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  • Neon Genesis Evangelion - The Press Release from Hell

    Posted on February 21st, 2007 by Darkshaunz - 3,027 Views

    Darkshaunz advises Hideaki Anno to set Shields to maximum.

    It’s no secret, no mystery that I am an outspoken Evangelion fan. No, not only that, I also partake in the franchise milking by purchasing Rei figures from her in winter clothing to her in a nurse outfit (how very unfortunate of me!). I also know there are a lot of passionate, intelligent and loyal Evangelion fans out there, who like me, have been waiting on the edge of our seats for any news of the new movies. Hurrah! I rejoiced in my room as I found out that Anno has released a press statement! Unfortunately to my horror, I am guessing he didn’t get the PR department to write it for him, its more like an attack on the whole industry. Eva fans, come with me as we try some damage control.

    Obligatory Rei Pic.

    Press Release tracked by ANN and translated:

    Now, I don’t admit to being a regular visitor to ANN, but they sure do keep on top of the latest anime happenings both in Japan, America and Australia. The folks there have everything from an anime encyclopedia and a discussion board. I came across them because I was very interested in seeing Anno’s translated press released to the world, and subsequently, the Evangelion fans.

    ANN sloganized the translated press release as: “EVA creator posts message in theatres across Japan, hopes to lure new audiences to Evangelion films”. The only thing he is going to lure at the moment are Death threats from overobssessive fans, Lazer Fire from other studios and laughs from everyone if he doesn’t fulfill his claims.

    Read the full translatted article Here

    How I will be tackling this announcement

    I feel very strongly about what comes out of Anno’s mouth, because he is essentially the commander behind the ship that is, Evangelion. Unfortunately, others along with myself would prefer if Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (character designer and eva mangaka) were spearheading the project. Anime-wise, it’s Anno’s playing table, so essentially what he has to say will definitely impact the end product the fans of the original series will encounter.

    The method is simple, I will just break things down by paragraph or sentence and hopefully to try and understand just what the hell drove him to say the things he did, and maybe think of some plausible reasons why he even considered making some claims. Hopefully I am not causing any misunderstandings, as I am still very excited for the new movies, but I felt that Anno’s approach to what was supposed to be a support-building press release, is in reality, a PR blunder.

    Rei’s in Bandages about this whole debarcle.

    First Section - The Challenge

    “The desire to portray my sincere feelings on film.

    The desire to share, with an audience, the embodiment of image, the diversity of expressions, and the detailed portrayal of emotions that animation offers.”

    Ok so this part is good. Its a sign that Anno is very much still passionate about the Evangelion series. At the very least, it’s a sign that he still cares for this brainchild of a series. Sharing’s a kind of esoteric way of saying things, but in a vague kind of way, at least he has the audience at heart. I mean, its a nice way of starting a PR release by addressing everyone, not just the fans.

    “The desire to connect today’s exhausted Japanese animation [industry] to the future.”

    “Exhausted Japanese Animation Industry?” I think this is a Bad call to make, considering he is basically declaring war on all the other production studios and companies. I love Evangelion to death and probrably swear on the last drop of my blood defending it, but hell, I’ve waited like 10 years for it. Its legendary of course, but surely he must realize that in those 10 or so years, there have been other exciting, innovating and memorable anime titles that have surfaced. Even today, otakus continue to enjoy other titles as other companies draw on other sources to create their series.

    “The desire to fight the continuing trend of stagnation in anime.”

    I can’t believe I was reading this. I mean, I was absolutely mortified that Anno was almost going out on a limb here to actually draw competitive fire from fans of other anime and other anime studios. He is looking like a Duck wearing a neon jacket during Hunting Season. There is no trend of stagnation in anime, I feel that titles like Black Lagoon, Eureka Seven, Samurai Champloo and even Serial Experiments Lain have all made pushes to the art form in one way or another. It’s not Evangelion, but then again, Neon Genesis isn’t the anime to end all anime, no matter how epic it was or used to be.

