Seele's Instrumentality Report and Aum Shinrikyo

[TomsonPRD]

I was reading an Italian article from 2015 about the Human Instrumentality Project autotranslated here where the author points out the influences on Anno and Evangelion of the Japanese terrorist sect Aum Shinrikyo, which for those who don't know preached themselves as the only possible alternative in front of the imminent end of Western society (and therefore the Japanese one as well), now corrupt and unable to progress, blinded by a consumerist frenzy.
In short, it was from this group of fanatics that Anno probably took his cue for the creation of Seele, as he himself stated, explaining that during the initial steps of the anime's production, their goals were very similar, if not practically identical. More on this story here.
Now, the interesting detail: at the end (8:01) of the Aum propaganda video shown in the article I noticed a frame that looks terribly similar to the Instrumentality report we see in episode 2 (first aired Oct. 11, 1995): the layout is almost identical, two senteces are exactly the same (Top Secret / 17th Interim Report), and Aum's title reads somewhat as "Project for Human's Salvation". What I believe is that Anno's insane perfectionism went so far as to use elements found in a single frame to create parallels so subtle and insignificant that are almost absurd.

SPOILER: Show

Top Secret / Human Instrumentality Project / International Alliance Supreme Executive Council / 17th Interim Report / Human Instrumentality Committee / 2015 Business Plan Outline / Summary

These may be remarks without any logical basis, but does anyone know the content and context of this Aum document, since I'm not really that good reading Japanese? Just imagining how that madman managed to find such a minuscular frame and implement it in Eva blows my mind.

[Zusuchan]

I don't know Japenese nor do I have the time (or quite frankly the inclination-but since it's currently a week off from school, I hope I'll be forgiven) to adequately go through the writings right now, but I do think that Anno being inspired by Aum Shinrikyo's actions in at least some way even before the sarin attack in 1995 is entirely possible, though in that case, Aum would also most certainly not have been the only significant inspiration for Seele or NGE in general.

[SilverBunyip]

I'm afraid I can't help with the frame (the image quality is just too crappy, sorry) but the inspiration is clear and probably subtle enough that Anno didn't think he needed to rework it. I'm curious to know precisely what aspects of NGE were changed because of the attack, Azuma's altogether too vague for my liking. Also, while I was looking for a better quality image I came across this pretty disturbing video on Niconico which sets images from Aum's propaganda video to 'A Cruel Angel's Thesis'.

[JoelcrNeto]

It is really impressive that Anno used a sect propaganda frame as a reference, lol.

Well, this is what I can read in that picture:

極秘
Top secret

人類救済計画
Mankind Salvation Project

オウム真理教
Aum Shinrikyo

科学技術庁
Science and Technology Agency¹

第１７次中間報告
17th Interim Report

¹ The Science and Technology Agency was a Japanese government agency that existed between 1956 and 2001. Source: Wikipedia (page in Japanese)

[TomsonPRD]

Also, while I was looking for a better quality image I came across this pretty disturbing video on Niconico which sets images from Aum's propaganda video to 'A Cruel Angel's Thesis'.

Yup, and because that video is the same (albeit with an Hokuto no Ken clip), that particular frame was included again. Also thank you very much for the full translation @JoelcrNeto

SPOILER: Show

[eldomtom2]

When was the Aum video produced? I believe there's a source somewhere that Aum used Evangelion for recruitment, and the quick-cut nature of the sequence (when it seems likely that Evangelion's title sequence had other sources) combined with the aforementioned similarity makes me feel that it is part of that, and came after Evangelion.

In general Aum's influence on Evangelion has been overstated far beyond the evidence - all we have is evidence for Anno removing stuff that came too close to real events.

Also - absolute bullshit that Seele was inspired by Aum. You can see over the production of the series (starting with the proposal and ending with EoE) how they shifted from "obstructive bureaucrats" to "doomsday cult". The shift was gradual, and seems fairly independent of other factors.

[Zusuchan]

Having now read the article, I must say that for all its talk, it does not end up providing anything significantly new in terms of understanding Eva or its nature and I believe the way it's been inspired by the Cold War was something even said by Anno himself. I guess in that sense Aum may have had an influence as part of Japan's "cultural fabric" at the time, in the same way the USSR's fall, Japan's military situation and post-Hiroshima collective trauma did-as part of the 'fabric' of Anno's own world at the time, a fabric that found its way into Eva.

eldomtom2:I only found some info that the Aum video was produced sometime in the '80s/'90s, but nothing more concrete. I also agree that Aum probably did not have that much influence on Eva, but I do think it could have had some sort of an effect on it as part of the cultural fabric mentioned above and while Seele was not based on Aum alone, I think it's not impossible the group developed into the almost-cult it became thanks to at least in some part due to Aum's actions. It must be reiterated, however, that there's not a lot of direct knowledge indeed about Aum having had a role in Eva's production besides from the sarin attack changing some aspects of the show.

