Written by: Carl Horn
Source: Originally published in the Viz edition of Neon Genesis Evangelion Vol. 10
Dated: April 2007
VIZ goes back a long way with Neon Genesis Evangelion; in fact, VIZ goes back the longest. The first anime magazine anywhere in the world to carry a story on the Evangelion anime wasn't the Japanese NewType or Animage—it was VIZ's Animerica, in its February 1995 issue.
Animerica wasn't as slick as today's publications—rougher paper and limited color—but founding editor Trish Ledoux had vowed in 1992 to make it the first regular monthly anime and manga news magazine in English, and she, and later editor Julie Davis, kept the promise. It was all the more remarkable as an Animerica was a creation from scratch—it was neither a licensed edition of a famous Japanese magazine, as is the case with NewType USA, or of a famous American one, as with Wizard Entertainment's Anime Insider.
The Evangelion story came in so quickly, there was no time to even blurb it on the cover, which was on the anime Kishin Heidan (based on a novel by the same Masaki Yamada of Viz's Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence—After the Long Goodbye), and, as the only the cover story in the front (and the fan art in the back!) got the use of the limited sixteen pages of color, the two-column scoop led off the "Dateline Japan" section in the black-and-white newsprint.
The story, "Gainax Returns to Anime with Shinseiki Evangelion," reflects what was known about the new series when the story was written (in the first two weeks of January, 1995), and it's interesting to see both the limitations of that knowledge, and the difference between Gainax's concept of the series at the time, and how the series actually played out.
We can begin with the Japanese name of the series, which Animerica spelled out entirely in kana, the kanji that would be used spell Shinseiki not yet being known at the time. The article gave the translation as "New Genesis Evangelion," which is interesting in that it implies it was known already that Gainax would prefer that seiki be translated "Genesis" (which is not the meaning of the kanji actually used, which mean "century") but not yet that Shin (which does mean "new") would have the preferred translation "Neon" (which, of course, is a romanization of the Greek word for "new"...)
The first change made from the original plan can be gleaned by the article's statement that the Evangelion TV series was slated to appear in "Spring 1995"—in actuality, the series did not begin until October of that year. As the story's title "Gainax Returns..." suggests, Evangelion, which to many fans today is the beginning of Gainax as they know it, was actually perceived as the studio's comeback, following their four-year hiatus from anime since their first period of professional works, 1987's Royal Space Force, 1988-89's Gunbuster, 1990-91's Nadia, and 1991's Otaku no Video. The article described Evangelion's concept this way:
Beginning with what might be regarded as an update on the classic science fiction premise of aliens warning the human race not to continue their pursuit of nuclear weapons, Shinseiki Evangelion is a near-future drama in the mode of Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 series. In this future age, biotechnology, rather than atomics, is the final scientific frontier as man attempts to artificially induce his own evolution through genetic engineering. Without warning, alien beings appear and demand the human race stop this direction of research... or else!
In a bizarre twist, the aliens refer to themselves as the "Disciples," claiming to be the messengers of the divine. These so-called Disciples grant humanity a grace period of several years before they return once more, and the panicked governments of Earth embark on a crash program of building fortress-like cities and giant robot weaponry, in preparation for the Disciples' return...
Anno says that the new offering from Gainax will consider some of the ultimate questions posed by science fiction, and, indeed, philosophy, such as: What is the nature of evolution? What is humanity's relationship with his or her god? Does God, in fact, exist? What does it mean for the human race if that question can be answered difinitively?
Evangelion fans, of course, will recognize the above description as ultimately not quite what got into the anime, yet it remains strangely familiar. The biggest difference would appear to be in the role of what were here called the "Disciples", evidently an alternate rendering of shito, "apostle", the Japanese word used in the actual Eva series, which has an official English translation of "Angel."
While the Angels in Evangelion are arguably in a sense ultimately of extraterrestrial origin, the actual anime presents them as strongly associated with the history of Earth and the nature of mankind, so that the idea of them as alien invaders in the Independence Day sense (or even in the sense of the Overlords from Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, which Eva can be said to also reference) seems strange—although certainly, the Angels are presented to the public as de facto alien invaders throughout much of the Evangelion story.
