Parallels between the settings of Evangelion & WWII

[MAGI]

I've noticed this a while ago, but never bothered to write it up. But here's what I noticed: There are some superficial parallels between the settings of Evangelion and Japanese History leading up to and during World War II.

I'll begin with something we all know. Many of the character's names are after World War II ships. Confirmed.

Let's move on.

Christianiy Concepts/Dead Sea Scrolls
Christianity was a new religion that was introduced into Japan, which was rejected. Japan then isolates itself for years.

Second Impact
Commodore Matthew Perry barges into Japan and demands open trade with Japan. Note that Japan was taken completely by suprise as they were isolating themselves from the world at the time, and were in the period of arts, poems and all.

Obtainment of Adam/Lilith, research into them and development of things from them
The Japanese decide to ask for a year to get ready for America. During this time, they adopted Western technologies and systems to modernise Japan. This was done a relatively mach-speed time.

Valantine
During the process of modernisation, Japan had the Boshin War against the Shogunate. Basically, Japan was fighting amongst themselves like humanity was, too, during that short period.

"Humans found a god, and thus, tried to obtain it. As a result, humanity was punished."
Japan attempts colonialism, and the West did not like it, even though they were the ones who do it. The lead up to the war.

World War II
Self explanitory. Japan takes on the world like Humanity takes on the angels.

"Evae, factae de Adamo, the beings detested by humans. Still, the Lilims are trying to survive by using them. I can't understand why."
Japan modernised and takes on world, using technology that they got from the West.

SEELE's intentions
The Japanese prime-minister was seeking peace prior to the Atomic Bombs.

Ayanami's second death
Kamikaze. It only started when they were nearing the end of World War II, and were getting desperate.

Third Impact
Atomic Bombs.

New Beginning after Third Impact
Japan starts over. Today, Japan is at a state of 'fulfillment': nothingness. This is a problem, now, as, for example, Hikikomori is becoming increasingly more common.

I would have elaborated on it, but I don't have the time. Also note that I don't beleive the list is complete. Also, note that these are the superficial parallels that I find in the setting of Evangelion. I'm not focusing on themes or storylines, here.
Anyway, I hope you can see what I'm getting at, here. :)

[Ayanami]

Hmmm... most of these are a loooooong streeeeetch.

[sadsadshinji]

yea...
and the names of the warships could have been misinterpreted...
i mean, no one would call you a military geek if you named your child something like fletcher (class of destroyer during WWII) and the Japanese names are similar to the american ones, though there seem to be less city names

[the_seventh_child]

I've noticed this a while ago, but never bothered to write it up. But here's what I noticed: There are some superficial parallels between the settings of Evangelion and Japanese History leading up to and during World War II.

I'll begin with something we all know. Many of the character's names are after World War II ships. Confirmed.

Let's move on.

Christianiy Concepts/Dead Sea Scrolls
Christianity was a new religion that was introduced into Japan, which was rejected. Japan then isolates itself for years.

Second Impact
Commodore Matthew Perry barges into Japan and demands open trade with Japan. Note that Japan was taken completely by suprise as they were isolating themselves from the world at the time, and were in the period of arts, poems and all.

Obtainment of Adam/Lilith, research into them and development of things from them
The Japanese decide to ask for a year to get ready for America. During this time, they adopted Western technologies and systems to modernise Japan. This was done a relatively mach-speed time.

Valantine
During the process of modernisation, Japan had the Boshin War against the Shogunate. Basically, Japan was fighting amongst themselves like humanity was, too, during that short period.

"Humans found a god, and thus, tried to obtain it. As a result, humanity was punished."
Japan attempts colonialism, and the West did not like it, even though they were the ones who do it. The lead up to the war.

World War II
Self explanitory. Japan takes on the world like Humanity takes on the angels.

"Evae, factae de Adamo, the beings detested by humans. Still, the Lilims are trying to survive by using them. I can't understand why."
Japan modernised and takes on world, using technology that they got from the West.

SEELE's intentions
The Japanese prime-minister was seeking peace prior to the Atomic Bombs.

Ayanami's second death
Kamikaze. It only started when they were nearing the end of World War II, and were getting desperate.

Third Impact
Atomic Bombs.

New Beginning after Third Impact
Japan starts over. Today, Japan is at a state of 'fulfillment': nothingness. This is a problem, now, as, for example, Hikikomori is becoming increasingly more common.

I would have elaborated on it, but I don't have the time. Also note that I don't beleive the list is complete. Also, note that these are the superficial parallels that I find in the setting of Evangelion. I'm not focusing on themes or storylines, here.
Anyway, I hope you can see what I'm getting at, here. :)

wow i'm impressed,those are great thoughts MAGI..

