Evangelion (mecha)
The Evangelions, also referred to as Evas, are fictional biomechanical humanoid mechas introduced in the anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion, produced by Gainax and directed by Hideaki Anno and in the manga of the same name written and illustrated by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. In addition to the original animated series, Evangelions appear in its derivative works, including spin-off manga, video games, visual novels, the original video animation Petit Eva: Evangelion@School, and in the Rebuild of Evangelion movies, with considerably different roles and guises.
In the original animated series, the Evangelions are giant humanoids, which the research center Gehirn and the special agency Nerv research to fight beings called Angels. They have mechanical components and a basic organic structure derived from Adam and Lilith; for this reason, they have eyes, epidermis, internal organs, and nails similar to those of humans and have been classified as cyborgs rather than mecha in the traditional sense. Those assigned to pilot an Evangelion are called Children and are selected by an organization called the Marduk Institute. Their designs, inspired by the oni of Japanese folklore, Ultraman, Iczer-One, Devilman, and other sources, caused problems during the production of the animated series but have received a positive reception from critics and audiences and have been used for merchandise.
Conception
, director and principal screenwriter of Neon Genesis Evangelion, initially sought to create what he called "a simple work featuring robots". He began by focusing on vague images and ideas rather than defined concepts, thinking other staff members would contribute by adding details. According to King Records' Toshimichi Ōtsuki, producer of the series, at the beginning of production, the idea was to create a series about an Ultraman in armor, the franchise of the same name's protagonist. The staff took inspiration from an old project by Gainax; for the project, Anno came up with the idea of a female pilot in the wake of the original video animation Fight! Iczer One, starting from the image of a girl in a capsule-shaped cockpit full of liquid – prototypes of the Eva-00 pilot Rei Ayanami and the Entry Plug – but without having a precise plot in mind. Other images became the basis of Evangelion, such as skyscrapers emerging from the top of mountains, robots carrying batteries, people dragging large cables, and a city in the peaks named Tokyo-2 in Nagano Prefecture.During production, the staff decided to have teenagers pilot the mechas and follow the tradition of other robot anime. However, Anno did not initially think to give a reason regarding their ages. An explanation came to mind to the character designer of the series, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. While watching a documentary on the Japanese TV station NHK named The Fantastic Microcosm of the Human Body: Brain and Soul the artist learned of the existence of A10 nerves. Sadamoto then pitched new ideas for the anime, such as explaining the age of the pilots, who are all teenagers without mothers. Sadamoto tried to create something similar to Space Pirate Captain Harlock
In a preliminary draft during the early planning stages of the animated series, staff suggested the existence of two ancient prehistoric civilizations that appeared on Earth before humans, both of whom were equipped with advanced technologies. The Evangelions in the original scenario would have been created by the first civilization, known as the First Ancestral Race, and would have rebelled against their creators, causing their extinction. The Second Ancestral Race would have created a weapon known as the Longinus Spear in an attempt to defeat the humanoids, scattering warriors named Angels in a state of hibernation around the globe as a countermeasure in case anyone tried to reactivate the Evangelions. The Eva units were conceived from the beginning as living beings and dangerous androids rather than simple weapons; the scenario was designed to contain elements similar to those in video games or role-playing games, such as the units' weapons being hidden in the buildings of Tokyo-3. In the last episodes, there should have been a lunar battle against twelve Angels, an idea that was later abandoned and recycled for the clash between Eva-02 and the Eva series, introduced in the 1997 theatrical conclusion. The American continent and the Eva-06 would vanish, while the ancient remains of a ruin named Arqa would be revealed.
File:Evangelion draft.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|An early sketch of an Evangelion unit, whose coloring was compared by character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto to an RX-78 Gundam or an Ingram from Patlabor
In the second half of the story, there would be preparations to invade an enemy stronghold along the lines of a role-playing game. One of the preliminary drafts of the twenty-fourth episode, written by screenwriter Akio Satsukawa, also introduced a prototype mini Evangelion, a five-meter mecha named αーTYPEーEVA000, also known as α Eva. When the α Eva goes berserk, it would have attacked the Angel Kaworu Nagisa with animal fury, who would have dodged his blows in a scene inspired by the legend of the samurai Benkei on the Gojo Bridge; at the end of the fight, the Evangelion would have swallowed the Angel Tabris and Rei Ayanami, to be then violently disemboweled by the Prog-Knife of Shinji Ikari's Eva-01. In another proposal, there were two units called 05 and 06, manufactured in Germany, while the Evangelion after 01 would be equipped with a power system known as a positron engine.
