Do you think Anno did drugs?

[chaosakita]

Think about it, the idea of breaking down your AT field is a lot like LSD.

[TheAdmiral]

Think about it, the idea of breaking down your AT field is a lot like LSD.

...Or like breaking-down the barrier of the ego

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

He dropped LSD, but he never inhaled.

Wait...

[Chuckman]

Based on the impression of him and the society he lives in, I'd say almost certainly not.

You don't need drugs to experience ego death anyway.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

^ Maybe Anno is the drug.

Sorry, I don't know how seriously this is supposed to be taken. I personally don't think he did drugs for basically the same reasons Chuckman specified. That, and if he did drugs we'd probably never hear from him again.

[Reichu]

Antidepressants, maybe.

[pwhodges]

Alcohol? Caffeine?

[Arcadia's legacy]

Coffee does appear rather frequently in NGE

[pwhodges]

And beer, for that matter!

[cyharding]

Moyoco did say in Insufficient Directionthat he liked to drink lots of beer, which led in part to him being so heavy for a time.

[Ray]

Some of the most sober people have made some of the most surreal cracked out crap, and some of the most drugged out strung out people have made some of the most straight laced serious stuff you've ever seen.

Hunter S Thompson, anyone?

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

For us sober people, art is how we try to experience illegal drugs. Why take LSD when I can make a trippy movie?

[Tumbling Down]

I'm so sick of this "if something is creative, it must have been influenced by drugs" thing. I've been seeing it over and over again for most of the time I've been alive.

[Reichu]

Tumbling Down: The meme seems to arise from a fundamental misunderstanding of how many creative minds work. I also find the nonspecificity of the word "drug" to produce a fair amount of irony. I mean, I assume hallucinogenics are what was meant, but it's hard for someone like me to hear "this show is so weird, the creator must've used drugs", since I've been put on drugs to make me more "normal". Far from assisting the creative juices, psychiatric drugs tend to stem them instead.

[Tumbling Down]

Tumbling Down: The meme seems to arise from a fundamental misunderstanding of how many creative minds work. I also find the nonspecificity of the word "drug" to produce a fair amount of irony.

Hehe. I'm one of those guys who didn't pay attention in health class. "Yeah, I get it, drugs are bad. Why do I have to learn all the different ways in which all the different drugs are bad? Eff this class."

[Moap]

A lot of the scenes in NGE almost directly tie in to common themes/hallucinations Ive heard others report and some that I've seen myself whilst under the influence of strong hallucinogens such as LSD and Mushrooms. However, these same hallucinations can be induced by being sleep deprived, starved, or in a survival situation; of course many of these are no doubt onset by the body's release of DMT, that's still a lot different than smoking it yourself. My point is that you can trip hard without ever touching drugs, a shaman I know claims he has trip feelings after intense yoga sessions, and tons of people have claimed to me they can get to an alternate state of mind through meditation.

Also as far as I know Japan's society is much less accepting of drugs than the US, so I think it's extremely unlikely that Anno is or ever was a regular drug user. Did he try them and draw inspiration from it? Maybe, I've always liked to think the water droplet cuts are an LSD reference.

[Reichu]

I've always liked to think the water droplet cuts are an LSD reference.

I've heard that they're a reference to the Japanese creation myth, which seems a little more germane to NGE's themes than LSD.

[Moap]

I've heard that they're a reference to the Japanese creation myth, which seems a little more germane to NGE's themes than LSD.

Well if you believe in Stoned Ape theory than most of the symbolism in NGE can be traced back to hard hallucinogens, notably Psilocybe/Amanita mushrooms and also Peyote here in the Americas. LSD might not have been synthesized until the 20th century, but it certainly produces a similar experience. And you don't need to take just the words of hippies on that, studies have shown that tolerances to one of these hard hallucinogens also influences the tolerance to the other ones. LSD could be considered the hallucinogen of the new century, but that is a bit of a stretch.

Even if Anno did believe in Stoned Ape theory though, that hardly makes it a sure thing Anno or the production team did these drugs firsthand. /there are dozens of trip reports online to read for people curious about what its like: So even if there are drug references in Evangelion, its doesn't mean that Anno did them. Of course why would you make art about a drug if you hadn't been inspired by it personally?
I think Eva's symbolism is like an onion, it could be both. On one level it could be the creation of Japan, on the other level is could be LSD.

[Sachi]

Anno may not have taken any drugs, but he damn near created one. A helplessly addicting dive into the psyche, full of Freudian symbols and rapidly flashing images that leave you in altered state of mind and questioning who you are by the end of it, complete with random flashbacks years after the fact? The only thing missing is a broken family, bankruptcy, and a lifetime of regret, but I still have years of merchandise collecting before I can completely rule that one out.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

The answer to this question is hidden in a cave... A cave hidden deep somewhere in a virgin island discovered by three children set adrift after an intense battle at sea.

Yes, I see the answer there, deep inside that hidden island cave, and it is mushrooms! Mushrooms eaten by Shinji Higuchi in the absence of Hideaki Anno.