Why 3-4 movies

[Rafael]

I thought about putting this in the rebuild forum, but its not really about Rebuild, but what Rebuild could have been.

It is late. I should be studying for a(nother) calculus exam, but I started wondering.

Why remake Evangelion? I mean, of course Anno wanted more money. We all want more money, but surely there are other potential Eva related cash cows out there. Why not make a movie about some kind of prequel or backstory? Why not a story about the German branch and Asuka's backstory. Why not do something about the American branch that disintegrated? Why not a story about the Katsuragi expedition?

There are so many loose ends and unanswered questions, why just ignore those possibilities and redo the series as fourish movies?

[Lucretius]

Because Cthulhu. That's the answer to most Rebuild-related questions.

[InstrumentalityOne]

First HD mecha that doesn´t look like space opera shit without any sense of room whatsoever.

He´s probably doing Rebuild to come clean with himself and his problems when he made NGE, which is just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[jojojoker]

^ That.
I always thought of the films as a way of him trying to go back and "perfect" the series by addressing or removing plot holes from the original series. It may be kind of a cash cow but I wouldn't say it's an unwelcomed one. Also, I think if he did make those films you suggested they probably wouldn't have much material to last 2hours. A lot of the entertainments come from the fight scenes and if we go watch movies based on a time before 2015 there wouldn't be any angels to battle anyways.

[Chrad]

I always thought of the films as a way of him trying to go back and "perfect" the series by addressing or removing plot holes from the original series.

By introducing a lot of new story threads and twists? Seems counterintuitive to me.

A lot of the entertainments come from the fight scenes and if we go watch movies based on a time before 2015 there wouldn't be any angels to battle anyways.

If Anno could sketch interesting characters and conspiracy intrigue, I'm sure it would be entertaining anyway. And who's to say there couldn't be smaller scale action sequences going on at that time?
That said, I'm not a fan of the all-too-common 'if there's a rich backstory, we must make a prequel' line of thinking.

If Anno really wanted to "destroy the old Eva" (as Maaya Sakamoto suggested) I wish he'd done something really bizarre. For example, a low to mid budget live-action Evangelion film in the style of Love and Pop or Shiki-Jitsu, which may or may not have anything to do with the original canon, featuring no Evas or angels but only older versions of the characters and their psychological issues. Now THAT would be bold.

[AuraTwilight]

He felt like it.

[Rafael]

He felt like it.

What an insightful post. Its not like that's implied from the get go or anything...

[Nyeeh]

Why not make a movie about some kind of prequel or backstory? Why not a story about the German branch and Asuka's backstory. Why not do something about the American branch that disintegrated? Why not a story about the Katsuragi expedition?

While that may be interesting for established eva geeks, that's a pretty hard sell for any casual anime fans. Prequel movie(s) would not have any closure as they'd be forced to end with a "Continued in Neon Genesis Evangelion" (or something similar). Additionally, there would be very little/no room for any exciting action scenes since all the angels are acounted for during the TV series itself.

By contrast, the rebuild movies have the advantage of lots of nice action scenes for audiences to swoon over, the reboot means that casual fans (theoretically) don't have any scary continuity to worry about and the changes they make to the plot give old fans an excuse to talk and theorise about EVA again.

tldr, Because EVA is a licence to print free money and the creators know it.

[jojojoker]

By introducing a lot of new story threads and twists? Seems counterintuitive to me.

Then again, we still have 2 more movies to go through.

If Anno could sketch interesting characters and conspiracy intrigue, I'm sure it would be entertaining anyway. And who's to say there couldn't be smaller scale action sequences going on at that time?
That said, I'm not a fan of the all-too-common 'if there's a rich backstory, we must make a prequel' line of thinking.

I'm not saying it won't be entertaining, hell I am the biggest sucker for Anno's work. But if you look at from the point of view of a new audience, which was a part of what he claimed he was trying to aim to, I don't think it would lead to much interest. I wouldn't mind at all to be honest.[/quote]

[Oz]

The original series had the completely opposite impact on otaku than what Anno had intended. He has returned to the franchise to try to do it again.

[Sachi]

The real answer is "why not?"

There's no real reason behind it. It's just a "I felt like it" situation. Looking for a higher, deeper meaning behind Anno's decision to remake the series into a series of movies is worse than overanalyzing the original series.

[The Eva Monkey]

Whatever his motivation, Anno has wanted to do another Evangelion series since 2004 or earlier. Takeshi Honda mentioned it back at Katsucon 2004. I want to say he had been toying with it since after finishing the feature films.

[Dr. Nick]

Why remake Evangelion?

It seems to me Anno is simply reading the trends. There's been tons of mecha remakes in these last five or so years. Tomino's Zeta Gundam movies were already out before the first Rebuild film.

[AuraTwilight]

What an insightful post. Its not like that's implied from the get go or anything...

Yea, and? Are you just being an ass, or what? I'm saying that Anno had no deeper reason for wanting to make a new Evangelion other than because he thought it was cool. He fucking said so. He's not trying to "remove plotholes" or "recreate his vision" or any of that George Lucas bullshit.

[oOoOoOo]

It can be hard to let go of an obsession. When you pour a lot of yourself into something, it can be like that. The money doesn't hurt either, but it's not like he's a trillionaire. He's probably enjoying himself.

[NAveryW]

I think that the best answer is that Evangelion is really all about these specific characters, with Shinji in the middle. Shift the focus somewhere else and it ceases to be not only what worked about NGE, but Anno's very motivation and reasons for doing the show. He'd be better off just doing something completely new... which he may (or may not) anyway.

[shinji_ryoji_89]

If Anno really wanted to "destroy the old Eva" (as Maaya Sakamoto suggested) I wish he'd done something really bizarre. For example, a low to mid budget live-action Evangelion film in the style of Love and Pop or Shiki-Jitsu, which may or may not have anything to do with the original canon, featuring no Evas or angels but only older versions of the characters and their psychological issues. Now THAT would be bold.

I agree. I would have loved to see something like that.

Anyway, I can see various reasons why he did it. He decided to start a new studio and really needed money to get it going. Nothing better than remaking what could be the most popular anime series in the world after nearly a decade.

Also I get the sense that he wasn't completely happy with the way it turned out. NGE was plagued with creative, budgetary and censorship problems, and now it also looks dated. I think that the changes come as a way of offering something new to audiences, but also as a result of adapting a work from one medium to another.

As for turning into movies, the whole time I watched the show I couldn't stop thinking that it would be awesome to experience Evangelion in the theater. The Platinum DVD is clearer proof of that, it's one of the best looking and sounding DVDs I have and I would have loved to have seen EoE when it first came out in theaters. So, I think he just wants people to experience something like that in the theater. I think it's pretty clear that since Kare Kano he hasn't been that interested in the small screen anymore.

So, in short: He felt like it.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Why remake Evangelion?

Maybe it was...

I think it could be...

Probably because...

It's the otakus!

Someone other than Anno said this about it...

Does Anno really need a reason?

I love that that we immediately turn to fan-wanking Anno's reasoning without first remembering that Anno himself already told us why he was doing this. Just click "What Are We Attempting To Create By Doing This Once More?"

[NAveryW]

He decided to start a new studio and really needed money to get it going. Nothing better than remaking what could be the most popular anime series in the world after nearly a decade.

Nope.

[shinji_ryoji_89]

Nope.

D'oh!