Hideaki Anno statement on Eva's 25th Anniversary [Translation]

Discussion of the new series of Evangelion movies ( "Evangelion Shin Gekijōban", meaning "Evangelion: New Theatrical Edition"). The final instalment made its debut in Japan on March 8, 2021.

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Hideaki Anno statement on Eva's 25th Anniversary [Translation]

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Postby Xard » Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:06 am



Image

With passing of 25 years since the first airing,
and the time the series was set at left 5 years in the past already, I feel the passage of time is fast indeed.
That from writing the first Proposal document in 1993 until today I would still be working on Eva,
that my involvement would extend for over 27 years, is something I never thought of, but with this things will finally end.

While it is my fault so much production time has been spent
it has been thanks to fans this work has hold on for so long. Let me express my deepest gratitude again.

Thank you so much.

Due to Corona virus both the world and the production have it hard right now, but the end of production is only a little further away so I'll do my utmost.

Thank you.

Hideaki Anno


==========

Final thank you is the standard "yoroshiku onegaishimasu" expression. I take the implication to be "thank you for your understanding/kindness/your future patronage" here, but I don't want to push my own interpretation that hard. Other than that it was veryt straightforward text.

I take 17 years to be the total time Anno has spent working on Eva during these last 25 years.

Edit: I interpreted 設定時代 as referring to period 時代 Anno spent creating settei 設定 for Eva, but it indeed makes more sense to think this refers to the original time settei (2015 AD) for Evangelion. So I changed the text a little. Thank shun. It was a good catch.

edit 2: There was a typo in the original tweet after all. It was indeed 27 years all along.
Last edited by Xard on Sun Oct 04, 2020 11:13 am, edited 5 times in total.

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Re: Hideaki Anno comments on Eva's 25th Anniversary [Translation]

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Postby UrsusArctos » Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:15 am

Nice catch, Xard!

Either Anno spent 17 of the past 30 years on the proposal, or Anno could've mistyped/miscounted for 27 years, 1993 (first proposal document) to 2020. Whether he meant 17 or 27, that's a damn long time either way.

Due to Corona virus both the world and the production have it hard right now, but the end of production is only a little further away so I'll do my utmost.


It's good to hear this, and I hope it's finished and airing before this year is over.
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Re: Hideaki Anno statement on Eva's 25th Anniversary [Translation]

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Postby Xard » Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:33 am

I do wonder about that 17 years number. If it was a typo you'd think they would've caught it while proofreading. Then again, it's clear Anno has not spent 27 years working on Eva non-stop.

"5 years working on the settei" is also a bit ambiguous. Obviously Anno was working on Eva before the proposal in 1993 was passed already, but 5 years? That would mean Anno was counting from 1990 until 1995. I guess some really early ideas go all the way back to ending of Nadia production, but still...

Whether it is 17/25 or 17/30 we need the gap years. My suggestion would be 1998-2002 or 1998-2004 (4-6 years gap) and then 2013-2016 (4 years) which. 98-02 + 13+16 = 10 years.

So in this case it would be 27 years (since 1993) working on Eva minus these 10 years = total of 17 years.

Of course I'm not sure if these are exactly the years Anno meant, but I think the truth is something close to this.

As for release date I suspect early 2021 still. But that might just be wishful thinking on my part!

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Re: Hideaki Anno statement on Eva's 25th Anniversary [Translation]

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Postby Zusuchan » Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:56 am

Xard, you said in the Shin Eva social media thread that Anno was ''blunt'' about this being the end of Eva, but I don't see that.

It seems to me that Anno is talking more about this being the end of his direct involvement with Eva, not the end of Eva as a franchise. He's talked about wanting to make it into a Gundam-like ''pillar of anime'' and there was nothing in this statement that contradicted that.

I imagine that Anno won't do anything more Eva from this point on besides maybe overseeing some general merchandise-related ideas and perhaps executive producing/quality controlling new Eva movies/shows.

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Re: Hideaki Anno statement on Eva's 25th Anniversary [Translation]

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Postby Xard » Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:08 am

Sorry, I wasn't clear. Yes, it is about his direct involvement. I'm sure they'll keep the cash cow around just like they did after End of Evangelion. I just entertain serious doubts about whether any major Eva anime project will get off the ground without involvement of Anno.

