50 Fun Facts About Neon Genesis Evangelion

Which religion's symbols did Neon Genesis Evangelion's assistant director say were there to look exotic in Japan?

Christianity was mined for its look alone, with assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki denying any religious meaning. The staff wanted imagery that felt interesting and unfamiliar to viewers at home.

What kind of animal is the hot-spring-loving pet kept by Shinji's guardian in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

A penguin named Pen Pen shares the apartment, one of a new breed made for hot springs. The serial number on his collar hints that he came out of a biotechnology experiment.

Which Bart Howard standard, tied to the Apollo missions by Frank Sinatra, is Neon Genesis Evangelion's ending theme?

Fly Me to the Moon is sung over the credits by Claire Littley and members of the voice cast. Licensing problems later kept the song off the 2019 streaming release outside Japan.

What are the Evangelion units of Neon Genesis Evangelion revealed to be beneath their armour plating?

Living humanoid giants with eyes, skin and internal organs, the Evangelions are classed as cyborgs rather than conventional mecha. Part of their plating exists to keep them under control.

Which opening theme of Neon Genesis Evangelion, with lyrics finished in two hours, became a lasting karaoke hit?

A Cruel Angel's Thesis lost a planned male backing choir at the director's request, to stress a feeling of maternal affection. It went on winning karaoke popularity polls years after the series first aired.

How do the other characters greet Shinji in the closing scene of Neon Genesis Evangelion's final television episode?

They applaud him and offer congratulations as the dark, constricting world around him shatters. The last two episodes were completed in only a few days, and a feature-film remake of the ending followed in 1997.

Which director made Neon Genesis Evangelion after a four-year depression that followed Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water?

Hideaki Anno was expelled from Osaka University of Arts after he stopped paying tuition to make fan films. He tried to give each character a part of his own personality.

On which continent did the Second Impact hit an expedition, fifteen years before Neon Genesis Evangelion begins?

Antarctica was the scene of the disaster on 13 September 2000. A lone survivor of the expedition was carried clear in an escape pod.

What is the main armour colour of Unit-01, the single-horned machine Shinji pilots in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Purple plating covers Unit-01, whose long horn rises from the centre of its forehead. Early sketches gave it two frontal horns before the final design was settled.

Which service gave Neon Genesis Evangelion its worldwide streaming debut in 2019 with a newly recorded English dub?

Netflix launched the series on 21 June 2019 with a re-translated script and a new English cast. The distributor of the original dub had dissolved a decade earlier.

Which introverted, blue-haired pilot of Evangelion Unit-00 holds the designation First Child in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Rei Ayanami owes her blue hair to a design left over from the studio's unproduced film Aoki Uru. Her red eyes were the director's idea, to set her apart from everyone else.

Which fiery, red-haired pilot commands Evangelion Unit-02 as the Second Child in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Asuka Langley Soryu is renamed Asuka Shikinami Langley in the later film series, where her background and personality differ markedly from the television original.

Which operations chief, sole survivor of the Second Impact expedition, is Shinji's guardian in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Misato Katsuragi was imagined as a grown-up Usagi Tsukino, the heroine of a hit magical-girl anime, and was given the same voice actress. At home she lives amid beer cans and car magazines.

Which supreme commander of Nerv, famous for his clasped-hands pose, abandoned his son Shinji in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Gendo Ikari's bond with his deputy was modelled on that of Commander Ed Straker and Colonel Alec Freeman in the British series UFO. His pose has been homaged in other anime and manga.

Which Fifth Child, sent as a replacement pilot for Unit-02, proves to be the final Angel in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Kaworu Nagisa appears in just one episode of the original series, yet he went on to top fan popularity polls. He was first conceived as a boy controlled by a cat.

Which character is chosen as the Fourth Child to pilot the doomed Evangelion Unit-03 in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Toji Suzuhara agrees to pilot only if his injured sister is moved to the hospital at Nerv headquarters. An Angel then takes over Unit-03 at its activation test and sends it out of control.

Which voice actress, first heard as Kurama in YuYu Hakusho, voiced Shinji in Neon Genesis Evangelion and all its films?