[SilverBunyip]

@eldomtom2 Well, I found this reproduction of an interview with a former Aum member from Murakami's book. He's not very explicit about dates but it seems that sometime in the early 90s he created propaganda in the Animation division, he specifically worked on this video because he describes a scene from it. Then he went from working on propaganda to spiritual training, which he was still doing in 1993. I suppose it is still possible that this particular frame was inserted at a later date but I don't think that's particularly likely. So the video was probably produced sometime between 1990, when Masutani joined Aum, 1993, when he was doing spiritual training instead of animating.

[eldomtom2]

It must be reiterated, however, that there's not a lot of direct knowledge indeed about Aum having had a role in Eva's production besides from the sarin attack changing some aspects of the show.

The subsequent police raids changed things, not the sarin attack itself.

@eldomtom2 Well, I found this reproduction of an interview with a former Aum member from Murakami's book. He's not very explicit about dates but it seems that sometime in the early 90s he created propaganda in the Animation division, he specifically worked on this video because he describes a scene from it. Then he went from working on propaganda to spiritual training, which he was still doing in 1993. I suppose it is still possible that this particular frame was inserted at a later date but I don't think that's particularly likely. So the video was probably produced sometime between 1990, when Masutani joined Aum, 1993, when he was doing spiritual training instead of animating.

He doesn't say anything about the video beyond that it spread Aum ideology, and presumably this animation division consisted of more than just him (and he left it rather than it disbanding). This means that the video could be a later production.

And of course, it being right at the end is exactly what you'd expect from a later appendation...

The fact is that the end of the Aum video is too similar to the Evangelion intro to be a coincidence, and considering other likely sources for the Evangelion intro it is more likely that the Aum video is copying it.

[TomsonPRD]

He doesn't say anything about the video beyond that it spread Aum ideology, and presumably this animation division consisted of more than just him (and he left it rather than it disbanding). This means that the video could be a later production.

And of course, it being right at the end is exactly what you'd expect from a later appendation...

Aum had an entire animation studio formed in 1991, called MAT, just for producing recruitment videos like that one (or even video-games). In fact, you can see the condensed version of the 10 episode OVA here, including most of the footage of the first promotional video. We know that they were released between 1991 and 1995 because a FLASH special edition from May 5th, 1995 shows some shots of it (page 13 of this extract), probably because of the interest spike about the sect following the March 20 attacks. Moreover, after the police arrested 200+ Aum members between March 22 and May 16 (again, this all happened months before Episode 2 was broadcasted in October), the Tokyo district court declared bankruptcy for the religious group in 1996, so I cannot imagine how they could still be able to produce animated shorts about their imprisoned leader in such conditions.

And, above all, why would the remains of such a sect take the care to edit old footage with details strictly correlated to Seele, the show's blatantly evil organization? Would that paint them in a better light in the eyes of outsiders? Questionable.

Maybe someone'd be able to find Eva-themed official Aum recruitment videos, but I believe that particular frame was created by Aum members and then included by Anno, not vice versa. He knew a great deal about them and their influence in some aspects of Eva is clear. And I'm not saying it's bad thing, just an interesting quirk!

[eldomtom2]

Aum had an entire animation studio formed in 1991, called MAT, just for producing recruitment videos like that one (or even video-games). In fact, you can see the condensed version of the 10 episode OVA here, including most of the footage of the first promotional video. We know that they were released between 1991 and 1995 because a FLASH special edition from May 5th, 1995 shows some shots of it (page 13 of this extract), probably because of the interest spike about the sect following the March 20 attacks. Moreover, after the police arrested 200+ Aum members between March 22 and May 16 (again, this all happened months before Episode 2 was broadcasted in October), the Tokyo district court declared bankruptcy for the religious group in 1996, so I cannot imagine how they could still be able to produce animated shorts about their imprisoned leader in such conditions.

And, above all, why would the remains of such a sect take the care to edit old footage with details strictly correlated to Seele, the show's blatantly evil organization? Would that paint them in a better light in the eyes of outsiders? Questionable.

