Difference between revisions of "Gainax: Evangelion References and Cross References"

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''This page is for listing references in Evangelion to earlier Gainax works, and references to Evangelion in later Gainax works.''  See also: [[Tributes to Neon Genesis Evangelion in other Anime and Manga]], [[Tributes to Neon Genesis Evangelion in other Media]], and [[Similarities to Neon Genesis Evangelion in other Anime and Manga]].  
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''This page is for listing references in Evangelion to earlier Gainax works, and references to Evangelion in later Gainax works.''  See also: [[Tributes to Neon Genesis Evangelion in other Anime and Manga]], [[Tributes to Neon Genesis Evangelion in other Media]], [[Tributes to Other Shows in Neon Genesis Evangelion]], and [[Similarities to Neon Genesis Evangelion in other Anime and Manga]].  
 
    
 
    
 
==Earlier works by Gainax==
 
==Earlier works by Gainax==

Revision as of 18:00, 1 October 2008

This page is for listing references in Evangelion to earlier Gainax works, and references to Evangelion in later Gainax works. See also: Tributes to Neon Genesis Evangelion in other Anime and Manga, Tributes to Neon Genesis Evangelion in other Media, Tributes to Other Shows in Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Similarities to Neon Genesis Evangelion in other Anime and Manga.

Earlier works by Gainax

Otaku no Video

The date of Second Impact, September 13th, comes from Otaku no Video (おたくのビデオ), a 1991 pseudo-documentary anime about the history of Studio Gainax and Japanese otaku in general: Otaku no Video in turn took the date and the backstory of the nuclear disaster from Gerry Anderson's classic 1975 science fiction series Space: 1999. Evangelion simply changed the year from 1999 to 2000.

Throughout Otaku no Video, placards with dates of (more or less) important world events are used to mark the frequent time skips in the show. The following translations of the placards are from AnimEigo's DVD subtitles:

March 18, 1982: Broadcast Premiere of "Magical Princess Minky Momo."
May 1, 1982: British Troops invade the Falkland Islands.
February 10, 1983: Six 16-year-old boys commit repeated assaults on homeless persons in Yokohama, killing 3 and injuring 13.
September 1, 1983: A Korean Airlines jet is shot down by a Soviet plane.
October 13, 1983: Court reaches verdict in the Lockheed-Marubeni bribery scandal.
October 13, 1983: Ex-Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka is sentenced to 4 years in prison.
July 7, 1984: Theatrical Premiere of "Super Dimension Fortress MACROSS: Love--Do You Remember?"
March 7, 1987: Theatrical Premiere of "The Royal Space Force (Wings of Honneamise)."
July 23, 1988: Self-Defense Forces submarine "Nadashio" and fishing boat "Dai-ichi Fuji Maru" collide and sink in Yokosuka Bay. 30 fatalities.
January 18, 1989: The Showa Emperor dies, ushering in the "Heisei" era.
September 13, 1999: An accidental explosion occurs at the Nuclear Waste Disposal Facility on the far side of the Moon.
May 5, 2035: Launching of "Eltrium," 5th-Generation Space Battleship.
Shameless Gainax self-plugging
Bye bye Moon
The world after 9-13


In the epilogue set in 2035 Tokyo has been flooded by raising sea levels, much like in Evangelion. Battleship Eltrium is a reference to Gunbuster. Other references to earlier works by Gainax staff include snippets of Daicon IV opening animation and Hideaki Anno's key animation sequences from Super Dimension Fortress Macross. A comprehensive list of the references can be found in AnimEigo's liner notes.


The Orphan Conversation (Nadia and Kare Kano)

Hideaki Anno has made multiple uses of what has been dubbed, the "Orphan Conversation". Which always ends with some variation on "we're the same". We are placing this in its own section because it has both forward and backward looking references.

From Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (Anno's series before Evangelion):

Jean Questions Nadia about her parents
It's the same with me
Nadia tells Jean she has no parents


(Jean and Nadia have just escaped from the Grandis Gang and are traveling down river by boat.)
Jean: "Where will you go now? Back to the circus?"
Nadia: "I can't go back."
Jean: "What about your folks?"
Nadia: "I don't have any."
Jean: "I see. It's the same with me."

From Neon Genesis Evangelion:

Shinji mentions Kensuke's mother
I'm the same as you, Ikari
Kensuke tells Shinji he has no mother


(Shinji has met Kensuke in the wilderness.)
Kensuke: "I really envy you. Living with such a beautiful woman and getting to pilot Evangelion. Oh, I wish I could get behind the controls just once!"
Shinji: "You'd better not. Your mother would be worried."
Kensuke: "Ah, that's okay. I don't have one."
Shinji: "Ah…"
Kensuke: "I'm the same as you, Ikari."

From Kareshi Kanojo no Jijo, aka Kare Kano, aka His and Hers Circumstances (Anno's series after Evangelion):

The kneeling girl pats the sandpile
Brings back the memories? It sure does!


(Yukino's parents, Hiroyuki and Miyako pass by three children in a sandbox with the ubiquitous pail and shovel.)

