (Pachinko)^[43]

Amusement park

On July 22, 2010, Fuji-Q Highland opened a 1,460m² section devoted to Evangelion, featuring a lifesize entry plug and statue of Mari Makinami,^[44] an approximately 3-meter titanium Lance of Longinus,^[45] NERV hallways with character cutouts^[46] that lead to a hangar room with the 1:1 bust of Eva Unit-01, SEELE monoliths, appropriate cosplay,^[47][48] Eva-themed hotel rooms,^[49] and food products.^[50] A bust of Eva Unit-02 modeled after a scene in Evangelion: 2.0 was installed in 2011.^[51][52][53]

Live-action film

Development of a live-action movie version of Neon Genesis Evangelion by Gainax, Weta Workshop Ltd., and ADV Films (then the worldwide distributor of the Evangelion series outside of Asia and Australia) was announced at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2003.^[54] Early coverage included ADV Films raising "about half of the $100 million to $120 million needed to produce the film"^[55] and some concept art produced by Weta Workshop.^[56]

As time passed without any official announcements of production, the film project showed increasing signs of being in development hell. At Anime Expo 2008, ADV founders Matt Greenfield and John Ledford revealed that they had hired the producer John Woo, pitched the idea to other producers such as Jerry Bruckheimer and Steven Spielberg,^[57] and seen increased interest in the wake of the success of the 2007 film Transformers.^[58] At Ohayocon 2009, Matt Greenfield announced that several U.S. studios were competing for final rights to the project, predicting an official announcement naming the studio, director, and perhaps casting information within the next nine months (he later noted that the closer he got to sealing a deal, the less he could say anything about it).^[59] Though the sudden collapse and asset sale of A.D. Vision in September 2009 raised concerns over the project's viability, Greenfield, Ledford,^[60] and producer Joseph Chou^[61] insisted the project was still actively searching for a director (claiming delays owed more to the general deterioration of the American anime market than to ADV's internal issues).

In August 2011, A.D. Vision sued Gainax, claiming their refusal to accept an option payment for the perpetual live-action rights to Evangelion was a breach of contact and resulted in losing an opportunity to produce the film with a major studio.^[62] A.D. Vision has asked to be awarded the full live-action rights and any accruing legal fees.

References

• Takeda, Yasuhiro; Yu Sugitani, Yasuhiro Kamimura, Takayoshi Miwa; translated by Javier Lopez, Jack Wiedrick, Brendan Frayne, Kay Bertrand, Gina Koerner, Hiroaki Fukuda, and Sheridan Jacobs (2002, 2005). The Notenki memoirs: studio Gainax and the men who created Evangelion. ADV Manga. p. 190. ISBN 1-4139-0234-0. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Neon Genesis Evangelion

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Neon Genesis Evangelion

• "Untitled Evangelion Project" profile at the Internet Movie Database
• Evangelion – It's Japan by asianbeat
• "Evangelion Motorcycle to Compete"