    “The desire to support the strength of heart that exists in the world.”

    I am seriously beginning to wonder whether or not he was smoking a mixture of Petrol and Rubber Tyre when he was saying this. He almost sounds like an anime character performing a rendition of “most cliche’d anime heroic moment ever”.

    “Finally, the desire to have these wishes be realized.”

    Finally, a chance to declare war on other anime supporters and make your fans look like elitist and overconfident jerks. Thanks, dude.

    Bottom half is censored.

    Section Two - The Kick

    “For these purposes, we used the best methods available to us to make another Evangelion film.”

    This is a good point for fans, this means we will get fresher, crisper and fluidly animated Evangelion as opposed to something that looks like it was animated 10 years ago. I am glad this is the case, because heck, if any series’ fans deserve something for the wait, its us. If they have the animation quality at something along the lines of Tokyo Majin, Black Lagoon and Karas, then I would be very pleased.

    “However, over the past 12 years, there has been no anime newer than Eva.”

    He’s joking right? Sure, with the controversy, symbolism and grim take on the mecha genre, Evangelion inspired and paved the ways for several titles and allowed a different perspective on the genre. For it’s time, Evangelion’s animation was visceral and attractive, this I applaud Gainax for. Calling it a fresh and new anime 12 years down the track is a bit too much in my opinion, as I am sure we can all think of anime which have changed the face of the anime world even after the slowing down of the Eva buzz.

    “Specifically, among the stagnant mood of the present day, it is the portrayal of will - not technology - that is most important.”

    Paradoxical. You can’t portray will effectively without technology in this highly aesthetics and visual-based contemporary anime audience. Anime fans are more resourceful and experienced, we know what we want in terms of plot, character development and animation quality. I’m not an art gallery patron, but I do know what I expect from a new anime title in terms of at least decent animation capabilities.

    “To support the fans that support animation, we felt that a work that would appeal to middle and high school-aged men, who quickly grow away from Anime, was necessary.”

    News Flash Hideaki Anno, the main fans of the original series are no longer middle and high school men and women. You said it yourself, 12 years have passed, some of them are in their mid to late twenties (Hell, I’m in my twenties). I am not asking for a stupidly adult anime, but I hope he isn’t peddling the Evangelion name into something stupidly arcadey or oversimplified.

    “When we decided that we wanted to something to support the anime [industry] of today, the determination to return to this title was strong.”

    Phew, Here I was under the assumption that his main purpose was to decapitate any anime that wasn’t his creation or any studio that wasn’t his. Seriously, you don’t support the industry by criticizing the titles and franchises that have been active in your dormant period of 12 years, and potentially ostracizing your new movies for when they do get off the ground. Is he seriously thinking about his own penis only? or does he actually care for us Evangelion zealots?

    “As the creator of this project, [I assure you that] a very new-feeling Evangelion world has beeen constructed. For this purpose, we are not returning to our roots at Gainax. I have set up a production company and studio, and it is in this new setting that we will start again.”

    This is kind of a major blow to me personally. I mean, the reason the original series was successful because it was a machine operation of Gainax, Anno and Sadamoto all working in unison. Gainax isn’t an uber-animation studio compared to other newer and dynamic studios, but they they know their animation, and at the core of things that is all that matters most (Khara is kind of like a sub-division of Gainax in a way, but I am not sure how it counts). I am not sure I like the idea of a “New-feeling Evangelion World” either. We’re all familiar with the saying, “If it ain’t broke…don’t fix it”. That’s not to say change is a bad thing, but if factors have worked in favour of the series, then we can only pray he doesn’t turn those concepts on their heads.

    “Without looking back, without admiration for the circumstances, we aim to walk towards the future.”

    Thats almost like saying, “I don’t really care that I just attacked the whole industry, its how I really feel and I have no regrets…Banzai!!!”. Also, as “Inspiring” as these kind of remarks are, they belong on political speeches and in the mouths of Shounen heroes rescuing their babes from tentacle demons. Like the shields aboard the Daedalus from Stargate Atlantis, it would be a matter of time until Anno finally realizes it’s too late to jump out from the fire and back into the frying pan.

