Hideaki Anno interview 14/07/2012

[Chrad]

Great interview. Thanks for the translations.
Anno is looking sharp these days. Interesting to compare him to the neckbearded, unkempt, baggy clothed, scared man he appeared to be back in the 90s.

And as long as Anno & Co. deliver the goods creatively & commercially with the last two parts - at this point there's no reason to believe they won't- Anno will have a well off studio to create NEW NON-EVA works of his own if he chooses to do so!

About time.

[SEELE-01]

Especially when taken with 3.0's piano teaser, this might be Anno promising to be more optimistic in his story-telling, rather than bashing his viewers with a sense of emotional ambiguity

Noo... He's trolling us... I just know it

[Na7e]

-- The third part of the four-part "Evangelion: New Theatrical Edition" series will open in theaters on November 17. In contrast with the original film version, where the protagonist was unable to do anything, in the new work he fights desperately to save a girl. Is this a reflection of a change within yourself?

Anno: Hmmm. It's probably [just] the era. It's just, I think, that the way the audience perceives [it] has changed. I can't change my essential nature.

With quotes like these...2.22's ending seems to be in for a brutal subversion, and those praising Shinji's [s]Heroism[/s] temper tantrum are about to be trolled.

[Kendrix]

So basically this is the reason for Rebuild being more about popcorn entertainment than psychoanalysis? He's not interested in creating works that people will emotionally obsess over anymore? That's kind of lame. Many authors would kill for a work of theirs to be as emotionally resonant and as studied by the fans as Eva has proven to be.

Oh well, good thing he didn't have this mentality from the start, or this site might not even exist.

And the original Eva was just a "source of amusement" to him, really? Not an outlet or downright self-therapy? I kind of doubt that.

I don't think that he meant that as "It#s just a fun thing" but as in that, y'know, something meant to critizise obsession creating more obsession is just plain silly.


As always, anything that comes out of Anno's mouths is intriguing and surprisigly funny (Proud of Godzilla XD But yeah, I got the feeling that the "serious, get ow my lawn-y" Japanese don't seem to get that huge quantities the rest of the world LOVE their silly movies. )

It seems that he has taken a chill pill, he didn't have the confidence to say "The nutjobs aren't my fault, I'm just trying to make a good film" before, he used to take them *very* personally, didn't he?
That's a healthier attitude, if you ask me, one that leaves you with freedom.

He said that he *is going to "take responsibility", so to met it sound like, yeah, he's gonna try and clear up the misunderstandings, but it's not his fault that some ppl are idiots.

Also, I'm feeling just a liiitle vindicated by the "It's just different perception" line, that's what I#ve been saying, that original!Shinji would've done the same, that the difference is less the characters themselves and just slightly tweaked circumstances for fun results.

(But the line about protecting his wife was cute. Didn't know about that before. Lucky Mrs. Anno.)

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Apparently the only reason why Doritos was in Eva is because either Doritos liked Eva, or Anno likes Doritos. Regardless, this is rather interesting. I can't find the budgets for either films, but this is looking like either one of the first or one of the few series of independent films that was this wildly successful.

[Tribblepoo]

That is interesting and now I think I am beginning to get a sense of why he made the changes he did. At the core, it is still the same story, but things almost look like they are going to end up better.

Still, I can't shake the rather comical come-away I have with this interview; Anno is making a fan-movie based on his own work. Probably not on track at all, but a funny thought that popped into my head when I was reading.

[Na7e]

That is interesting and now I think I am beginning to get a sense of why he made the changes he did. At the core, it is still the same story, but things almost look like they are going to end up better.

Well it can't get much worse. The only reason we have a third movie right now is because a creepy moon rapist decided to intervene, stabbing Shinji in the back. Not that Shinji minded...he's more than content to stay in Unit-01 with Rei at the moment. I doubt that once the Rei/Yui connections start popping up though.

[Tribblepoo]

Well it can't get much worse. The only reason we have a third movie right now is because a creepy moon rapist decided to intervene, stabbing Shinji in the back. Not that Shinji minded...he's more than content to stay in Unit-01 with Rei at the moment. I doubt that once the Rei/Yui connections start popping up though.

Well, what I meant was that the overall tone of the series thus far is more upbeat. There was an upbeat tone to the original series, but from the beginning there was always a subtle sense of wrongness. I haven't been able to see that in Rebuild.

