TV SeriesTV SeriesTV Series


Eyes
Q:  How screwed up was/is Hideaki Anno?   After viewing the 26 TV episodes and the movies it appears that  either this project greatly troubled him, or his life is not making any  sense to himself yet alone to anybody else.
A:  Hideaki Anno's mind was  very troubled. As an out of the closet "otaku" in the anime business, he  strived to make his art known to the world and clearly defined to himself.  His latest attempt to do so was also his most popular and widely received.  It seems that it also helped him to find a little bit of peace of  mind.
  The following is an anti-suicide letter that Hideaki  Anno wrote on July 10, 1995 (three months before his new series ShinSeiki  Evangelion hit Japanese airwaves). It is self explanatory. This letter was  originally published in Anime FX (c) Issue 10.

The  worldview (of SHINSEIKI EVANGELION is ) colored with a  pessimistic vision. Actually, I started the story with a setting  from which I had purged all feelings of optimism. A  fourteen-year-old boy (Ikari Shinji) is afraid of getting close to  other people. He tries to live in a closed world, making attempts to  get to know him useless, and ruining efforts made to try and  understand him. Convinced that, since he feels abandoned by his  father, he is an unwanted person, he is yet a coward, unable even to  commit suicide.

A 29  year-old woman (Katsuragi Misato) also keeps her contacts with  others as light as possible. She protects herself by running away  into relationships that are strictly on the surface. They are both  afraid of being hurt. They might both be thought of as being  unsuited to be heroes, lacking the strength of self that marks such  a person. And yet I made them the heroes.

It is  said that "To live is to change". I started this production with the  desire that they and the world change by the time the story reaches  its conclusion. That is my genuine sense of things. I am able to put  all of myself into SHINSEIKI EVANGELION - a self who for four years  was a wreck, unable to do anything. I began this thinking just one  thing: "I mustn't run away"- after having done just that, run away,  for four years - where all I was doing was simply not  dying.

I thought  of this production with the feeling that "I want to see if I can put  these feelings on film." I know that this is a senseless, arrogant,  and difficult course of action - but it is my objective. I don't  know what the result will be... because the story has not yet ended  in my mind. I don't know what will become of Shinji or Misato, or  where they will go. This is because I don't know what the staff will  be thinking as we go on.

I feel  that this is irresponsible... But it is also natural, given that we  are striving for a synchronization of ourselves and the world of the  story. At present this is the only theory I can use to create,  despite the risk of being 'derivative'. That is the only place where  our 'original' exists, after  all...

 

  Ironically  enough, ShinSeiki Evangelion first aired on Tokyo's Channel 12 at  sundown, 6:30p.m., October 4, 1995 - the same time when Yom Kippur, the  Day of Atonment came to an end, leaving behind the days of penitence. It  was at 6:30p.m. that all of Heaven's fury in the form of Angels (or  "Disciples") first brought their judgement upon man.
  Men  must face their angels, even as they face their demons, who have the same  creator.
(Do yourself a favor and try to find a copy of Anime  FX issue 10. It has a huge six-page article on the beginning and  middle [I doubt that there will ever be an end] of Studio  Gainax.)

EyesQ:  What are the First, Second and Third  Impacts?
A:  The  Impacts refer to the major events (earth shattering) that mankind and  Angels alike face on this planet. The First Impact (thought to be the  meteor that collided with the earth 60 million + years ago that killed of  the dinosaurs by many fans) was actually the splitting of a God-like being  (formed again in EoE) into Adam and Lilith (and caused the Black  Moon and White Moon to seperate and embed themselves under Tokyo-3's  present location and Antarctica respectively). This "Impact" set  everything in motion as eventually all the Angels came from the White Moon  (and Adam) and mankind soon appeared thanks to the Egg of Lilith (the  Black Moon).
  The Second Impact occured when man succeeded  in shrinking the Angel Adam to  embryo size (after he was awakened by the testing of the artificial S2  unit by SEELE's people). The energy released was considerable enough to  melt the Antarctic Ice Cap and cause a Great Flood that almost wiped out  mankind (and supposedly destroyed the White Moon and awakened the rest of  the Angels from their slumber). Wars, famine and plagues spread across the  Earth in the Flood's aftermath helping to expand the damage done. It is  unknown if this Impact was intentional or not.
  The Third  Impact took place when mankind initiated the final phase of evolution. By  overcoming the Darwinian dead-end that he was faced with, man took it in  his own hands to "evolve" into a single being and return to one whole  single entity (as it was before the First Impact). When the Third Impact  was complete, man as a species no longer existed and therefore had become  totally extinct.