Megumi Ogata has voiced Shinji in the series, the films, the spin-offs and the video games. Her other roles include Sailor Uranus and Yugi Mutou in the first Yu-Gi-Oh! anime.

From what did Neon Genesis Evangelion's director take most characters' surnames, including Akagi, Ibuki and Fuyutsuki?

Imperial Navy warships of the Second World War supplied most of the surnames. Two of Shinji's classmates were instead named after characters in a Ryu Murakami novel.

Whose soul is revealed to live inside Evangelion Unit-01, letting it move to protect Shinji in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

His mother Yui volunteered as the test subject for an experimental activation of the unit in 2004, when she was twenty-seven. Her soul stayed inside, and now and then she steers it to help her son.

Which animal's dilemma, a concept from the philosopher Schopenhauer, titles Neon Genesis Evangelion's fourth episode?

Hedgehog's Dilemma, in which Shinji runs away from home, is the only episode where the series director is credited with neither direction nor screenplay. Its Japanese title means Rain, After Running Away.

What do the letters AT stand for in the AT Field, the barrier raised by Angels and Evangelions alike?

Absolute Terror Fields make the Angels nearly indestructible, so only an Evangelion with a field of its own can fight them. One critic likened the barrier to the one in the older robot anime Space Runaway Ideon.

Which liquid fills an Evangelion's Entry Plug to help link the pilot's nervous system to the machine?

LCL fills the cylindrical capsule, which slots into the Evangelion's spine at the neck. The main nerve involved in syncing pilot and machine is known as the A10 nerve.

What feeds an Evangelion its electricity in battle, leaving five minutes of battery at most if the link is lost?

An umbilical cable carries the power an Evangelion needs to run its circuits. Without it, the internal battery lasts somewhere between sixty seconds and five minutes.

Which Angel, held on a cross deep beneath Nerv, is the being humanity descends from in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Lilith is counted as the second Angel, while most of the others spring from Adam. Every attacking Angel is drawn toward the chamber where it is locked away.

Which weapon pins a giant Angel to a cross in the depths of Nerv headquarters in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

The Spear of Longinus borrows the name given to the Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus with a lance.

Which octahedron-shaped Angel does Shinji shoot with a rifle powered by the whole of Japan in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Ramiel hides its core inside its body, closing the weak point of the Angels before it. The plan to snipe it from beyond its attack zone is called Operation Yashima.

Which plan to merge mankind's souls does Shinji's father trigger after the last Angel falls in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

The Human Instrumentality Project has been compared to the Kabbalistic concept of tikkun olam. Early drafts of the story ended with the plan failing after an Angel attack.

Which secret committee, formally in control of Nerv, sends mass-produced Evangelions to attack in the 1997 film finale?

Seele wants to fuse humanity into a single consciousness on its own terms. When its attempt to hack Nerv fails, it sends Japan's Strategic Self-Defense Forces to seize the base.

Which Nerv supercomputer, built by Naoko Akagi as three linked units, is hacked by an Angel in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

The Magi take their unit names from the three wise men of Matthew's Nativity story, traditionally Balthasar, Gaspar and Melchior. Each holds one side of its creator's personality.

Which real ancient manuscripts are said to have foretold the awakening of the Angels in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

The Dead Sea Scrolls won new readers thanks to the show: one scholar links its popularity to a boom in books about them and about Kabbalah.

Which spa town within view of Mount Fuji is the real-world site of Tokyo-3 in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Hakone is simply renamed Tokyo-3 in the story, and the resort has leaned into the link. The town has hosted numerous attractions tied to the franchise.

In which country was Evangelion Unit-02 assembled and first activated, although the machine was designed in Japan?

Germany is where the unit's pilot trained too. The show's German phrases were pieced together by an American employee relying on his high-school lessons and a dictionary from a local library.

Which creatures of Japanese folklore inspired the look of the giant Evangelions in Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Oni gave the Evangelions a half-demonic look meant to set them apart from the Gundams. The machines were also made deliberately hard to turn into toys, to keep financial backers from interfering.

The word Evangelion in the title Neon Genesis Evangelion comes from a Greek word with which meaning?