    Never thought I’d use a Stargate analogy, but there you go.

    “Thankfully, we have gathered staff from the old series, new staff, and many other fantastic staff to work on this series.”

    Ah, some good from this abysmal press release. Experience from the old series will indeed come very useful for references to the past series and also for little details that jaded fans (like myself) will be looking out for when the movies are released. He mentions new staff which is also good news, because they will be able to look at Evangelion from a different production angle and standpoint. Having a mixture of new and old is definitely a good step in devising a dynamic Evangelion. There’s also other “fantastic staff” which I hope are as “Fantastic” as he says.

    “We realize that we are creating something that will be better than the last series.”

    Woah woah! Lets slow down there, Flash Lightning! Its very good to see that Anno has such an optimistic outlook on his new creations, albeit over-optimistic, but its a positive nonetheless. However, I am not a big fan of declaring a victory especially when the battle is not yet fought. My word to Anno is, get the movies off the drawing board and onto screens first, then let the anime watching audience decide it for you. Plus with all the allegations and bombastic claims he has made in this press release, he frankly better put out something fucking brilliant. You do not want to see a Rabid and Disgruntled Evangelion Fan, we’re the worst because we just woke up from a 12 year nap (and we are VERY VERY cranky).

    Oh Dear, even Maya’s embarassed by all these frivolous allegations.

    Section Three - The Finishing

    ”Eva” is a story that repeats.

    Sure as hell hope this isn’t his way of telling us that they will be reusing those real life still images he abused in the first series (I fucking hate those), I mean its kind of acceptable if he uses some stock footage we seen in the first series (we can be all like, nostalgic and stuff). This statement could also be him trying to say something along the lines of, “History Repeats Itself”, so it could be an indicator that we will see events in the first series transpire in the second.

    “It is a story where the main character witnesses many horrors with his own eyes, but still tries to stand up again.

    It is a story of will; a story of moving forward, if only just a little.

    It is a story of fear, where someone who must face indefinite solitude fears reaching out to others, but still wants to try.”

    Story where the main character witnesses many horrors and attempts to stand up again eh? That’s funny, didn’t we see him in a corner curled up and sulking when Asuka get teared to pieces by those Smiley Evas? The only time I have seen him on his two feet is when he’s either running away from his father, his situation or just probrably getting ready to jump off a tall building. Admittedly, we see Shinji finally branching out honestly to Rei at the second half of End of Evangelion and sacrificing himself somewhat to allow humanity to continue. Unfortunately the later part of the endgame movie does not constitute declaring it a “Story of Will”.

    “We hope that you look forward to the 4 new retellings of this story.”

    “In closing, it is also our job to provide a service to our customers.”

    Fans are not asking for a complete rehaul of the series (far from it). As long the important and crucial events, characters and elements are preserved in the new series, it will have our support, no questions. Condition being, Anno stops worrying about his ego and swelled up head for the moment and realize that he has thousands of people who genuinely care for and are dead loyal to the series even after all this time. I don’t really appreciate him calling us customers (though we technically are consumers of his entertainment product), creators need to address fans directly, seeing as we will be the main driving forces behind the success of the new movies.

    “Although it seems obvious, we aim to create a form of entertainment that anyone can look forward to; one that people who have never seen Evangelion can easily adjust to…”

    Not the best sign for the new movies, in summary, Anno’s telling us that he is trying to make Evangelion more “Accessible/Mainstream” to the general audience and non-eva tuned anime watchers. Before I get prosecuted for wanting to “Hoard” the series because of my original series loyalty, I would also like to add that simplifying aspects and making it more “mainstream” is not the best way to improve a series. In fact, that’s the thing you do when your show is failing and you start pulling off drastic measure like that to hopefully salvage something out of it in the future. The show’s not even in the animation stage yet and already he is making declarations that could undo all the fans’ patient slumber.