The Third ImpactThe Third ImpactThe Third ImpactThe Third ImpactThe Third ImpactThe Third Impactthe Third ImpactThe Third ImpactThe Third ImpactThe Third ImpactThe Third ImpactThe Third Impact: Shinji pulls away early
The Third  Impact

EyesQ:  What is the difference between getting  killed and evolving to the next and final stage of evolution? What happens  if one gets killed before the Third Impact occurs (i.e. Misato and  Ritsuko)?
A:   Supposedly (according to many religions) when humans die, their  souls are judged on their thoughts and actions that they performed when  they were alive (sometimes thought as a "self-judgement") and they either  return to Heaven from hence they came, or they go to Hell if their  existence on Earth was wasted and their evil thoughts and deeds outdid  their good ones. The Third Impact (by Lilith) merges Mankind into one  being (as it originally was long ago) devoid of any pain. Keel and SEELE  seemed to believe that a return to God (the single-form being in which the  Lilim would return to their egg [the Black Moon], and rejoin with Adam  & Lilith) was a more satisfying existence in comparison to the  distressful one we curretnly know. Apparently the Angels came to the same  conclusion, but only one could achieve the goal, at the sacrifice of the  other.

  So the single  form is the previous state, but that doesn't make it any more or less  mature. Though as a side note, it would appear that Yui became a god (of  equality to the Lilith & Adam combined being), and left with the  Longinus Spear, having all the necessary tools to start the process over  again elsewhere.

  However, the  "Judgement of Humanity" as individuals would still occur if the Third  Impact was started by a Shito returning to Adam. Humanity would not  evolve into one pure creature, but would die as individuals and each soul  would be arbitrated on the deeds of each seperate individual.

EyesQ:  What about animals? Does only man  evolve leaving the animals the Earth?
A:  Yes, only man evolves.  Eventually, maybe someday another intelligent form of life will inhabit  the Earth and the Lance of Longinus and the EVA-01 will return and allow  them to start their own form of evolution. Who knows, maybe this is how we  found Lilith and the Lance?

Hey Pen^2, why don't you throw a kegger in Misato's old place for a few of your animal pals?  I think that King and Luna are available.
Well, PenPen, it looks like  the planet is all yours. Help yourself to all the beer left in the  fridge.

EyesQ:  What is "GeoFront"? What does if have  to do with anything?
A:  GeoFront is a huge  underground city that lies underneath Tokyo-3. It was built using a  pre-existingGeoFront in all of its glory. valley that was originally at sea level (before the Second Impact) and  made to house NERV HeadQuarters and to hide Adam and keep Lilith safe  until the time of the Third Impact was at hand.
  It is  heavely guarded from Angel attacks with numerous armor plating and the  "defense city" itself, Tokyo-3 (whose main purpose was to protect  GeoFront). Its main problem in terms of defense was that it had no real  security against actual humans (i.e. Kaworu or the entire Japanese  Strategic Self Defense Force).
  There is a large forest and  lake in Geofront too.
  When the Third Impact began, it was  clear that GeoFront had another purpose to it. The giant hollowed out  cavity was in reality the Black Moon (aka the Egg of Lilith) which is  where all human life began and began to end (don't worry, there's no test  on this).

 

EyesQ:  If the Angels wanted Adam so  badly, why didn't they attack NERV and Terminal Dogma in force? Surely  this would have overcome the EVAs and toppled NERV in one  strike.
A:  It definitely would have  been more than enough to accomplish their goal if the Angel's goal was  simply to return to Adam, but there was more to their existence than  that.
  The Dead Sea Scrolls foretold of the coming of the 17  trials that mankind must endure and overcome in order to gain eternal  salvation as a whole. These trials were to be given one at a time and each  more difficult than the previous. New ways of thinking and sacrifice would  be necessary in order to triumph over the almost impossible odds of combat  with the very Angels (or Apostles) from Heaven themselves. Man had to  prove his worth, prove that he could think and act beyond his limited  means in order to gain access to eternal and painless life. Angels had to  prove that they deserved the reunification of their own being too, and  their test must have been a one by one confrontation with  mankind.

