UFO 1988 & Neon Genesis Evangelion

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UFO 1988 & Neon Genesis Evangelion

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Postby Shaqui » Sat Feb 26, 2022 6:27 am

New to forum and relatively new to NGE so forgive my ignorance regarding the series as i've only watched it in the last few weeks.

I came across the series by references to it given by a friend helping with translations of the manga 'UFO 1988/1990' which was published irregularly in early issues of Bandai CyberComix' (No.s 4-19).

I have been given to understand that Gainax may initially have been behind this manga, which was a sequel to the British television series 'UFO' and made in 1969-70, and shown in Japan around 1970. It was produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, who were behind the Supermarionation series such as Thunderbirds, which was and is still very popular in Japan as well.

I am given to understand that NGE creator/director Hideaki Anno was very into the Gerry Anderson series, especially the live-action 'UFO', with some NGE characters being 'homages' to those in 'UFO'. e.g. Gendo Ikari and Fuyutsuki are 'based' on Straker and Freeman, while Kaji was inspired by Paul Foster. The look of Rei Ayanami is alleged to have been based on the wigs worn by female staff on Moonbase.

I can see some similarities between aspects of 'UFO 1988/1990', and Neon Genesis Evangelion, but wondered if any fans 'in the know' are able to confirm known links between the series and this manga, please?

Thanks in advance,

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Re: UFO 1988 & Neon Genesis Evangelion

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Postby silvermoonlight » Sat Feb 26, 2022 8:12 am

I had heard something on this, the wiki does also bring up a few things on it as well.

https://wiki.evageeks.org/Tributes_to_Other_Fiction_in_Neon_Genesis_Evangelion

Another Gerry Anderson reference: UFO was an early 1970's UK television sci-fi show[9], with UFO being archaically (and now comically) pronounced as "you-foe". According to Evangelion's character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, the characters of Gendo and Fuyutsuki were modeled after UFO's Commander Ed Straker and Colonel Alec Freeman[10].

Straker was the commander of the clandestine Earth defence organisation SHADO, with Freeman as his right hand man. The two were often seen together.

Freeman's suit more obviously resembles Fuyutsuki's, but with buttons instead of a zip. But in fact Freeman at times wears a suit similar to Strikers straight zip suit.

Straker's SHADO zip up suit bears resemblence to Gendo's Nerv Uniform. Straker's uniform usually features a waistcoat, and lacks the themed cuffs of the Nerv uniforms.


The organisation SHADO which Straker commands is a clandestine with an underground HQ disguised beneath a film studio. Much of the show focuses on Straker's running of SHADO, as task which he is utterly devoted to, to the exclusion of his personal life.

Jason Hellwege writes:

"In Ep. ?? where they flash back through the setting up of NERV, there's a

scene where Fuyutsuki confronts Gendou in his office. Fuyutsuki has a briefcase on which he slides his nameplate across to reveal text on a red background reading "DESTRUCT NEGATIVE" on it. He then opens the case.

This is nearly identical to the exploding briefcase of Commander Straker from the Gerry Anderson series "UFO" (1969/70), the only difference being the location of the nameplate on the briefcase.

...I've also noticed that Anno was in his youth a member of an Anime society called "S.H.A.D.O.", SHADO being the military organisation from the series UFO. So it would appear that he should be familiar with the Anderson

universe(s)."
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Re: UFO 1988 & Neon Genesis Evangelion

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Postby Shaqui » Sat Feb 26, 2022 12:08 pm

View Original Postsilvermoonlight wrote:I had heard something on this, the wiki does also bring up a few things on it as well.

https://wiki.evageeks.org/Tributes_to_Other_Fiction_in_Neon_Genesis_Evangelion



Thank you. Funnily, I was watching the episode with the briefcase yesterday, and noticed that catch!

But is anyone here familiar with UFO 1988/1990 as well, please?

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Re: UFO 1988 & Neon Genesis Evangelion

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Postby UrsusArctos » Mon Feb 28, 2022 1:38 am

Welcome to the forum, Shaqui!

Very interesting, I hadn't heard of the manga UFO 1988/1990 until you mentioned it, and most of my internet searches turn up things on UFO sightings in 1988. I finally dug up references in the Japanese-language Wikipedia, and it's true that the early issues of the spinoff manga UFO 1988/1990 were in Cyber Comics, which was initially published and edited as a project under Toshio Okada's General Products. There really is a Gainax connection there, since Okada (better known as "OtaKing") was one of Gainax's founders. The writers of UFO 1988/1990 appear to be Reijiro Kato (issue 4 only) and Masahiro Atobe for all the others. Kato appears to be a genuine manga artist, but Atobe's name was written in hiragana and gives the impression of being a pseudonym (perhaps for another Gainax employee we're familiar with?)

I'm afraid I have no further Japanese-language skills that might help tracking down a deeper Gainax connection there, and I suspect that the truth might be buried in now-defunct Japanese 1990s era Geocities pages. However, I must say I'm very curious to see the translations of the UFO 1988/1990 manga if you intend to release them! That sounds like a fascinating project, and I think it would be very revealing if it showed similarities to later works by Gainax, particularly works by Hideaki Anno.

View Original PostShaqui wrote:I am given to understand that NGE creator/director Hideaki Anno was very into the Gerry Anderson series, especially the live-action 'UFO', with some NGE characters being 'homages' to those in 'UFO'. e.g. Gendo Ikari and Fuyutsuki are 'based' on Straker and Freeman, while Kaji was inspired by Paul Foster. The look of Rei Ayanami is alleged to have been based on the wigs worn by female staff on Moonbase.


Anno being a huge UFO fan is confirmed. I had to look up Paul Foster, and I found this page on a lovely new fansite about the UFO series. Gendo's roundabout recruitment of Fuyutsuki in Episode 21 seems to be a straight reference to the way Straker tested and then recruited Foster, which makes Fuyutsuki a combination of both Foster and Freeman. Rei's distinctive hair does resemble the moonbase wigs, indeed, but the standout character design reference to me is Midori Kitakami from Evangelion 3.0, who seems to be the Rebuild movies' take on Gay Ellis.

Alas, I'm not familiar with UFO and I guess it doesn't help that I'm from a different generation. It doesn't help that UFO isn't available on any streaming services that I know of. I would love to watch the episodes in high quality without having to visit any dubious websites, and I'm not yet sure if I'm ready to buy the DVD (if it is available).
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Re: UFO 1988 & Neon Genesis Evangelion

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Postby EvaChero » Mon Feb 28, 2022 10:38 am

If nothing else UFO is an interesting snapshot of what Gerry thought the "future" (1980's and beyond) might look like. As usual the vehicles were better than
what we had, but the computers in the show were exceedingly primitive and large...pretty kewl stuff tho. Sylvia had some pretty wild ideas about female uniform standards.

Currently the series can be streamed on Roku for free along with it's descendent "Space 1999"(excellent season 1, horrible season 2 thanks to Freddy Freiberger but I digress) The DVD's are readily available as well. Love the show still although it used to scare the diapers off me in 1970......

https://www.roku.com/whats-on/tv-shows/ ... 208b792e6f
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