    “This fall, we hope you can join us.”

    After reading that Press Release, If I were you I’d wear Kevlar for personal protection, Anno.

    This is the new Evangelion character! Just kidding.

    Isn’t this being slightly overcritical? - Afraid Not.

    Those of you who have read my Reflections on a Legend post know that I am as excited as the next Evangelion fan about the new movies. However, this excitement is tied to a lot of things I loved about the original series (Hopefully Anno’s team isn’t jeapordizing all the crucial elements which drew us to the original in the first place). Anno’s not doing the series, it’s loyal fans and his very own creation any good by making such outrageous claims and declarations. I was never expecting the man to say his show was going to suck obviously, but I think a much more controlled, moderated and humble approach to a Press release was most definitely needed when announcing something that newsworthy.

    I understand this can all be part of the “Hype-Generation” aspect of getting people to talk about Evangelion again. That all this outrageousness is actually part of his grand design to instil some kind of industry publicity stunt. As painful as it is to say, as a Diehard Evangelion zealot, it backfired in his face in it’s entirety. People have been talking about Evangelion even when it disappeared from “radar” in its entirety, and even Anno should be lucid enough to know that he’s got a lot of loyal fans in the bag with one eye closed.

    Considering he was probrably high on drugs on drunk on vodka upon making this hideous release, I can’t say for sure whether our Hideaki Anno is truly looking out for his fanbase or whether or not he has become what we had feared, an emo conformist to the industry as opposed to that uniquely-perspectived emo non-conformist we knew and respected. It’s definitely a “told-you-so” moment in relation to the Anno vs. Sadamoto debates, the latter may have a hopeless Rei Ayanami crush but at least he doesn’t go executing industry-wide act of wars or threaten to unravel the seams of what made the original a legend.

    From here on end, the world awaits what may be the most brilliant and well executed (pre/se)quel movies based on a renowned series, or the most hyped and dream-shattering piece of anime to be revealed in theaters across Japan. I’m sure that nothing short of the former will be acceptable, and we can only hope Mr. Anno has not dug his own grave too deep.

    Darkshaunz Out.

    PS: For the sake of all my fellow Evangelion Fans, I hope I am very wrong in my interpretations. I’m hoping that if I pinch myself hard enough, this will go away like a bad dream and I find myself waking up to the smell of cereal.

    12 comments to “Neon Genesis Evangelion - The Press Release from Hell”

    Please use <spoiler></spoiler> tags when appropriate, thanks!

    1. I just hope these movies tie the story together better than the last one… Asuka’s “you’re pathetic” doesn’t cut it for me at all.


    2. When I was reading him bash the current anime scene and studios I was all like, “yo, Have you watched /nothing/ from KyoAni? Everything they make is pure win like the FMP sequals, Air/Kanon, and greatest of all their Haruhi project.”

      I have to admit I only saw Eva 4 years ago, But even still I’ve been a devoted fan, even reading every article/blog I can find about it. And when I read this announcment I have to say it sounds a lot like what poeple say right before they put out Grade A crap. And this scares me.

      Also if it makes you feel any better, I’ll be 20 by the time I see the movies.
      And if you could post links to full sized versions of some those Rei pictures, that would be awesome.


    3. I reacted much the same way as you did to the poster. Hopefully this won’t become the Daikatana of anime.

      I have a lot of respect for Anno’s artistic vision and directorial skills; hell, I’d even say he’s my favorite anime director. Nonetheless, the man has a documented history of nuttiness (of which this is only the latest example) and could use some adult supervision. Squinting at the very bottom of the poster, it looks like Sadamoto (character designs) and Yamashita (mechanical designs) are being retained from the original team, so that’s a good sign.


    4. In during Evangeliwon.


    5. Am I the only one who actually got really fired up by that press release? I agree with pretty much everything in it. Anime is tremendously disappointing these days if you want anything but harems or lolisploitation, and the industry is tremendously creatively bankrupt. I just hope Anno keeps the spirit of the TV series in mind, and not the spirit of the movies.