EyesQ:  I've watched all 26 episodes of Evangelion and there is still one thing that I don't understand. In  episode 24, Kaworu keeps mentioning the word "Lilim" as reference to a  person. Who is "Lilim"? Is it just another way of saying  "Lilith"?
A:  Wow! You've seen all 26  episodes and that's the only thing that you didn't get? You should feel  very proud. I lived the entire series and I still don't know 100% what the  #*~$ is going on.
  But to get back to your question, when  Kaworu says "Lilim", he is referring to man.From Lilith we come, to Lilith we shall return? "Lilim" refers to the demon-spawn of Lilith. Just as  all Angels are from Adam, and to Adam they must return, all human beings  are from Lilith, and to her we must return. The human-looking legs that  protrude from Lilith's lower half (even after her legs grow back) prove  this, as does the LCL that is her blood. It is also the liquid that allows  pilots to communicate better with their EVA's and breathe while they're in  the Entry Plug (it acts a lot like amniotic fluid). And besides, I like  being thought of as "Demon-Spawn" too. It's cool!
  It can  also be in reference to a shortened form of "lilliputian", which means  "small" or "little", or can be used to mean almost "insignificant". In  comparison to Angels, this is exactly what humans are. It is also in  reference to Gulliver's Travels in which the the tiny country that  Gulliver comes across (in which he is a giant) is called "Lilliputian" or  "Lilliputa" (meaning "Land of the Small People").
  The term  "Lilliputian" is also used in the 13th episode as the title Lilliputian  Hitcher in which the 11th Angel,  Ireul, attacked the Magi Super-Computers in the form of a computer  virus. Also very tiny - but in this case, a very large threat.

EyesQ:  Uh, I've got the ADVision subbed  release of all the episodes and and don't remember seeing "Lilim"  mentioned even once. Does Kaworu really say it? Is it just mistranslated?  What gives?
A:  ADVision chose to  translate "Lilim" as "humanity" in their subtitled release of episode 24  (along with misspelling both "Lance of Longinus" and Kaworu's name [but  that's not important to NERV intelligence at this moment]), but funny  enough they chose to keep the term "Lilim" in their dubs.
  For the full reason on this matter I sent one of NERV's  best field agents into the fray to find out how and why something as  important as Kaworu essentially telling us that we are children of Lilith  could be omitted from the subtitled copy of the Genesis:12 release. She  got this following reply from Brad Atwell of AD Film ...:

  The omission of the  term "Lilims" was my decision, more personal aesthetics than  anything really. "Lilims" is neither descriptive nor clear in  meaning.
  "Lilith's minions" conveys the intention in  a more comprehensible manner. Lilims are the children of Lilith,  ergo humanity. "Humanity" once again is a substantial and familiar  concept, whereas "Lilims" is inarticulate. The term Lilims is used  in the dubbed version for those for whom it's removal is just too  irksome. I hadn't realized this would be such a significant issue,  but, even so, I dislike the term for the aforementioned reasons and  wouldn't re-insert it were I given the opportunity. Please post this  statement in any discussion group where the issue is questioned. I  do welcome criticism, but it is much more helpful prior to the  script's completion.

 

  Although I would  have preferred "Lilim" remain (especially and even moreso in the sub [and  especially especially because it is part of the original script that  Gainax wrote!]) I easily could have lived with his take of "Lilith's  minions". That would have been just as descriptive (even more so). So our  question still remains: Why was it translated as "Humanity" when that does  not even allude to Lilith in the least?
  We here at the EVA  FAQs know that it isn't that big a deal, but we would prefer a better  translation especially for our subs.
  And just so we catch  Manga Entertainment before it's too late, before you guys translate End  of Evangelion please remember to translate "Lilith's Egg", "The Red  Earth/Soil Ceremony", "the Tree of Life" and any other religious  references correctly. Your patrons would truly appreciate it (and love ya  for it). Keep up the good work, guys (and gals)!

