Neon Genesis Evangelion

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Neon Genesis Evangelion (Japanese: 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン, Shinseiki Evangelion) is an anime series directed and written by Hideaki Anno and produced by Gainax. It consists of 26 television episodes which were first aired in 1995, followed by a pair of movies: Death and Rebirth, and End of Evangelion, first screened in 1997. Death and Rebirth is essentially a highly condensed re-edit of the series plus the first half of End of Evangelion.

The two movies were subsequently rereleased as a single movie called Revival of Evangelion. It also spawned a manga, written by series character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and published by Kadokawa Shoten , though its first volume was actually released prior to the airing of Evangelion's first episode. The manga is currently still in production. Production of a live action version was announced on May of 2003 by the American company ADV Films (who holds world-wide rights to the series outside of Asia and Australia, rights for Australia are held by Madman Entertainment), and will be made by ADV, Gainax and Weta Workshop Ltd.. It is estimated to be released from as early as 2006 to as late as 2010. Hideaki Anno will not be directing this live action movie.

When first aired in Japan at a time slot intended for teenagers, it 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. Evangelion was, and continues to be, a strong influence on anime in general. Despite being generally highly regarded, the series has numerous detractors, who find it self-important and see the many religious and psychological references as superficial rather than meaningful. One reason for this schism in reception is that the series was originally intended as a strictly commercial venture; the primary backers were toy companies Bandai and Sega, and staff of the project has said that they originally used the symbolism of Christianity (an uncommon religion in Japan) only to give the project a unique edge against other giant robot shows. Despite creative conflicts between the sponsors and its director, the series was not perceived as being the work of an auteur such as Hayao Miyazaki. Regardless, Evangelion is an anime series that is considered by many to be the best ever created.

A large deal of the merchandise for the series - which still comes out regularly despite being almost a decade old - has an amusingly detached or hilarious non-relation to the dark nature of the series. It has also spawned various computer games, including Girlfriend Of Steel. While 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.

The Japanese title for the series translates literally as "Gospel of the New Century". Evangelion is Greek for "good news", and is typically translated "gospel" in the Bible.

: Plot or ending details follow.

Although it starts as a regular mecha anime, the focus tends to shift from action to flashbacks and analyses of the main characters. It uses devices within the storytelling that call into question the validity of notions of individuality and the certainty of interpersonal relationships.

Hideaki Anno, probably according to his own experience, displays in this show a variety of mood disorders and problems with emotional health, especially depression, trauma and separation anxiety disorder.

Contents

Background

Evangelion takes place in the near future (2015 AD), fourteen years after the catastrophic Second Impact, and describes an expedition to Antarctica where scientists discover a large being of light, deemed by them as the first Angel, Adam. After they made contact with the angel, it self-destructed. This conflict caused a massive flood, which consumed a large portion of the Earth's population. The true nature of the second impact was concealed from the general public, who was led to believe that the devastation was the result of an asteroid impact.

In this conflict, mankind is represented by the mysterious organizations called NERV, GEHIRN (which started out as the investigation team for the Second Impact but became NERV later on), SEELE, and Marduk. NERV is in theory under the control of SEELE, but NERV has its own agenda, driven by its commander Gendo Ikari (father of Shinji Ikari: main character, and pilot of Evangelion Unit 01).

NERV carries out two tasks: to defend the Earth from Angel attack with a small number of Evangelions and the Human Instrumentality Project.

The Evangelions have the outward appearance of massive humanoid biomechanical robots and can be piloted only by 14 year old children (i.e. those born at around the time of the Second Impact). Pilots are selected by the Marduk Agency which is later discovered to be composed of about 108 ghost companies; pilots must have lost a mother or a very close loved one, which is then used as the soul of the Eva (the Eva also behaves like the soul inside it, often lashing out at old enemies). Only the designated pilot of an Eva can pilot it, due to the bond of 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 will be refused. It is later apparent that the Evangelions are not really "robots" but rather living organisms, even though, in the very first episode, it had been once described as a "synthetic lifeform" by Ritsuko Akagi.

The secret second task, the Human Instrumentality Project, 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.

Translation Notes

The original Japanese term for the Angels is "Shito" which translates to "Prophet", or "Messenger". The English translation, "Angel", has the same original meaning.

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 (i.e. Shinji is the "Third Children", not the "Third Child".) This is intentional, and not a translation error. The ADV dubbings, however, uses the word "Child" instead of "Children".

The manga was translated into English by Viz Communications.

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