      And Shaunz, you seriously need to rewatch Eva TV if you don’t think Shinji ever stood up for himself or faced danger head-on. He’s a worthless sniveler in the movie, but generally very assertive in the series, even if the only thing he usually asserts is “leave me alone”.


    6. @Joe Iglesias: What you read above is my take on things. Hey, if you feel positive and excited by all of those claims…then nobody’s saying anything. But saying that anime is disappointing these days just means that you probrably should have taken a break from anime instead of “forcing” yourself to watch whatever is being released.

      Lolisploitation is only apparent if you keep getting sucked in by the pedo-mania sweeping the industry, harems have become to much of a buzz word for anime not actually belonging to the genre. If you can’t enjoy shit that isn’t Evangelion, then hey, it’s not my problem.

      Regardless of what you may think of Shinji, I plainly dislike the character, and I think you can tell. Why would I rewatch Eva TV for a character which I do not like. Also, what is the point in having something of an “assertive spine” for a character when he loses it all when it matters most anyway? (in the finale).

      Like many covering the press release, its speculation at best, but its some form of insight into what may be going on in his head. Either way you look at it, this is a PR blunder at best, if you fail to see that…I don’t know what else to say.


    7. Shaunz, it just seems very strange that you refer to yourself as “an outspoken Evangelion fan” while hating the main character, who gets the most screen time and story focus. I don’t mean to pick a fight about this, but honestly, Shinji IS Evangelion, to the point where both the TV and movie endings write off all the other characters to focus on his internal monologue. I’m really not sure what else there is to like if you think he’s insufferable.

      And, um, I’m not sure you’re actually disagreeing with me that lolisploitation is dominating anime if you yourself say that “pedo-mania is sweeping the industry”.

      I’m not saying there isn’t ANYTHING decent out there these days, but there definitely isn’t enough of it, and I don’t think the only options are “love every anime ever created or shut up.” We can agree to disagree on this one.


    8. @Joe Iglesias: You should be familiar with my take on this whole issue by now. I agree with you that Shinji is indeed the essence of Evangelion, but I didn’t like his anime interpretation of the character (This part I left out), but in my previous evangelion entry, I did appreciate Sadamoto’s interpretations of the characters moreso than Anno. He is definitely meant to be the Anti-Hero, and is why Evangelion is sucessful. I just don’t like his attitude, thats all (its really, just on a personal level).

      Don’t be mistaken, being an outspoken evangelion fan, I don’t necessarily have to be supportive of Shinji. I can be a fan of the concept, the other main characters or other sub-divided aspects of the series. And no, I know you don’t mean to pick a fight, and I probrably misunderstood your angle as Shinji “fanboyism”.

      Pedo-mania is indeed sweeping the industry, so Im agreeing with you (I mean even blind otakus can see that). What I meant by that was, we could try and ignore those industry trends and perhaps try and focus on things we may like to watch. I can’t help you out there because you have your own palette on what is acceptable and what is not, so hopefully you’ll have something to cosy in with before the movies come out. Love every anime created or shut up? It’d be a cold day in Hell before I would say something like that to you. ;)

      So in summary. Shinji’s the key to Evangelion, but I just don’t like his character (but I definitely acknowledge his anti heroism and importance). In essence, we aren’t arguing so much as we are exchanging different viewpoints. Which is why I like it when empassioned persons like yourself leave comments!


