Hideaki Anno visits North America
By The Eva Monkey on Monday, May 12th, 2014
Something unexpected happened this weekend. Hideaki Anno, known by many as the chief creative force behind Evangelion, accompanied his wife Moyoco Anno to the 2014 Toronto Comic Arts Festival, where she was a featured guest. As someone who has “Meet Hideaki Anno” right above “Don’t nerd out in front of Hideaki Anno” on their bucket list, I am flabbergasted that not only did this fly completely under my radar, but that I missed a rare opportunity to meet Anno in some small capacity. The last time he was known to have visited North America was Anime Expo in 1996, documented thanks to fans like Lawrence Eng. He was scheduled to appear at AussieCon in 1999, however he fell down an escalator and was unable to attend. Beyond that, I don’t believe he has made any official appearances outside of Japan, so something like this, small and informal as it might have been, was a very special treat for anyone who happened to be there.
Special thanks go out to Alex Gill for the tip, and Chibi-Lina who ninja’d the accompanying photo of Anno at TCAF.