Aum was most definitely active post-May 1995, and paying attention to anime. From the introduction to Schizo (not written by Anno):

September, 1995. The Aum training facility at Suginami. A sermon being deivered by Fumihiro Joyu. “At this moment I am researching anime. [The members of] Aum are the so-called ‘Newtypes.’ The children who watch anime are unconsciously choosing and envisioning the form of their own future. In the future, many people will come to possess psychic powers. Armageddon is coming.”

Bochan_bird also claimed that Aum used Evangelion imagery on flyers and used episode screenings to lure people in. I do not consider Bochan an especially reliable source, but the flyer claim was in response to another person who claimed to have seen cult-linked flyers with Evangelion imagery on a trip to Japan circa 1997.
As for why they would use SEELE-linked imagery, remember that we do not know when the film was produced, and that when episode 2 was produced, the Human Instrumentality Committee was not yet SEELE and still had not fully departed from the original UFO-inspired conception of them as obstructive bureaucrats blocking Gendo, the true mastermind, from enacting his (not necessarily negative) plans.
There is also, of course, the possibility that they were just imitating Evangelion imagery without paying much attention to its in-series context. This is made more likely by the fact that the Instrumentality report cover appears in the intro (another similarity, and another one that makes the train of inspiration likely to be Eva -> Aum and not the other way around) - it is easy to see them watching the intro and little else.

He knew a great deal about them

And your evidence for this is? He was aware of them and had opinions on them, but I imagine it'd be hard to find someone in 90s Japan who didn't. It is my opinion that during the 90s Anno was deliberately bigging up his philosophical ambitions with Eva, and I would consider anything he said at the time somewhat suspect.

A final possibilty that has not been mentioned is that both Eva and Aum are mimicking official documentation of some kind. Research on this matter could be useful.

[Shun]

Hi, I'm the author of the article. The point is not that Seele is a copy of Aum Shinrikyo, the point, as Zusuchan well understood, is that Evangelion was created in a specific historical period and was influenced by the zeitgeist, the Japanese cultural fabric of that era. The radio in episode 20 mentions a terrorist attack by a sect and this is probably an influence of Aum's sarin attacks. The Seele is a organization that acts behind the scenes, its members think that human society has reached a dead end and based on ancient texts they plan a salvation (HIP) that to be realized requires a global catastrophe (Third Impact). Aum was a sect that preached the end of the world and the salvation of its followers taking as references various religious and non-religious texts, and and they made attacks against society. Seele is not a copy of Aum, but at the zeitgeist level the aftertaste is similar. Btw, in 2015 I noticed the HIP image on Aum's video, but I didn't mention it because I couldn't find out for sure if it was really something Aum made up or if it was a copy of Evangelion.
Also as Aum has been mentioned sometimes by Anno, Azuma and others, it is evident that Aum is part of the zeitgeist of that era. Seele is a more or less conscious reflection of that set of indefinite anxieties that Anno felt when he made Evangelion. This is the point: observe that Evangelion is a complex work linked to sci-fi fascinations, zeitgeist and the Anno's inner problems.
That said, I don't know how much Anno knew about Aum and how much he took a cue from them, and what he remove from the show. We should ask him.

[Zusuchan]

eldomtom2 wrote:
The subsequent police raids changed things, not the sarin attack itself.

I didn't know about that detail, thank you. Still, the attack did end up having consequences in some way for Eva.

Shun: I wouldn't say I understood the point very well, but I do agree with your central thesis of the cultural zeitgeist and fabric at the time influencing Eva. All artworks are influenced by their time, of course, but there does seem to be something taken from Japan's state at that time, the anxiety and darkness and wish for something better, that found its way into Eva in a way more meaningful and important than that of most artworks that have had the zeitgeist smuggle in them.

The idea that Anno took influence from the events and feelings around him isn't strange, really, knowing that the Cold War did influence NGE (and so in some way did the otaku lifestyle) and I'm pretty certain at least a portion of NGE's initial success in Japan came to be not just because of how it bravely discussed mental problems (Japan has a problem with adequate responses to mental health problems), but also because it kind of managed to be relatable to the people living in this world, a world of an economic crisis, otakus, post-Hiroshima collective trauma, no larger military power for their own country, a terrorist cult etc. I think (even though I have little proof) that NGE really captured a feeling that made it so relatable to the people living then, especially younger ones. And I believe this was at least partially intended by Anno.

And I think in that way trying to find concrete proof for what sort of a role exactly Aum might have played in the conception and development of Seele, because Aum played a role in Eva mostly as a part of the cultural fabric of the time.