Hideaki Anno interview 14/07/2012

[Warren Peace]

It's good to know that Anno seems to have the artistic freedom to do what he wants with Rebuild. Win lose or draw, that's the way it should be.

[Xard]

In the original Eva, there were many people who took something that I created as a source of amusement beyond those limits and made it into an object of dependence. I wanted to take responsibility for the fact that such people had been so "inflated." I wanted to bring the work back within the boundaries of entertainment.

a) one of the best Anno quotes ever
b) even if Rebuild ends up being huge pile of dog shit this vindicates the project.

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.

Well yeah, and eva fandom was from the start filled with mentally disturbed fuckers who decoded more hidden "meanings" from it than Charles Manson from The White Album and it generally just deepened the negative tendencies of its viewers back then. Eva's "anti-otaku" message pretty much completely backfired.


This is fascinating form of damage control, even if quite late in the line.

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 see the interview implying this. Anno's "highly personal art made for himself only" period stretches from NGE to Shiki Jitsu. EoE, Love & Pop and Shiki Jitsu is the film trio Hideaki Anno made without giving a fuck about how the films would be received.

Cutey Honey (2004) was the turning point and the first film in a while Anno made keeping in mind the entertainment value and audience. Rebuild follows the pattern started then, for "good and bad".

Either that, or his definition of "entertainment" isn't "hating otakus." He can be entertaining and still have room for some intellectual material. (Specifically, I'm thinking of Anno's involvement with His & Her Circumstances.)

I wouldn't really use Kare Kano for example given that the show follows - contentwise - manga slavishly and Anno did the ragequit before he got to implement any of the original stuff he had been thinking of for it.

[Chuckman]

I don't think it's true that EoE was made without giving a fuck how it would be received. It's riddled with commentary on the audience' reception of the television series and directly addresses the audience about several aspects of Eva fandom. If anything, it cares so much about how it will be received it gets in the way of its own artistic development.

[Xard]

I don't think it's true that EoE was made without giving a fuck how it would be received. It's riddled with commentary on the audience' reception of the television series and directly addresses the audience about several aspects of Eva fandom. If anything, it cares so much about how it will be received it gets in the way of its own artistic development.

Anno preaching to audience is different about Anno giving a fuck if people "like" it or not.

Of course otherwise he greatly cared about film's quality as Anno's will to compete with Miyazaki's Mononoke in terms of cinematic quality revelas

[Chuckman]

Anno preaching to audience is different about Anno giving a fuck if people "like" it or not.

Of course otherwise he greatly cared about film's quality as Anno's will to compete with Miyazaki's Mononoke in terms of cinematic quality revelas

In this case, they are in fact linked, although if you must play semantics, his concern was not that the audience liked or disliked the series, but that they were liking it in the wrong way. EoE takes the subtext of Shinji being a medium to convey the series' messages to the audience and makes it text. He is us and the film castigates us for shipping the characters and sexualizing the girls. That's not the sole focus but it heavily influences the narrative up to and including the last line. Asuka's disgust isn't directed at Shinji, it's directed at the audience for feeling a lingering moment of hope that they'll be boyfriend and girlfriend now because the movie is over. It's one last slap to remind you of the point.

Like or dislike isn't even really the issue. Eva is not an abstraction, it was crafted with the audience in mind. Rebuild is also crafted with the audience mind, but (so far) with a different aim, almost to the point of pandering.

[chaosakita]

What's the point about worrying about a movie? Even if there really were problems, it's not like we can do anything about them.

[Hyper Shinchan]

What's the point about worrying about a movie? Even if there really were problems, it's not like we can do anything about them.

What are you talking about? We could start whining about it for at least fifteen years or so.

[chaosakita]

What are you talking about? We could start whining about it for at least fifteen years or so.

Oops, I posted this in the wrong topic. It was meant to be in a response to the guy who is worried that the Eva film is supposed to be behind schedule. I was looking for the post there, and I wondered where it went.

[gatotsu911]

I can't change my essential nature.

Anno-sensei, that's not very PoMo of you.

[Blue Monday]

^ I'm hinging a lot on that one quote, haha.

Come on Anno!

[gwern]

So according to the photograph, this was published in page b1 & b3 of the 14 July 2012 issue of _Front Runner_, right?

In the original Eva, there were many people who took something that I created as a source of amusement beyond those limits and made it into an object of dependence. I wanted to take responsibility for the fact that such people had been so "inflated." I wanted to bring the work back within the boundaries of entertainment. However, I have now withdrawn from dealing with it [or: from treating it thematically?]. Such people will not change no matter what I say. I now well understand that there is nothing I can do.

Yeah, whatever Anno - that's not what you were saying 16 years ago.

If I accept investments from outsiders, then I face the limitation of having to make a cost-effective work. By using my own money, in all aspects I can take responsibility and do what I want. We have staff for distribution and advertisment as well, but ultimately I am responsible. I don't want to make excuses like, "the finished work was excellent but the advertising was poor."

A slam at Yamaga & Okada over _Wings of Honneamise_ where they said just that?

