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Production

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Genesis and staff

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Neon Genesis Evangelion director Hideaki Anno

From 1993, Gainax wrote a presentation document for Neon Genesis Evangelion entitled New Century Evangelion (tentative name) Proposal (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン (仮) 企画書, Shinseiki Evangelion (kari) kikakusho), containing the initial synopses of the planned episodes.[1][2] The Proposal was published in 1994.[3][4] For the first twelve episodes aired, the company followed the proposal's schedule with only a few minor script differences.[5][6] From the thirteenth episode onward, the production deviated from the writers' original plan and from the submission document.[7] According to Michael House, American translator for Gainax,[8] Neon Genesis Evangelion's main director Hideaki Anno initially intended to give the story a happy ending but during production, he realized he had created problematic characters so he changed his plans.[7] Furthermore, according to Hiroki Azuma, a culture critic who interviewed Anno, during the airing of the series, Anno began to criticize obsessive anime fans, known as otaku,[9][10] whom he considered closed-minded and introverted,[11] and changed his original plans by creating a more-dramatic, introspective mid-series story.[12]

Shinji Higuchi[13][12] and Hideaki Anno wrote the screenplay for "Ambivalence",[14][15] while Tensai Okamura produced the storyboards.[16] Okamura also directed the episode,[17] assisted by Masahiko Otsuka and Ken Ando[18][19] and with Kazuchika Kise as chief animator.[20][21] Production also involved studios other than Gainax, including Studio Mark[22][23] and Production I.G.[19] Production I.G previously worked on the animation for the thirteenth episode,[24][25] which already presented an invisibile microscopic Angel, Iruel.[18][26] Production IG later worked on the CGI of The End of Evangelion (1997). The Red Cross Book, the official booklet on The End of Evangelion distributed in Japanese theaters during the film's release, noted how the series makes extensive use of CGI, but these are processed in a flat, two-dimensional manner, like computer screens.[27]

Development and writing

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Shinji Higuchi wrote the script for "Fourth Child" and "Ambivalence"

Gainax decided the basic plot for the eighteenth episode in the 1993 Proposal, with Shinji fighting an Angel-controlled Eva-03 piloted by his friend and making a choice.[28] Hiroki Azuma noted that while Evangelion parodied previous animes and used "a lot of clichés", especially in the first part, Anno later subverted the anime tropes. While comic characters like Asuka and Toji "must not be seriously injured in an anime", Anno broke the implicit expectations with the public making them injured in battle.[10] Shinji Higuchi, who worked on the episode's script,[29] had previously written the storyboards[30] for "Asuka Strikes!"[31][32] and "Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win!".[33][34] He also wrote the previous episode, "Fourth Child",[35][36] as an anticipation of "Ambivalence".[37] According to writer Virginie Nebbia, Higuchi borrowed this scheme of two linked episodes from the Ultraman franchise.[38] Nebbia also compared Bardiel's role in the installment with Imit Ultraman from the Ultraman series, fake Ultramans controlled by Alien Zarab.[39] Because of his commitments to Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996), after writing the draft for "Fourth Child" and Ambivalence" he left the rest to Anno, causing problems for the production.[40]

Anno initially thought to actually kill Toji after the confrontation with Eva-01; at the beginning of the series production, however, he promised King Records producer Toshimichi Ōtsuki that he would not kill minor characters in the process, so he then veered away and staff decided to leave him mutilated.[38][41] In the final version of events, Toji loses only his left leg.[42] This event is related to Anno's personal experience; his father, Takuyo Anno, due to a youthful accident with a power saw lost his left leg and was consequently forced to wear an artificial prosthesis. The director in the aftermath of the accident developed a fascination with deformity, believing that he could love, in his own words, only something that is stumpy.[43] In Tetsujin 28-go for example, a robot loses an arm; Anno therefore grew up believing that he could not love a perfect thing and that mecha were more beautiful amputated. For this reason, Anno included scenes in which mechas are cruelly mutilated in his works.[43]

In the scene where Eva-03 arrives in Japan, a diffusion process has been applied to the cels, trying to depict the haze that rises due to the heat.[44] In the original script of the episode, staff included a scene in which Toji goes to visit his sister in her hospital room. Although his sister was not supposed to be framed and have no dialogue, Toji would talk to her and tell her that he had made his decision and leave her a well-gifted present.[45] According to the Evangelion Chronicle magazine, the plot of "Ambivalence" proceeds without the name of the Fourth Child being explicitly stated, although his identity is clear; the characters become anxious, and this development arouses suspense for the climax in viewers.[46] The same magazine noted how there is no scene of Toji wearing the Evangelion pilots' plugsuit boarding the mecha, perhaps to give viewers a shock.[47] Furthermore, according to official filmbooks on the series, including the scene of Hikari happily preparing lunch for Toji unaware of the battle places emphasis on the brutality of the confrontation.[48] Trees and road signs are framed throughout the clash to give a sense of grandeur to the Evangelions and the battle.[49] Such camera angles are reminiscent of old tokusatsu live action films.[50] Writer Virginie Nebbia, in particular, compared the episode's direction to that of Akio Jissoji, director of Ultraman; "Ambivalence" shares several elements typical of Jissoji's direction, such as the use of images reflected in glass, strong contrasts between figure and background, and scenes lit by the red of twilight.[51]

Voice acting and music

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Tomokazu Seki and Junko Iwao, original voice actors of the characters Toji Suzuhara and Hikari Horaki.