[Reichu]

I haven't been able to see that in Rebuild.

It can't get much more wrong than being told out-right that Shinji and Rei's destinies were written before they were born, and their friendship is "all according to plan".

[Tribblepoo]

It can't get much more wrong than being told out-right that Shinji and Rei's destinies were written before they were born, and their friendship is "all according to plan".

I may be reading more into it than there is in NGE and I admit that, but there is something in NGE that I just can't quite pin down that gives a sense of wrongness about the whole series that is present from the beginning. There's a state of being about the characters and a sort of moodiness that isn't really present in Rebuild. Now this may simply be due to time constraints. The theme of stagnation was conveyed wonderfully in a visual context in NGE but that eats up time.

There are also more overt differences as well then lend to a more upbeat attitude in Rebuild; the presence of Mari, Kaji not jumping ship (literally) on friends and associates, the changes to Asuka's character and the change to the relationship between Shinji and Rei (namely with Rei being much more assertive in the friendship).

It seems to me as if Anno spoke truthfully in that he was preserving the character of Eva, but making it a more palatable action-oriented fare.

Please note that I am not in any way dismissing either NGE or Rebuild. They are different and equally entertaining in their own way. I am just trying to pin down something I sense in the way of a fundamental difference between the two.

[Warren Peace]

Why must the entirety of NGE be seen through the prism of its final quarter? For much of its life, Eva was a rollicking adventure series about pilots and robots and giant effin' monsters. Rebuild is completely in line with that. "Dance Like You Want To Win" is as much NGE as "Do You Love Me" (and nothing in Rebuild is as silly as "Dance"). Those who think the new series' tone is a big departure need to rewatch NGE's first half. It just isn't.

[Na7e]

Those who think the new series' tone is a big departure need to rewatch NGE's first half. It just isn't.

Except for 2.22...we've compressed 8-19 with shades of 22,23, and EOE. The rebuilds tone is off because it renders the descent arc to jumping off a cliff skipping past the bitter end on its way down landing squarely into EOE territory where Shinji has lost all ability to care about himself or others because his dad betrayed him.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

2.22's tone is only reminiscent of EoE if you've already seen EoE and can recognize a giant white Rei and the world ending. In other words, the events look loosely the same, but the tone is completely different. Everything else about that climax is NOT in tone with EoE. For example, Shinji's relationship with Rei is brought into focus in 2.22's climax. This deviates completely from EoE where Shinji seemed to have Asuka on the mind more than anything else, and it's not even the same Asuka that's in the new movies.

Second, the song playing is focusing on a specific relationship. (Again, Shinji's relationship with Rei.) EoE's "Komm, Susser Tod" focuses on Shinji's turmoil and his love/hate relationship with the world.

Third, 2.22's climax does not deal with death at all, whereas death runs rampant in EoE, emotionally setting Shinji up for his Third Impact business. Misato dies only after emotionally confusing him, Asuka dies before Shinji can reconcile what he did in the film's start, both the events after Rei II's death from Ep. 23 and Kaworu's death from Ep. 24 were established in the film itself as playing a large role in Shinji's psychological stability. Heck, the promotional poster of the film itself prints Japanese text that translates "Wouldn't it be nice if everyone were to die?" (Interesting to note that Third Impact never killed anyone in EoE.) In these new movies NO ONE HAS DIED YET. No one. Asuka's alive, Misato's alive, Kaworu's yet to really be established in order to die yet anyway, Rei's kinda in limbo, Ritsuko didn't get shot by Gendo in some creepy old man's basement where he keeps some weird, bleeding half-dead body... it's a completely different set of circumstances building up to a completely different tone in the film.

So, no. The events look vaguely familiar to EoE in 2.22, but EoE's tone is absolutely no where to be found in any of the NME series as of yet. (That's probably why I'm able to rewatch 2.22 more often than EoE, because it's just not quite as painful to watch.) And I have no idea why people keep suggesting that EoE's tone is in 2.22 somewhere. None at all.

[Warren Peace]

^
^

That's a whole different issue. It tells its own story using elements of those things, it doesn't take ALL of that and put it in the movie. I don't get the comparison to EoE at all. He quits Nerv for about as much time, and does much of the same things, as in the series. He seems to be in a similar headspace, certainly not yet in a "drag me" depression. Most of the material involving Shinji's rejection of piloting carries over from NGE, if I'm remembering right.