I think Khara will attempt to "franchise" Eva like Gundam was, without need for direct input from the original creator, but we'll see how that goes. It's not well known in the international fandom but this was supposed to happen all the way back in the 90s already. Anno was supposed to redo ending of Eva in one film while Tsurumaki would debut as a director with his entirely original Evangelion movie (alt universe setting).

But after much struggling Tsurumaki gave up and told Anno only he was capable of creating more 'authentic' Evangelion anime. If this is how it went down with Anno protege Tsurumaki I do wonder whether anyone else will stand up this time arond either.

Of course, part of me also wonders whether Anno will be able to keep away from the franchise after all in the future.

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Re: Hideaki Anno statement on Eva's 25th Anniversary [Translation]

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Postby Mr. M » Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:12 am

Actually, 17 years is the time passed between the first announce of the Rebuild projects (2004, IIRC) to the announced released date of Shin Eva (2020).
Last edited by Mr. M on Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Hideaki Anno statement on Eva's 25th Anniversary [Translation]

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Postby dzzthink » Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:16 am

I might get some of that eva merch in celebration. Will look forward to getting an eva model.
Last edited by dzzthink on Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Hideaki Anno statement on Eva's 25th Anniversary [Translation]

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Postby Xard » Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:18 am

View Original PostMr. M wrote:Actually, 17 years is the time passed between the first announce of the Rebuild projects (2004, IIRC) ti the announced released date of Shin Eva (2020).


Ahh. This could also be where the 17 years figure comes from. He's very clearly talking about Eva on the whole in that sentence and not about Rebuild alone which is why this idea didn't occur to me.

Of course Anno has not worked on Rebuild non-stop for last 17 years... he took a short break between 2.0 and 3.0, and after Q years went by with zero production work done on Eva. I can't check the flow of news/tweets right now, but I'm pretty certain production work on Final only started for real in 2016 after Shin Godzilla. I'm quite certain Anno started writing the screenplay at this point too. Animation production would take off only after that.

In any case I greatly appreciate Anno's sentiments in this statement. ^_^

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Re: Hideaki Anno statement on Eva's 25th Anniversary [Translation]

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Postby Shun » Sun Oct 04, 2020 8:45 am

Thanks for translation!

I have a question about this:
設定年代を既に5年も通り過ぎているとは、

He don't mean 2015? 5 years passed from 2015 to today, considering 2015 as the date of the Evangelion's setting (NGE).
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Re: Hideaki Anno statement on Eva's 25th Anniversary [Translation]

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Postby Xard » Sun Oct 04, 2020 9:23 am

View Original PostShun wrote:Thanks for translation!

I have a question about this:
設定年代を既に5年も通り過ぎているとは、

He don't mean 2015? 5 years passed from 2015 to today, considering 2015 as the date of the Evangelion's setting (NGE).


I interpreted 設定時代 as referring to period 時代 Anno spent creating settei 設定 for Eva, but it indeed makes more sense to think this refers to the original time settei (2015 AD) for Evangelion. So I changed the text a little. Thank shun. It was a good catch.

edit: Going by the followup tweet that "17 years" indeed is a typo on Anno's part! It was supposed to be 27 :lol:


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Re: Hideaki Anno statement on Eva's 25th Anniversary [Translation]

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Postby UrsusArctos » Tue Oct 06, 2020 7:53 am

View Original PostXard wrote:
edit: Going by the followup tweet that "17 years" indeed is a typo on Anno's part! It was supposed to be 27 :lol:



Oh dear me, even the Master can slip up! :lol: I've made the same kind of mistake before, 17 instead of 27 because in my head I'm still in the 2010s and not the start of the 2020s, and I sometimes find myself shocked how much time has passed even if I'm half Anno's age!

But I seriously doubt anyone can come up with Eva without Anno's direct involvement. Gundam was a much different franchise in terms of tone and doesn't have the kind of depth or complexity as Eva. Adaptations of other sophisticated shows with strong, self-contained stories haven't done very well as far as I can see - for instance the new Madoka anime is a pale shadow of the original.

I'm of the opinion that great shows/franchises need to come to a fitting send off instead of being strung out over the ages until people get sick of them, and if there's no Eva after 3.0 + 1.0, I'm hoping it'll be the kind of grand sendoff and happy ending for Shinji that Evangelion as a whole deserves.
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