Miyako asks about Hiroyuki's parents; he has none.
Guess we're the same
Miyako tells Hiroyuki she has no mother


(In a flashback episode about Yukino's parents' courtship, Hiroyuki and Miyako are hiding on top of a public restroom while playing hide and seek.)
Miyako: "Hey, Hiro."
Hiroyuki: "Yeah?"
Miyako: "Hiro, is it true that you don't have a father or mother?"
Hiroyuki: "Yeah, that's right."
Miyako: "Um, you know? I don't have a mother either. Guess were the same."
Hiroyuki: "The same?"

Later Works by Gainax

Diebuster (トップをねらえ2!)

Diebuster, or Gunbuster 2, is an OVA from 2004 by Gainax. In episode 6, the final episode, there is an overt reference to Gendo putting his hand over Rei's left breast and it going inside her body.

Hand over left breast, then goes into body

FLCL/Fooly Cooly (フリクリ)

The Gainax/Production I.G. OVA Fooly Cooly (Furi Kuri or FLCL), naturally contains several Evangelion references.

In the second episode of the series, main character Noata Nandaba remarks that his father, Kamon "wrote an ‘Eva’ book a long time ago"

Click for subtitles

In the third episode, Naota’s teacher "Miya-Jun" (Junko Miyaji) is seen wearing bandages similar to Rei Anayami’s after an accident.

An injured Miya-Jun

Hideaki Anno also provides the vocal effects for Miyu Miyu, the Nandaba family cat.

He Is My Master (これが私の御主人様)

From the anime He Is My Master, a 12 episode TV show by Gainax, there is a scene in episode 8 where several female characters from different productions of the studio show up as chibi-dolls on a shelf. The characters are:

  • Top left shelf: Glenda, Elmina, Yucie and Cocoloo from Petite Princess Yucie.
  • Middle left shelf: Mitsuki, Izumi and Anna from He is My Master.
  • Lower left shelf: Mayumi from Neon Genesis Evangelion: Second Impression, Misato, Asuka and Hikari.
  • Top right shelf: Mamimi from FLCL, Noriko from Gunbuster, and Nono and Tycho from Diebuster.
  • Middle right shelf: Patricia Burnmite (unofficial romanization, from パトリシア・バーンマイト), the main character from the Gainax-produced game Grapple Gear, with character design by Mine Yoshizaki; Mahoro and Minawa from Mahoromatic, and Melody from Melody of Oblivion.
  • Lower right shelf: Nadia from Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Yukino from His and Her Circumstances, alternate reality Rei from Evangelion Episode 26, and Arumi from Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi.
Several Evangelion characters show up as dolls


Also from episode 2, there is a quick shot of the inside of a computer room after Mitsuki unlocks a secret on her PC. The computer room looks exactly like the shot of the inside of the Magi computers in End of Evangelion when Misato is hacking to find Nerv's secrets, right down to the metal grating.

The inside of the computer room from Episode 2
The inside of the Magi from End of Evangelion


Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (アベノ橋魔法☆商店街)

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi is a 13 episode series by Gainax that aired in April of 2002. In episode 3, when Satoshi realizes what's going on in this world, you can see grey Evangelion Unit-01 floating in space in the same fashion at the very end of End of Evangelion, with flowing hair. In a non-Eva related reference, the Space station looks exactly like Ultraman's face. Also, in episode 3, during the brief flash of the "Anime Pyramid", you can see Eva-01's head in the 3rd tier. Other notable anime references here include mechs from Mobile Suit Gundam and Mazinger Z, the Space Battleship Yamato, Tetsuo from Akira, the Scopedog from VOTOMS, a guardian robot from Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and what seems like the robot Godmars. Also, in episode 3, after Satoshi gets inside the pilot's seat, the Evangelion background music, Decisive Battle, can be heard in the background. In episode 8, Satoshi's sister is seen running down the street, toast in mouth, wearing Rei's school uniform, saying "I'm late, I'm late", taken directly from the alternate reality in Episode 26 of the Evangelion TV Series.

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
Eva-01 floating in space.
The Anime Pyramid
Sashi's sister doing her alternate reality Rei impression


Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann (天元突破グレンラガン)

Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann, an anime by Gainax that aired starting in April of 2007, in episode 6, the animators were said to have "gone crazy" (according to Hiroyuki Yamaga, at the Fanime 2007 Gurren-Lagann panel, concerning how the cameos weren't scripted to turn out like that) and stuck several females from other Gainax shows in the bathhouse, all wearing bunny outfits similar to the Daicon III and IV animations. The girls are, from left to right, Rei, Mahoro from Mahoromatic, Nono from Diebuster, Asuka, and Lal'c from Diebuster.

"Gainax bunnies" make an appearance as bathhouse hostesses

In episodes 24 and 26, Nia is depicted as a giant white figure in space. This is a possible reference to the giant Rei from End of Evangelion.

The Giant Naked Nia

This Ugly Yet Beautiful World (この醜くも美しい世界)

In episode 9 of This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, a 12 episode series produced by GAINAX (amongst others), the foriegn lush, Jennifer Portman, mimicked Misato drinking a beer. Normally, a chug and a yelp would be considered an unconfirmed reference. However, this one used nearly the same framing, camera angle, and motions as Misato, and being a show produced by GAINAX, it's very possible that this was an intentional tip of the hat to Evangelion.

Jenny Portman yelping after chugging her beer
Comparison shot of Misato in Episode 02