Stranger still, in light of the actual Evangelion series, is the idea of these "Disciples" communicating a warning to the human race to stop their efforts toward artificial evolution. The Angels of the Evangelion anime, of course, are known for their lack of communication with humanity—indeed, throughout most of the series, they are named and defined entirely by their human "enemy". Contrary to the image of apostles, or indeed of angels, they come bearing no word and no message, leaving the final part of the series' name—the only one which is the same in both the official Japanese and English titles—Evangelion, from the Greek word for "gospel," highly open to interpretation, much as the rest of the series.
The "grace period" involving the initial manifestation of the Disciples with their return seems to correspond to the gap in time between the appearance of the Angel Adam at the Second Impact in 2000 and the series' beginning in 2015. Again, however, the motive force behind events in the actual Evangelion, and the questioning of humanity's place, is done almost entirely by different factions and individuals within humanity itself.
Note that the unusual use of the pronoun "his or her" (rather than its or their is in reference to "Humanity," and the non-standard style of referring to "god" in lower-case were the practices of Animerica's original editors (it is unlikely to have simply been a mistake, as they were most scrupulous), yet it seems oddly appropriate in retrospect considering the ultimate gender "identity" of human origins in Evangelion, and the fact that although Eva presents such elements as angels, prophecy, and apocalypse as real, it did indeed lacks a presence corresponding to traditional notions of God.
Twelve years later, word comes that a new Neon Genesis Evangelion anime is to be made—and this time, not through a magazine scoop, but via that modern font of awareness, the Web (in the irony that seems to make the Earth turn, Gainax itself was the first anime studio to have an English-language website, beginning in the summer of 1995—yet now that Evangelion has made them world-famous, they no longer do).
In 2007 through 2008, Gainax plans to release to theaters four "new" Neon Genesis Evangelion movies, in a project being called Evangelion: Rebuild. "New" is put in quotes here to signify that Rebuild is understood to largely consist of an expansion of the original anime story. The first three films, designated 01-03, will retell that story, but with extensive use of new graphics, effects, scenes, and characters, whereas the final film, Rebuild 04, is to be an original story.
It's tempting here to mention the rumors and speculation surrounding Evangelion: Rebuild, except by the time this essay sees print in early 2007, much more definite things about it are likely to be known, and any such details said now might prove no more accurate in the end than when VIZ's Animerica introduced Neon Genesis Evangelion to the world those many years ago. There is a big difference between then and now, and this difference—not the details of Rebuild—is, I believe, what is worth thinking about.
It is this: the first time, no one knew how Gainax's Evangelion would surprise us, how it would shock and challenge its audience and its industry, a challenge that has rarely been answered. All through the first few years of the English edition, this very manga carried on the back of its graphic novels the phrase "Gainax, Japan's most progressive anime studio." And indeed, the second half of the 1990s constantly saw new approaches from them: beginning in 1995-96 with the Evangelion TV series itself, followed in 1997 with the incredibly bold The End of Evangelion—the only non-Miyazaki anime film ever to win a Japan Academy Award.
Director Hideaki Anno surprised again in 1998 by leaving his action-mecha tradition behind to do stories directed towards women, having Gainax adapt their first-ever shojo manga series, KareKano (released here as His and Her Circumstances). 1999 continued Anno's ventures into the feminine subjects with both his first live-action film, Love and Pop (available from Kino Video), which looked at modern ko-gals with surrealistic empathy, and the outrageous and as-yet-none-dare-to-release Ebichu Minds the House, adapted from Risa Ito's comedy manga for women office workers!
Then in 2000, Gainax seemed poised for a whole new era, as Anno's protege Kazuya Tsurumaki emerged from assisting on Evangelion to direct his first solo project, FLCL. As Adult Swim succinctly put it, "This show will change your life." A tornado of fresh air on the scene, FLCL, like Evangelion, had people watching anime again who hadn't been excited about it in years—yet it was nothing like Eva and was able to look back on what anime, and Gainax, had both done and failed to do with irony and sincerity and cynicism and passion.
It's questionable whether the last six years from Gainax have shown the innovation which marked the late 1990s, or that of their early years. In 2001, Hiroyuki Yamaga, who had begun Gainax with perhaps their—and anime's—greatest film, 1987's Royal Space Force, returned to directing after fourteen years with Mahoromatic. Although in touch with otaku trends as much as Gainax ever was (five years later, the maid scene in Akihabara is entering the mainstream), it was nevertheless startling—as if Stanley Kubrick had come back from the dead to make Friends.
