Anime Expo’s NGE 20th Anniversary Event: Nothing much to report.
By The Eva Monkey on Monday, July 6th, 2015
This past weekend at Anime Expo, there was a Neon Genesis Evangelion 20th Anniversary Event featuring a concert with Yoko Takahashi, who you’ll know for singing Cruel Angel’s Thesis from the television series, as well as Soul’s Refrain from Death & Rebirth. It was a premium ticketed event costing an additional $35-$45 dollars, and advertised TBA special guests, a voice-over presentation by Bang Zoom Entertainment, and so forth. This piqued the attention of a number of Eva fans, and there was some speculation as to why Bang Zoom was involved, as they have had no involvement with Evangelion in the past. If it was just the typical dub fluff, why wasn’t Funimation hosting it? The speculation was that perhaps there would be a license announcement for NGE on blu-ray with a dub cast unveiling. But as it turns out, the special guests were Matt Greenfield, Tiffany Grant, and Amanda Winn-Lee, and they had audience members come up on stage to read lines from the original television series. There was also a cosplay contest. The main selling point of the event was the concert, which to the frustration of some attendees, was performed a second time at closing ceremonies for free.
There was also some anticipation that there would be some manner of announcement regarding Evangelion 3.33 from Funimation. This tends to be how it goes with large conventions like Anime Expo and Otakon. However, there was nothing concrete about the release of Evangelion 3.33 at either of Funimation’s panels.