Gospel is the meaning, so the full title reads as something like New Beginning Gospel. The director first proposed calling the show Alcion, a name rejected for its lack of hard consonant sounds.

Which studio, co-founded by the director of Neon Genesis Evangelion, made the series together with Tatsunoko?

Gainax had only three of its own staff on the series at any one point and farmed out most of the work. The studio filed for bankruptcy in 2024 and was dissolved the next year.

Which character designer of Neon Genesis Evangelion also wrote and drew its manga, which ran from 1994 to 2013?

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto launched the manga before the anime had even aired. He went on to design the characters of Mamoru Hosoda's films Summer Wars and Wolf Children.

Which composer wrote most of Neon Genesis Evangelion's original score, winning a Kobe Animation award for it in 1997?

Shiro Sagisu saw the third soundtrack album reach number one on the Oricon charts for 1997 sales. He won another best-music award in 2010, for the second movie in the 2007–2021 series.

Which Japanese network premiered Neon Genesis Evangelion in October 1995, when only twelve episodes had been finished?

TV Tokyo and its affiliates carried the series until March 1996. The first twelve episodes had taken nearly two years, so the remaining fourteen had to be made in about a third as long.

Which singer recorded Neon Genesis Evangelion's opening theme without knowing anything about the anime or its story?

Yoko Takahashi first laid down the melody singing only the syllable la. Once the words were ready she was asked, at nearly thirty, to sing them in a teenage tone of voice.

Which lyricist wrote Neon Genesis Evangelion's opening theme as a parent's plea for a boy never to grow up?

Neko Oikawa was told to make the words philosophical and difficult. She worked from a demo tape on which the singer had recorded only the melody.

Which word begins the English title of the four-film Evangelion reboot released between 2007 and 2021?

Rebuild of Evangelion began as an alternate retelling of the series. The third film then tells a completely original story, and the fourth has an entirely new conclusion.

Which subtitle belongs to Evangelion: 3.0+1.0, the 2021 finale that out-grossed every earlier film in the franchise?

Thrice Upon a Time took 10.28 billion yen, enough to make it the second-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2021. It was first announced under the working title Evangelion: Final.

Which studio, named after the Greek word for joy, did Neon Genesis Evangelion's director found in 2006?

Khara uses that word as its logo, handwritten in Greek letters by the founder's wife, Moyoco. In 2016 it sued his former studio for 100 million yen in unpaid royalties.

Which pop star sang the theme songs of the Evangelion film series of 2007 to 2021, ending with One Last Kiss?

Hikaru Utada supplied a theme for every film in the series, including Sakura Nagashi for the third. The director later discussed the last film in a live stream on the singer's Instagram page.

Which choral work, sung aloud by the Fifth Child, is the only music in Neon Genesis Evangelion's twenty-fourth episode?

Ode to Joy, from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, returns for the episode's final battle and for the long still shot that follows it. No other music is heard in the episode.

Which Japanese magazine's reader-voted Anime Grand Prix did Neon Genesis Evangelion win in both 1995 and 1996?

Animage readers gave the same prize to the 1997 film that followed. In the magazine's August 1996 character rankings, four of the show's cast finished in the top six.

Which Houston distributor released Neon Genesis Evangelion in North America and recorded its original English dub?

ADV Films was founded in 1992 by a video game fan and two anime fans. Its last DVD edition of the series came out in 2008, a year before the company dissolved.

Which Kadokawa magazine began serialising the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga in December 1994, before the anime aired?

Monthly Shonen Ace carried the manga until 2008. The story then moved to Young Ace and finished in June 2013, filling fourteen volumes.

Which giant hero, pictured in armour, was the starting idea for Neon Genesis Evangelion, as its producer recalled?

Ultraman fascinated the show's director so much that he directed a fan film, Return of Ultraman, in 1983. The hero also fed into the final look of the Evangelions.

Which studio, founded as a branch of Tatsunoko, helped animate the 1997 film The End of Evangelion?

Production I.G also animated the new footage in the recap film released four months earlier. The studio is best known for the Ghost in the Shell series.