Instead of FLCL marking a new era, it seemed regarded as practice for Tsurumaki to direct a "serious" project—whereas Gainax was founded to make Royal Space Force, and their 10th anniversary saw them gearing up for Evangelion, their 20th anniversary work was their first sequel, Gunbuster 2. Although an intriguing and in many ways worthy tribute to the 1988 original, it arguably marked a retreat, investing their creative energy in a previously proven name instead of marking two decades with a new, original concept.
In 1995, no one could see Neon Genesis Evangelion coming. In 2007, we can see Evangelion: Rebuild coming from a mile away. My selfish wish as a fan—and not as someone who makes a living oft these films—is for Hideaki Anno, and Gainax, to surprise us like they used to, to keep us watching the leisurely progress of the new Eva as it approaches, to go into those theaters with our eyes straight on the screen—and then, as The End of Evangelion did, do the trick again, and smack us right in the back of the head.
Two more things before we go. While you're waiting for the new Evangelion anime—not to mention the next volume of the Evangelion manga, which Mr. Sadamoto, on average, finishes at the rate of six chapters per year—I want to strongly recommend you check out the forums at evamonkey.com. With over 800 registered users, it's the largest English-language discussion board for Neon Genesis Evangelion, and attracts posters from Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America as well as the United States and Canada. Moreover, as moderated by its founder, Aaron Clark (whose Evangelion panels you might have seen at East Coast anime conventions), it's a thoughtful and informed place to talk about Eva, whether the topic is "who's hotter, Asuka or Rei?" (the correct answer is "Ritsuko") or "Gender of Non-Lilim Persons" (an actual topic).
Second, to quiz Gainax in person, don't forget to get yourself down to FanimeCon in San Jose, California, this coming May 25-28, 2007. Evangelion's co-producer, Hiroyuki Yamaga, first came to FanimeCon ten years ago, bearing an advance copy of Death and Rebirth, and ever since Gainax has practically adopted the con—sometimes unashamed to get a dealer's table and hawk their ever-affordable wares in the best Otaku no Video manner—bringing over such studio personalities as Kazuya Tsurumaki (of Evangelion, FLCL, and Gunbuster 2), Yasuhiro Takeda (author of the Gainax tell-all The Notenki Memoirs, available from ADV Manga), Takami Akai (creator of Princess Maker) and the artist of this book you're holding, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto himself. Will Hideaki Anno himself finally grace FanimeCon in 2007?
—Carl Gustav Horn
P.S. Two bits of errata, both from Volume Eight: On p. 98, the caption that says "ABOVE MT. ALBERT MARKHAM," should just say, "ABOVE MT. MARKHAM." Mt. Markham in Antarctica is given in a document glimpsed in episode 7 of the Evangelion TV series as the site of the Second Impact, and when I came across a reference to a "Mount Albert Markham" really existing in Antarctica's Churchill Mountain range, I thought, "A-ha, this must be the mountain's full name."
Actually, there are two mountains in that area named "Markham," the second, being named just plain "Mount Markham," and therefore presumably the one Gainax meant, being 160km to the south of Mt. Albert Marhkam (Mt. Markham is named for his cousin, Sir Clements Markham—both were active in the Royal Geographical Society's support of Robert Scott's tragic failed attempt to be the first explorer to reach the South Pole).
Note, by the way, that both mountains are on the coast—Mt. Markham is a good 800km from the South Pole. It is not known at present why Gainax chose Mt. Markham in particular as a site, but it is worth noting that Evangelion co-producer Hiroyuki Yamaga has a personal interest in early Antarctic exploration, and that the Japanese themselves are world leaders in Antarctic science; Japan was the pioneer in South Polar meteorite research, discovering the first specimens in 1969. It's not difficult to imagine a real-life "Katsuragi Expedition" with a hidden agenda...
The second error was on page 129.1, referring to the 2004 experiment in which Yui Ikari vanished as having taken place using Unit-00. This is incorrect; it was, of course, Unit-01. The last thing we need is more speculation as to whose soul's in what, so I can only cringe at the mistake and pray that it didn't spawn too many online threads.
—CGH