Anno: I want to convey to children the information that there are frightening things in the world. Today, these things are too much concealed from children, including [what is shown on] television. When I was a child my town was filled with frightening things. There was a darkness behind my house. The corpses of cats and dogs had been left abandoned. Even the adults were frightened - because I was around people who had experienced going to war.

Another example of Anno's 'poison' trope.

You were not the only one, good sir. But, this entire interview is rather interesting...and gives me the feeling 3.0 is going to turn everything on its head.

I think I have to echo Vicious. You notice the entire interview was practically about SFX and CGI as awesome things? I like them too, but given Anno's dismissive comments, it sounds like we can expect 3.0 to be as gorgeous as 2.0... and not much more.

The comments about Anno funding the production himself (!) make me wonder yet again just how Gainax's financials were arranged - the budget for setting up Khara and making _1.0_ must have run into the dozens of millions, and nothing he did post-_End of Evangelion_ was blockbuster successful, so should we infer that he had a significant royalty in NGE TV and EoE and made his millions there?

Thanks. That's quite interesting. I always thought the reason for so much recycling in 1.0 was because they sold it to investors as a low-risk quick cashgrab to get the project off the ground. Only then with the success of 1.0 decided to exercise more freedom in 2.0. Now I guess the real reason for the recycling is Anno's relatively shallow pockets at the time.

I don't really think there's a difference there; Anno personally putting in most (?) of his fortune is taking a huge risk compared to investors who are only putting up a fraction of their net worth or annual revenues. If anything, Anno had hugely more incentive to not take a risk with _1.0_.

[Hyper Shinchan]

Yeah, whatever Anno - that's not what you were saying 16 years ago.

Who cares?

The comments about Anno funding the production himself (!) make me wonder yet again just how Gainax's financials were arranged - the budget for setting up Khara and making _1.0_ must have run into the dozens of millions, and nothing he did post-_End of Evangelion_ was blockbuster successful, so should we infer that he had a significant royalty in NGE TV and EoE and made his millions there?

Just the simple fact that he essentially ended up "stealing" Evangelion from Gainax still gives me a lot of questions about Gainax's management of copyrights, royalties, etc.

[gwern]

Who cares?

Anyone interested in interpretation and considering how much weight to put on this claim.

Just the simple fact that he essentially ended up "stealing" Evangelion from Gainax still gives me a lot of questions about Gainax's management of copyrights, royalties, etc.

As far as I know, we don't know that Gainax isn't receiving a ton of money as licensing fees for the copyrights and that the situation is not exactly as presented in Anno's little autobiography: he wanted to make Rebuild, Yamaga wanted to make Gurren Lagann, and they agreed Anno could go make another studio to film Rebuild.

[Hyper Shinchan]

Anyone interested in interpretation and considering how much weight to put on this claim.

Just because he could have stated different objectives and different beliefs, it doesn't mean that he wasn't being serious with his statement, probably Anno is trying also to correct his own past mistakes.
[EDIT]Actually I'm not sure that he was saying different things to begin with, Anno expressed in the past a sense of disgust for the obsession with Evangelion and its usage as a form of escapism, I think that it's not really that different from saying that Evangelion was inflated beyond its original value as work of entertainment, unless I'm missing your exact point.[/EDIT]

As far as I know, we don't know that Gainax isn't receiving a ton of money as licensing fees for the copyrights and that the situation is not exactly as presented in Anno's little autobiography: he wanted to make Rebuild, Yamaga wanted to make Gurren Lagann, and they agreed Anno could go make another studio to film Rebuild.

Yeah, this is possible but I'm not sure about it, actually I would really like to know more about it.

[gwern]

Yeah, this is possible but I'm not sure about it, actually I would really like to know more about it.

So would I, so would I...

[Warren Peace]

Yeah, whatever Anno - that's not what you were saying 16 years ago.

I don't even understand what you mean by that -- how could he have said this during the making of NGE? It can only be said in retrospect. These words concern people's reactions to his anime-changing creation, and his response to it in the years since. Of course he couldn't say that sixteen years ago!

You get the sense that a lot of people have their guns already aimed when it comes to Rebuild, and are just waiting for the right ammo. And even if they can't find the right ammo, will stuff something in the barrel...

[gwern]

I don't even understand what you mean by that -- how could he have said this during the making of NGE? It can only be said in retrospect. These words concern people's reactions to his anime-changing creation, and his response to it in the years since. Of course he couldn't say that sixteen years ago!

You're not very charitably reading my criticism. There's plenty in that quote which the Anno of 16 years ago could know (or not know, as the case may be...): for example, that he was only making NGE as an amusement (!).

[Warren Peace]

Perhaps if you were less vague I'd be more charitable. Everything in that quote deals with what happened after Eva. On "amusement", yes I believe him there. He did not create it to be an "obsession", which is what the people he's referring to made it.

[Sailor Star Dust]

Yeah, this is possible but I'm not sure about it, actually I would really like to know more about it.

Sorry if I misunderstood (you're asking about the source, or...?), it's late over here: http://forum.evageeks.org/post/369167/Gainax-and-Anno-splitting-up-over-New-Movie-Edition/#369167

[Hyper Shinchan]

It was just a hopeful wish, I'd like to know more about the exact details of the right transfer, the whole matter still seems kinda shady or at least quite mysterious to me.