EDIT: And what FFF said. 2.0's tone is similar to the earliest Asuka episodes more than anything else.

[liquidus118]

Well that was certainly eye-opening as to what Anno wants to do with Rebuild. I'm more interested than ever to see what he's going to pull, especially since he said he's independently financed it specifically so it doesn't have to be a financial success. It makes me think that whatever Anno pulls in 3.0, it's going to be at the very least controversial, enough so to ward some people away from Final.


Then again this is Eva, so I suppose it was always going to be massive amounts of money regardless what anyone at Khara does.

[Bagheera]

As if I didnt have huge amounts of respect for the man before.....I am now just overwhelmed with a sense of amazement that he would say such a thing. As a Godzilla and tokusatsu fan myself I have even greater respect for the man now than before if thats even possible!

Agreed. Godzilla is where it's at; such a damn fine film on so many levels, and it shows Anno's got his head in the right place.

So basically this is the reason for Rebuild being more about popcorn entertainment than psychoanalysis? He's not interested in creating works that people will emotionally obsess over anymore? That's kind of lame.

If by "lame" you mean awesome, sure. It's a work of entertainment, not a scholarly text or a manual for therapy. It should be treated as such. Doesn't mean he can't make it a smart or emotionally compelling piece, it just means he has the proper perspective on things and isn't forgetting his place.

[Vicious]

If by "lame" you mean awesome, sure.

And if by "awesome" you mean "creatively limiting", sure. Why hold back on your artistic aspirations just because a portion of the audience might become deeply entranced by it? What the hell is awesome about restricting yourself in your artistic endeavors? Nothing, that's what.

It's a work of entertainment, not a scholarly text or a manual for therapy. It should be treated as such. Doesn't mean he can't make it a smart or emotionally compelling piece, it just means he has the proper perspective on things and isn't forgetting his place.

Seriously? Are you really trying to dictate how humanity should treat art and entertainment? Doesn't that strike you as a little presumptuous? People are free to treat a fictional work however they want to and can attribute to it as much meaning as they feel it holds for them. If you think Evangelion amounts to little more than a source of amusement, then more power to you, but don't try and pass off that perspective as THE ONE AND ONLY PROPER VIEW to be forced on everyone else. Things have different meaning for different people.

[Bagheera]

And if by "awesome" you mean "creatively limiting", sure. Why hold back on your artistic aspirations just because a portion of the audience might become deeply entranced by it? What the hell is awesome about restricting yourself in your artistic endeavors? Nothing, that's what.

I don't see any evidence that Anno is limiting himself, honestly. Quite the opposite in fact.

Seriously? Are you really trying to dictate how humanity should treat art and entertainment?

Nope. If you'll read my post again you'll note that I said Eva is a work of entertainment and should be treated as such. You can treat it otherwise if you care to, but I'm glad Anno doesn't seem to share your sentiments. And really, it's his work: he can treat it however he likes, and I don't think it's presumptuous in the slightest to applaud him for having a healthy perspective on the matter.

[liquidus118]

I feel like throwing my two cents in.

Treating Rebuild as entertainment is all fine and dandy, but the way in which Anno seems to be talking about it in this interview makes it sound like he intends it to be just entertainment, which is a very different ball game to being entertainment in general, particularly in Eva's case. The latter half of NGE is not just entertainment. End of Evangelion is definitely not just entertainment. These are what made Eva great, and I think Viscious is just responding to the fact that Anno's comments seem to suggest he could be moving away from these parts of the original series.


Eva isn't a scholarly text, but it sure as hell isn't just plain entertainment either. If Anno truly is going into 3.0 intending to just make something purely entertaining then I believe it will suffer greatly for it. Not to put words in Vicious' mouth but it sounds like this is at the core of his concern rather than wanting Rebuild to be a 'scholarly text'.

[Jornophelanthas]

To me, Anno's more emotionally stable comments in this interview remind me of what one reviewer frome Anime News Network wrote about Rebuild 2.0 back in 2009:
"Evangelion 2.0 feels as though the project has been put on mood stabilizers: it's not any happier, but it's more stable and certainly more focused. And in the end, it's a vast improvement."

I find this an uncanny parallel.

(Also, please do not go on a tangent to discuss the quality of the movie based on this soundbyte; I'm sure that very discussion already took place in 2009.)