Continuities (Portal)
In general, only the original Neon Genesis Evangelion is considered canon. However, the expanded Evangelion franchise includes a very large amount of spin-offs, video-games, commercial collaborations and such. The only two "main" ones besides the anime are the manga adaptation by character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and the new Rebuild of Evangelion film series, though they are also separate continuities from each other.
Refer also to What Is Canon? for a complete exploration of Evangelion material. See also: Theory and Analysis:List of Common Misconceptions
Anime
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Original 1995 anime by Gainax and Hideaki Anno. Followed by 1997 film End of Evangelion.
Death & Rebirth is a recap of the series, and the Director's Cuts extended versions of Episodes 21-24 take precedence over the earlier On-Air versions.
Manga
Neon Genesis Evangelion manga by character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Unlike it is sometimes assumed, the manga is in fact not the original version of the story, but instead it was created as a supplemental designed to promote the TV series and was continued thanks to the series' popularity. The anime was conceived before the manga and they were meant to have coinciding releases, but due to delays anime's own production its launch was postponed, and the manga went ahead, releasing about 10 months before the series first aired.[1][2] The anime rapidly outpaced the manga, to the point that the chapters comprising volume 4 (which included content corresponding to Episode 8) were not released until over a year after the TV series had finished airing. Sadamoto has also repeatedly stated that the manga is his own individual work and should never be used as a reference for anything in the anime or the Rebuilds.[3][4] Though this interview is from April 1996, Sadamoto states that he "wrote the script of the manga using the anime "as a base", further implying that the Evangelion anime was produced first (even though the manga was released first). After the anime ended, Sadamoto decided to keep making the manga.[5] He referred to the Evangelion manga as "a reworking of a pre-existing work."[6] Sadamoto has also stated he made the manga entirely on his own, without consulting anyone, in contrast to the anime's more collaborative production, and that all differences were decided by him,[7] in an effort to "separate it from the anime".[8] He has also denied links to the Rebuild movies, particularly regarding the bonus chapter featuring Mari Makinami, which he regards as just fanservice.[9][10][11][12] Sadamoto also stated he had no intention to "include elements from the new movies, because [the manga] is only a comic adaptation of the TV series and old movie [EoE]. So there will be nothing of the new character, Mari."[13]
New Theatrical Features
Also known as Rebuild of Evangelion. This is a series consisting of four films, released in 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2021. They are considered a new continuity.
The Universe Expanded
Notes and references
- ↑ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-06-07/young-ace-to-reprint-last-evangelion-manga-chapter-after-issue-sells-out
- ↑ The Essential Evangelion Chronicle: Side B
- ↑ " A: I think that the theme of the animated version is that the main character's attitude changes little by little. I think that in the anime, Anno wrote the script in his own words, and that is why the change occurs. And the reason for the subtle changes between the animation and the manga is that Yoshiyuki Sadamoto is writing the script using Anno's characters. I think the anime is...I can't say cuter. But it has the feel of an honors student. The manga is a little more twisted...the feeling of a flunk-out. I think the reason behind this is that Anno was his class president in elementary and junior high schools, and flunking out was something he couldn't do, whereas I never had that problem. (laughs)"
Q: You're saying that twisted sensibilities are a subtle difference?
A: According to Anno's thought process, a twisted person is one who puts on a cool face, but once you see his inside, you get to the crazy portion, just like all the young people today. My approach is the opposite. On the inside the characters are stoic and earnest, but the outside is twisted, just like a child. So I could never write the anime scripts in my own voice. My Shinji is quite a bit different than that. In the end it is his resistance, his refusal to listen to what Misato has to say, but he still makes the right decision. I think that approach is where our methods differ the most.
[...] "Q: Concentrating on the story, where do you think the biggest difference is between the manga and the anime?
A: Well I did write the script of the manga using the anime as a base. [...] And that's the reason I tend to change the script entirely. I pick and choose what is easiesr to say in manga, The anime became a craze among the fans, and I wanted to lower the demographic to people about 14 or 15 years old, but the content was so difficult, it just wouldn't dumb down." - Sadamoto's "My Thoughts at the Moment", 1996 - ↑ "Thank you. But that being said, you can’t use the manga to complement the Anime. This manga is just what I draw when I thought “it is should be like this, right?” Nothing more, nothing less."
"No, unlike Anno, I don’t have a life worth telling.(laugh) Perhaps I won’t express myself overall……But I can’t just copy Anno’s work. In this condition, I have to come up the theme myself, try to use different methods to describe. Every version of EVA has a different ending, I think the manga will have a different ending, too. As a work, entertainment is more important, so I can’t make the work same as the anime. But if I make the manga something completely different, then it can’t be called EVA. So not too close, not too far away. Rebuild is in the same position." - All About Kaworu Nagisa interview with Sadamoto - ↑ The publication of the Evangelion manga anticipated the airing of the anime by a year. Had you already planned what story the series would tell and to what extent?[The translator admitted to having trouble with this question.] We actually didn't think when we started, how it would develop, let's say things kind of expanded on their own. The anime ended and I continued doing the manga instead. There was no planning in the beginning. - Milano Manga Festival 2013
- ↑ Milan Manga Festival (2013)
- ↑ "As for the Evangelion manga, Sadamoto claims to have made it entirely by himself, without consulting with anyone, so any differences with the anime were all decided solely by him; this is in contrast to the anime where all decisions were made as a group, all sitting in the same room and arguing." "Sadamoto replied in the negative, as his only work as a mangaka is nothing more than a reworking of a pre-existing work." Milano Manga Festival: Reportage dei Sadamoto Days
- ↑ "First off, for the original [aired in 1995] animated series of Evangelion, we, including the Director [Hideaki Anno], all didn’t know a whole lot about Christianity but it seemed interesting so we went ahead and started the project. While the anime was airing, we started to learn more and started to add more ideas from Christianity. For example, the appearance of Lilith and even adding some new content at the last episode of the series. We just kept on applying new ideas that we learned while the show went on, although it's pretty ironic to talk about it now.Regarding my manga, I really wanted to separate it from the anime. So I decided to not research it at all. Some of the ideas may have came from Shinto... hmm now that I think about it, there aren't many reincarnations involved in Shinto. Well, it could be the Eastern way of thinking, the thought of where does the soul goes. So I didn't do any research about religion for the manga." - Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Interview @ JX USA 2013
- ↑ Interview with Sadamoto, includes his confirmation that the Mari bonus chapter was just fanservice Next question is about Evangelion Rebuilds, do you know about the symbol of the last movie (repeat sign in music)?:
Sadamoto: Just to start, I’d like to clarify my position on the Rebuilds. I’ve only done the main character designs so… (laugh)
Ah I see. It’s this (shows the symbol of Rebuild 3.0+1.0). We weren’t even able to read the title.