[Otaprince]

MAGI, you have some interesting theories. Let's set aside the Adam/Lilith stuff for a moment (cause even after watching Eva ten times, reading the manga, and spending countless hours on the internet at sites like Evaotaku, i'm STILL not clear on what's up with that), and i think you've touched on an interested theme.

While you break it down to specifics, it may be better to analyze more vaguely.

-- ISLAND CULTURE: Japan is an island culture that had never been invaded prior to WWII. thus, all of its major historical events are these out of the blue visitors/invaders with tremendous power, like Perry and the Americans in WWII. Yes, these = Angels.

-- NUCLEAR BOMB: at least 50% of Japanese sci-fi anime and films portray the atomic bomb. To name just a few examples, Akira, Sailor Moon, Daicon, Casshern, Kono Minikuku... This event is permanently etched into the psyche of all Japanese, even generations after those who experienced the war. So yes, this is analagous to the Impacts.

you break it down to specifics, but what are you proposing? do you think that things like "SEELE's intentions
= prime-minister" were actually intended by Gainax, or are you creating an parallel you see interesting?

[MongolSquad]

I know one thing, a LOT of anime and manga was influenced by the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. Think about how many anime and manga stories start out with a huge wake of destruction. Akira, Grave of the Fireflies, Evangelion and ton of others. For Japan, they had to basically start over after WWII and the two atomic bombs. It was devastating to the country and this is reflected in anime and manga when the characters start with barely nothing because of some catastrophic event.

[MAGI]

Well, I know that the whole Japanese life is affected by WWII. I was just pointing something I see out. It could have been intentional or subconscious on the creators' part.
Still, you've just got to see some connection?

[Gilgamesh]

Well, I know that the whole Japanese life is affected by WWII. I was just pointing something I see out. It could have been intentional or subconscious on the creators' part.
Still, you've just got to see some connection?

Not really. And wow, I would never have dreamed of someday seeing a topic like this.

[MAGI]

*discombobulated*
I don't understand. Why don't you see it, even though I wrote it all down for you? What's wrong with it? Please give me some critisism.
Didn't you do history at school? Do they seriously don't match in your heads? Is it my wording?

[Gilgamesh]

*discombobulated*
I don't understand. Why don't you see it, even though I wrote it all down for you? What's wrong with it? Please give me some critisism.
Didn't you do history at school? Do they seriously don't match in your heads? Is it my wording?

Oh, yes, I'm very good at history (It's my favorite subject. I passed World History Honors with a 103%. On my semester final, which was 100 questions fill in the blank, I got only two wrong and my essay, which was on Islam, got a perfect score. I still ended up with a 100% on it because of some extra credit work I had done, and this was a very hard class, mind you).

However, it just seems a bit of a stretch to me to be comparing Eva to World War II. And how could it have possibly been unconscious? It just seems like a wild theory.

Wouldn't it be absolutely crazy if someday Hideaki Anno said in an interview that "Really, people have got it all wrong. Evangelion was actually a clever World War II allegory. I'm surprised that no one has understood this until now."

Now, can you see that happening? I just can't.

By the way, discombobulated is an awesome word. Don't you just love saying that? Discombobulated...discombobulated...discombobulated...Boy, I'm all discombobulated...discombobulated...OK I'M STOPPING NOW.

[Phaze]

There's an image I've been looking for for the past ten minutes. It's of the mass-produced Evas on a hill, digging a flag into the ground at the top of it. The image was based on a real-life image from a war, and I can't seem to find either one.

[Gilgamesh]

There's an image I've been looking for for the past ten minutes. It's of the mass-produced Evas on a hill, digging a flag into the ground at the top of it. The image was based on a real-life image from a war, and I can't seem to find either one.

I've seen the real-life image (From the battle of Okinawa, right?). But I've never seen a picture of the mass-produced Eva's doing that. Are you sure you've seen this?

[MAGI]

Oh, I see. No, I never suggested that Evangelion was about World War Two, just that some of the settings seem to be similar to what happened and all. If someone said to me that Evangelion was based on World War Two, I'd not believe him/her. All I'm suggesting is that there seems to be a little similar. That's all.
I don't want to go into whether and how they are connected, I just want to see if you see some relationship, there.

"Superficial" stuff.

[thewayneiac]

umm.... I'm going to need a lot more convincing before I'll believe that any of these parallels actually exist. Second impact, for instance, killed one third of the world's population and ended the passage of seasons. How is that like Perry opening Japan to foreigh trade?

How is finding Adam and Lilith like Japanese modernization?

How does the discovery of Adam, finding a god, resemble Japanese colonialism?

Ect.

You can't just say that these things parallel each other without saying why. I see no resemblance.

[MAGI]

m(__)m {Forgive me...]

Well, I guess I could try to retell it all again.