EyesQ:  How can you be sure that Misato killed  Kaji? We only see that she got her gun and NERV ID back before the  incident, but I don't quite see if it is enough evidence. Is there  something that I've missed?
A:  Yes. Misato gets her gun  back and in the very next scene (but not mere seconds after [it's called a  "cut" people]) we see Kaji welcoming Do NOT piss this gal off.someone that he has been waiting for  and obviously knows well in a very secluded place. Then he is  shot.
  Later, Misato arrives home (very upset) before anyone  could have discovered the body and gotten the news to her that Kaji had  been killed. She then listens to his message on the machine and is totally  destroyed (listen to the message again, Kaji knows that he is going to die  soon and he is clear that he wanted to see Misato to tell her something  important ["those words he couldn't say eight years ago"]). Too bad she  recently gave up drinking. Boy that's gotta suck!
  Lots of  readers have written in reminding me that Hideaki Anno himself has stated  that only "somebody either from NERV or SEELE shot Kaji". They said that  when the condemned man said "You're a little late, aren't you," to the  unseen assailant he was just expecting his death (and not necessarily  Misato) after double crossing both NERV and SEELE simply to know the  truth. In my opinion, however, he said it way too familiarly (like how he  usually talked to Katsuragi-san) than he would to a faceless  minion.
  I have faith, however, that Anno would make  something as tragic as Kaji's death even more tragic by allowing it to  come about from the only person who ever truly loved him (i.e.  Misato).
  Also, when the NERV MP gave back Misato's badge  and gun he says that Kaji "is being taken care of." While this led others  to suspect someone else, don't you think that the MP would know that  someone as manipulative as me would be playing Katsuragi like a game of  mah-jong and that they were insinuating that by giving her back her gun  this was how it was going to be "taken care of"? She, just like everybody  in NERV was just my little puppet doing my work for me.

  Misato here  again.... Gendo apparently (and conveniently) forgot that there is  yet another obvious "assassin" that Kaji was very familiar with. Remember  that old lady who was his contact in many an episode? Fearing he may talk  (after betraying every side he was spying for) she may have had to take  the hunk down for to keep her identity and the ties behind her position a  secret.

EyesQ:  Okay, well if Misato did it, why  did she kill Kaji? I thought that she loved  him.
A:  Well, it's one of those  "love/hate" relationships. Don't forget how messed up Misato is inside her  noggin. But the reason she did not hesitate to kill her long-time  boyfriend is fairly simple, she thought that the only reason that he was  in NERV HQ was to be a spy. Now there are two parts to that: She thought  that she was only being used and abused by him; and he was a danger to  NERV (especially after kidnapping Fuyutsuki). It was her privaledge and  her duty. But once again she acted too quickly and didn't give her  emotions and feelings for him enough time to surface. She only thought  about the consequences of her action after the bullet hit the  bone.

EyesQ:  What is up with the ProtoType  Eva Unit 00? When Rei is testing it (episode 5) and also when Shinji tests  it in a later episode, it goes psycho and does a lot of damage to itself  and to its pilots. Ritsuko also made a comment that it was trying to kill  her. Why does this happen?

EVA-00 Losing it.
The EVA-00 does not contain a  very stable mind.

A:  To start things  off, every Eva unit seems to have the mind or soul of a female in it in  one form or another. The EVA-01 has Ikari Yui trapped in it (which is how  she disappeared in 2004), EVA-02 has Asuka's biological mother's mind in  it (which is what caused her to go crazy), and it is Akagi Naoko's  demented psyche that is trapped in EVA-00. Although Naoko suffered from no  noticable breakdown from her initial synchro test back when NERV was  Gehirn (unshown in the series), it is assumed that the "ghost" that her  mind left in the Eva was seriously disturbed.
  The fact  that it went Berserker when Rei and Shinji were piloting it (both spawned  from the hated Yui Ikari) and took swipes at Ritsuko (the daughter who  tried to seperate herself as far as possible from her mother) goes a long  way in proving this. It goes crazy because it does not want to have to  synchro with its pilots, or it has an overwhelming urge to attack those  that it sees in front of it.

           Seite 2 - Page 2 ---->