Two years before airing, Gainax published a project presentation document to find backers entitled New Century Evangelion Proposal, which included the initial unit designs. In the Proposal, the Evangelion were described as humanoids made of artificial metal muscles and replicas of Adam, indicated in the document as an artificial giant left by the First Ancestral Race, which would have left the enemies of the series, the Apostolos, for the globe. The document also describes robotic anime on one page as a "compensation for the complexes and various suppressions that children hold, a means of resistance, compensatory behavior".
For the main character of the series, Shinji, Anno himself was used as a model, linking the act of piloting the mecha with his work; according to Kazuya Tsurumaki, assistant director of Neon Genesis Evangelion, while "Shinji was summoned by his father to ride a robot, Anno was summoned by Gainax to direct an animation". Moreover, during the development of the series, the director included scenes in which the mecha are mutilated and lose their limbs. The mutilations of the Evas became a product of his personal experience. Anno's father, Takuyo, injured his left leg in an accident with a power saw and was forced to wear a prosthesis for life; following the accident, Hideaki developed a certain attraction to deformity, believing that he could not love "anything perfect". He also compared this to Tetsujin 28-go, where a robot loses an arm. In the twentieth episode of the series, he also introduced the concept of cannibalism. He added a scene in which Eva-01 devours an Angel in an attempt to disgust and scare a young viewer; he stated, "What would be ideal is that kids who watch it start to vomit". Cannibalism, according to Yūichirō Oguro, curator of extra contents of Evangelion
Design and inspirations
The design of the Evangelion was conceived and edited by Anno and Ikuto Yamashita, the official mecha designer of the series. The director took inspiration from the demons of Japanese folklore, the oni, and wanted to give them a modern look that differed from other mecha, such as the Gundams of the Mobile Suit Gundam series, giving them a more human-demonic nature than strictly robotic. He commissioned Yamashita to create "a demon", "a giant barely under the control of humankind". Yamashita thus drew inspiration for the design of the machines from Gulliver's Travels, with the idea of representing an enormous power restrained, a giant that resembled a relief in a wall. Since the delivery of the preparatory sketches, Yamashita's drawings caused such a stir that even Neon Genesis EvangelionFor the appearance and role of the humanoids, the authors took inspiration from Mazinger Z, Shutendoji, and Devilman. Believing that the power was "something very scary", Anno insisted on the threatening aspect of the units, trying to make the Evangelion look like "an anti-hero, something terrifying". Before deciding on the final design he drew a preliminary draft of the Eva similar to a Devilman. In the sketch the Eva had a curved back, a narrow waist, and a flat, thick chest, which resembled the "demonic" face of the Mazinger. In his original proposal, the Evangelion would have had a dark and gloomy color, except for the eyes, which he left white and circled in red, just like Mazinger Z. The intention was to inspire terror and make children understand how scary real life could be.
Another source of inspiration was a male character in the video game Cho Aniki named El&Topo, on which Yamashita based Eva-02's appearance. In the design stages, he changed his mind about their appearance several times; for example, in preliminary sketches, he thought about giving 01 a single oblique protrusion on the left side of the head or two frontal horns, which were later abandoned in favor of the final design. Anno and animator Yoh Yoshinari also made some sketches of the Eva-01. Yoshinari tried to animate the units using rulers, as in the case of the second episode, in which he tried to draw almost the entire face and shoulders of 01 in such a way. Sadamoto at first colored it white, creating an image he said was similar to an RX-78 Gundam or an Ingram from Patlabor. While working on the Evas' design, he also worked on a project called Suzuka Hachitai, in which he designed suits similar to the Evangelions'.
For the movements, the director asked to recreate "the noise that the bundles of wires would make if they were contracting like muscles", treating them as if they were living beings. For this reason, all the sounds normally used in other mecha anime were avoided; for example, to reproduce the sound of the Prog-Knife, Anno and Toru Noguchi, the sound effects editor, reworked the metallic noise of a real cutter. To give the Eva's cockpit the image of a mother's womb, Anno asked Shiro Sagisu, who was responsible for the series' soundtrack, to compose a melody that would accentuate the feeling of nostalgia.