So, Perry comes in and gives Japan a wake-up call. Second Impact also gave a wake-up call to the world. So, SEELE and all them learn about stuff: Dead Sea Scrolls, builds Evas and all. Japan, similarly, learnt about the new technologies and political systems. In Eva, the teacher commented on how quickly humanity had recovered. Well, Japan caught up to he standards of the West rather quickly, as well. In Eva, there was the Valantine Wars where nations fought each other. In the Boshin War, there was also battles going on between Samurai dudes and Emperor dudes. It was going on amongsth themselves. Japan had a war with itself like in the larger scale of Eva, where all of humanity fought themselves. The Emperor finally took power on Japan, and went on to invade Korea and China and all. In Eva, they tried to obtain Adam, and were punished (the angels awake and go on to get humanity 15 years later). They still had Adam, of course, just like Japan had Korea when Britain and them say that it was unacceptable for Japan to attempt colonialism. That was one thing that got Japan into World War Two. Japan, amazingly, did go on to fight in World War Two just like humanity, in Eva, decide to take on the angels. If it hadn't have been for Perry's visitation, Japan wouldn't have the power to fight in the war like humanity wouldn't have had the Evangelions without Adam and Lilith. Ironically (though I'm not sure for whom), they fought using their enemy's technology. The whole time, SEELE was intending to achieve a controlled Third Impact whilst they were appearing to want to defeat all the angels and stuff. Similarly, the Japanese intended to end the war in some way because they knew they were going to be defeated, eventually. However, they went on fighting whilst the leaders were discussing amongst themselves. The technology in America allowed for planes to fly to their targets, drop their load of bombs and return safely. Japan wasn't able to do that. So they eventually resorted to smashing their planes into enemy vehicles. Clearly, Ayanami was not going to be able to get away easily, so blew up. Third Impact occured just as Japan was going to lose. It didn't go the way that was intended, of course. Japan lost because two atomic bombs were dropped. Third Impact occured because of Shinji.

I don't feel like explaining anymore, for now. It's been 20 minutes.
Other than that, I guess I could add that Anno intentionally named the characters after war ships. I'm not saying whether it follows the same pattern as the above, though. Just an interesting tidbit that appears relavent.

[Hunter21]

There's an image I've been looking for for the past ten minutes. It's of the mass-produced Evas on a hill, digging a flag into the ground at the top of it. The image was based on a real-life image from a war, and I can't seem to find either one.

The image does exist, and I think I have seen it on this forum once. But I can't seem to find it either. :(

As for the parallels, I am going to have to agree with the skeptics. WWII was a very big event that is easily compared to any movie that involves a large scale war. And just because their are similarities doesn't mean they are intentional, they could just be coincidental.

[thewayneiac]

As for the parallels, I am going to have to agree with the skeptics. WWII was a very big event that is easily compared to any movie that involves a large scale war. And just because their are similarities doesn't mean they are intentional, they could just be coincidental.

Yes, and besides, consider this: the Japanese were the aggressors in WWII, so wouldn't the Angels, not mankind, have to represent them in any EVA vs WWII anology?

[MAGI]

*Very big sigh*
Like I said before, I'm saying whether it was intentional or not.
I'm asking if you see the similarities.

As for being aggressors, you've got to look at things from perspectives. The fact that mankind tried to be a god was what started all the angel things. Then again, many were self-critical of themselves as well saying how arrogant they were for all them to use science for this and that and all. Japan used their own forces to take Korea and them, too, which seems like a bad idea, now, like the people who started Second Impact. Angels attack, Allies attack. Japan defends, humanity defends. Whoever were the aggressors are relative to a good degree in the big picture.
Interestingly enough, it also seemed like the angels didn't start destroying anything until NERV/UN starts attcking them first. (As the the MAGI infection, no one was hurt, right?)

[Otaprince]

MAGI--

yes, we do see the similarities. like i said, it's an interesting comparison, but it really adds little to our interpretation of Eva since it's a parallel completely constructed by you. i could similarly come up with a detailed comparison of, say, Eva and the life of the Buddha, or Eva and Hamlet, but the act of interpretation must begin with what is actually in the text. That can encompass unintentional things, but only if you feel they have something to say about the work, its time, or its creation. You've done an intelligent, creative bit of research, but as i said earlier, if you stick to the more vague parallels, like the bomb and Japan's island culture, then there actually is a basis for comparison.

since you mention the naming of characters after WWII battle ships, maybe we should explore that further. I seem to recall that all those ships (the Langley, the Ikari, the Kisaragi) sunk in battle. This could stem from two things:

a) Anno is simply a military otaku, which we know he is, and/or

b) Anno meant something by naming his characters after doomed vessels.

[MAGI]

I'm glad you see it, too. The mods can now have every right to lock this up. *Serene smile*