Sadamoto: (looks) Right, I’m sorry but it’s the first time I see it, to tell you how little my implication is.
[...]A question about the Evangelion manga, were you completely free on the script or were you consulting director Anno?
Sadamoto: There isn’t any script. When you make anime there are the storyboards, right? We were just sharing them, so I’m on the same level as a fan. I just wrote it on my own, looking at the storyboards. So I didn’t consult anyone, and of course no one from the TV series’ staff intervened in my manga.
So, in the last page of the manga there is Mari, one of the Rebuild’s characters…
Sadamoto: Oh, that’s not in the storyline, it’s just an extra chapter for the manga volume. It’s even apart from the movies, like fanservice. Just something you mustn’t think too hard about. (laugh) It’s just something that went through my mind, I thought it would be funny if it were like that.
I see. So it was not a request?
Sadamoto: It wasn’t and… since she appeared in Jo, Ha and Q, I wondered what her role in the story would be, and when I asked the staff, they told me that it won’t be possible to really go further in one film, so they had to tie the main story up, and that Mari may have almost no screen time. So I wondered what the point was, and decided to add a little bit of her story in the manga, on impulse. So it’s really not something the staff of the movies thought about or asked me to do, just something you can consider as a play of mine.
I see, since you know, fans tend to read deep into that kind of thing.
Yamaga: Yeah, particularly on Evangelion. They think every little detail has a meaning. (laugh)
Sadamoto: Well, but of course when we see Mari in Jo or Ha and see her call Gendo Gendo-kun or smell Shinji’s odor, she’s doing many strange things. Besides she seems to like songs of the Showa era very much since she’s singing them. [...] But again, it’s only me imagining all this. (laugh)
Has director Anno decided about that?
Sadamoto: Like I said, director Anno hasn’t approved or refuted that idea, he has nothing to do with what I just said. - ↑ Young Ace: The current Evangelion manga series has really begun to take a departure from the original television series. Can you tell us anything about the direction the manga will head in?Sadamoto: The original Evangelion film, End of Evangelion really expressed (creator) Hideaki Anno's psychological landscape at the time. I'm taking Anno's story as a basis, and filtering it through the lens of my own interpretation. I've always considered Evangelion to be, at its heart, the story of the relationship between a father and his son. I've been pursuing this angle from the outset of the manga series, and I'd like to pursue it to the end.YA: How are you involved in the recent film updates of Evangelion?S: The new films were originally intended to be a sort of "digest" of the original television series, but as you can see particularly with You Can (Not) Advance, they've begun to take a direction of their own. The theme will be that of isolation, if I'm not mistaken, and I don't believe that the story will be connected to my manga adaptation. That said, I'd like it if fans appreciated the new films and my manga version as separate stories. - Sadamoto Interview (Young Ace n.3, 2009)
- ↑ PR.- What was it like to make the adaptation of Evangelion to Manga? Did you have complete freedom or did you follow some kind of guidelines?YS.- I was told to work the way I wanted (laughs).PR.- Talking about the Evangelion Manga, since the release of Rebuild of Evangelion there has been a lot of speculation about the nature of the story thinking some fans of a story that repeats like a loop, that is, at the end of the Manga we see Shinji living as an ordinary guy, is it an interpretation of you or is it the official idea?YS.- My idea is that absolutely all aspects of the series create Evangelion and regarding what you ask, in the first chapter of the Manga we see that Shinji says something that he repeats exactly in the last chapter but with another intention. My idea was to show that Shinji in a short period of time has grown up and is being an adult. That was my idea.[...] PR.- Is that appearance part of the character's development in the movies?YS.- Ah! What I just answered is not official, it was my point of view (laughs) The truth is that the love story of Mari and Yui came up while chatting with the scriptwriter of Evangelion as something that could be interesting and curious but we should not give it much more importance (laughs). - Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Interview (AlfaBetaJuega 2017/07)
- ↑ On the one hand we wanted to create a different character, one that would appeal to a new type of audience and mark a break in the story. There were both "market" and plot requirements, and I had to keep them in mind. In the movies there is a great mystery around her presence, which is why you only find her there. I couldn't use her in the manga, although I would have liked to. She'll be up to a lot of mischief, together with Asuka, so wait for the new movie, because there will be surprises and a lot of interesting characters. Sadamoto Days – i fan meet e l’intervista (2013)
- ↑ - Young Ace, Vol. 1, pg. 2
