Gainax: Evangelion References and Cross References

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.

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?"