    9. well hey, im a shinji supporter so no problems for me…and daekshaunz, my interpretation of: “However, over the past 12 years, there has been no anime newer than Eva.” is this:

      Basically, i think that, seeing as how NGE was a fairly unique and never seen before anime of the time, Anno is refering to there being a lack of anime with the same kind of punch and impact of being unique, fresh and new. practically every anime so far has strong resemblance to another anime before it, or of a very generic genre or storyline. shounen - old. harem - old. mecha - old. drama - old. well, i could go through every genre i can think of and it would be ‘old’. basically, at the time, NGE redefined mecha as it was known. it became an inspiritation, and until now, there (according to Anno’s words) has not been an anime so controversial since NGE. Not Naruto. Not Bleach. Not Suzumiya Haruhi. Nothing. And personally, I agree with him.

      and final word: HOORAY FOR EVA MOVIES!!!! xD


    10. >I just hope these movies tie the story together better than the last one… Asuka’s “you’re pathetic” doesn’t cut it for me at all.

      Always thought it was interesting how despite Asuka thinking Shinji=pathetic (”kimochi warui (I feel bad)” is the most obvious thing that comes to my mind), she still has feelings for him. Funny how the human mind works, eh? (And yes, I do think of Shinji as a hero for piloting Eva. Even though he became suciedally-depressed in EoTV and EoE, at least he found the strength to continue living by realizing he could learn to love himself & others.)

      Darkshaunz: Anyway, I agree with you on Anno having been on something when saying that; the LEAST he could do is wait until the storyboards are written up for each film before making such claims! O_o; Though I agree with Danny in terms of what Anno-sensei probably meant in terms of “no new anime since Eva.” It would be very interesting if Rebuild: 04 would somehow go along with the concurrency of EoTV/EoE, but I guess we’ll see.

      I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this, it was interesting. You wouldn’t happen to be a member of Eva Monkey Forums, would you?

      Take care,
      Sailor Star Dust

      P.S: That pic of Kaworu and Rei cracked me up. Adam and Lilith are getting it on, “oh baby!” XD


    11. That whole arguement is pointless, just go onto your own blogs to complain about darkshaun’s comments on the press release, otherwise you’re just wasting space for other commenatators to talk about how they disagree without sounding like rabid fanboys.

      But Anno’s comments are a little overzealous on how the industry’s just been less original since Eva. I’m sorry to point out but there have been many interesting anime. NANA (on the emotional level, with fans that are slowly reaching the numbers of Eva and also coming up with exploring different emotions than Eva so snaps to Ai Yazawa), RahXephon (the closest one I could think of on the WTF level especially with the egg at the end, but it wasn’t commercially successful as Eva and felt a little dated because some people that worked on Eva also worked on this, like the shadow Dolem), and previously stated Haruhi (on the commercial level, I mean you can’t go onto an anime forum without some person mentioning it). There also have been very original concepts like Death Note and Cowboy Bebop; for the mind f^*k category Texhonylze (watch it and it is very hard not to be clinically depressed by the end, it took me a long time to recover from this because it was that disturbing). All of these series came out because Eva was so different so but there was one series a lot like Eva before it ever debuted. Space Runaway Ideon which Evangelion actually homaged so people who think that Eva is the best turd out there sniff this.
      And after Eva there were new classics like Utena, Cowboy Bebop, and Fullmetal Alchemist (which in a recent Japan anime survey ranked higher than Eva).

      So if this is a mini-debate over what is the best anime it stupid because it is a matter of opinion. Anime is going to keep on changing just like literature. Just think, what if J.K. Rowling decided to say along the same lines of Anno had. It would have made a bigger stir. But me, I’m mostly pissed off that he’s going to remake the series into movies. I’ve already watched the series over twenty times, I have seen Death/Rebirth, and the movies. I don’t think the original needs to be remade, I’ve seen the director’s cuts and thought, “Oh, now that makes sense,” but seriously just make another ending and then have everyone debate about over ten years until the twentieth anniversery,


    12. This might be over analyzing on my part but this very act might be his special way of saying “I’m different.”

      Every friggen press release for games/animes/movies these days are the same.

      Person talks about the plot a little. They talk about the idea they want to convey. Little factual infromations here and there, then end with something like “I hope you enjoy this” or “Hopefully this will be met with warm reception”, etc, etc.

      This really has me pumped, it’s cocky as hell, but who gives a shit as long as he delivers right?


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