Miki Nagasawa, Koichi Nagano, Akiko Hiramatsu, voice actors for several main characters in the series, played unnamed Nerv operators in "Ambivalence".[22] Tomokazu Seki and Eiji Maruyama also voiced other unidentified men.[22] Michael House and two of his friends, George and Hiromi Arriola, participated in the voice acting playing the Nerv's native English-speaking operators.[50] In an interview, House stated that about three weeks before that episode went to the recording studio, Anno walked up to him and asked him "if there was anyone among my obviously extensive gaijin acquaintances whom I could get for recording some dialogue in an upcoming episode".[7] House, George and Hiromi also did another block of dialogue before the commercial break, which Anno mixed or overlaid with the Japanese dialogue that was recorded before they went into the recording room. House said, "I recall the result was incomprehensible".[7]

In the course of "Ambivalence", Shinji's character, played by Megumi Ogata, cries and screams during the against the Angel Bardiel; at the end of the episode Ogata felt physically exhausted, as if her "whole body [was] aching".[52] Junko Iwao, original interpreter of Hikari Horaki, similarly cried after watching one of the last scenes of the episode, in which Hikari, unaware of Toji's fate, prepares bento for him.[53] In addition, in one scene of "Ambivalence", the staff included a program followed by Asuka audible in the scene where she is at home with Shinji and Kaji, which was already audible in the fifteenth episode. In the audible segment in the fifteenth episode, the woman insisted that the man get back together with her, while in "Ambivalence" she seems to have regretted their reconciliation; the woman's feelings in the program can be overlaid with Misato's feelings for Kaji.[50] Hiramatsu played the woman, while Nagano played the man from the fictional show.[22] British singer Claire Littley then sang an Off Vocal version of the song "Fly Me To The Moon" as the episode's closing theme song; for subsequent home video editions, the staff later replaced it with a version called Normal.[54][55]

Cultural references

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  1. ^ Nebbia (2023), Cap. 1: Lancement du Project Eva
  2. ^ Evangelion Chronicle (in Japanese). Vol. 1. Sony Magazines. p. 26.
  3. ^ Nebbia (2023), Chap 2: La Proposition
  4. ^ "History 1993-1999". Neon Genesis Evangelion Blue Ray Ultimate Edition Encyclopedia. 2021.
  5. ^ Gainax (1998). Neon Genesis Evangelion Newtype 100% Collection (in Japanese). Kadokawa Shoten. p. 88. ISBN 4-04-852700-2.
  6. ^ Neon Genesis Evangelion Theatralical VHS Box Booklet (in Japanese). King Amusement Creative. 1997.
  7. ^ a b c d House, Michael (November 28, 2011). "Interviewing translator Michael House". Archived from the original on August 24, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  8. ^ Tomo no Kai, ミニミニゲリオンナ人達: Michael Houseの巻
  9. ^ Azuma, Hiroki. "Animé or Something Like it: Neon Genesis Evangelion". NTT InterCommunication Center. Archived from the original on August 8, 2012. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  10. ^ a b Krystian Woznicki (September 1991). "Towards a cartography of Japanese anime – Anno Hideaki's Evangelion Interview with Azuma Hiroki". Blimp Filmmagazine. Tokuma Shoten.
  11. ^ "Kazuya Tsurumaki Interview". The End of Evangelion Theatrical Pamphlet (in Japanese). Gainax. 1997.
  12. ^ a b Nebbia (2023), Chap 1: Diffusion à la télevision
  13. ^ Nebbia (2023), Chap. 1: Production et catastrophes
  14. ^ Gainax (1998). Neon Genesis Evangelion Newtype 100% Collection (in Japanese). Kadokawa Shoten. p. 178. ISBN 4-04-852700-2.
  15. ^ 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン 原画集 Groundwork of Evangelion (PDF) (in Japanese). Vol. 2. Ground Works. 2020. p. 251. ISBN 978-4903713014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 October 2023.
  16. ^ Porori 2010, p. 52.
  17. ^ Oguro, Yūichirō. "第51回　エヴァ雑記「第拾八話　命の選択を」". Style.fm (in Japanese). Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  18. ^ a b Poggio 2008, p. 62.
  19. ^ a b Platinum Booklet. Vol. 5. ADV.
  20. ^ Evangelion Chronicle (in Japanese). Vol. 27. Sony Magazines. p. 25.
  21. ^ Evangelion Chronicle (in Japanese). Vol. 47. Sony Magazines. p. 1.
  22. ^ a b c d "Staff". Neon Genesis Evangelion Blue Ray Ultimate Edition Encyclopedia. 2021.
  23. ^ Gainax, ed. (2003). Data of Evangelion (in Japanese). Gainax. p. 23.
  24. ^ Poggio 2008, p. 48.
  25. ^ Oguro, Yūichirō. "第46回 エヴァ雑記「第拾参話 使徒、侵入」". Style.fm (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 9, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  26. ^ Platinum Booklet. Vol. 3. ADV.
  27. ^ "Production Note". The End of Evangelion Theatrical Pamphlet (in Japanese). Gainax. 1997.
  28. ^ Evangelion Chronicle (in Japanese). Vol. 19. Sony Magazines. p. 25.
  29. ^ Poggio 2008, p. 61.
  30. ^ Oguro, Yūichirō. "第41回 エヴァ雑記「第八話 アスカ、来日」". Style.fm (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 10, 2018. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  31. ^ Poggio 2008, p. 23.
  32. ^ Platinum Booklet. Vol. 2. ADV.
  33. ^ Poggio 2008, p. 32.
  34. ^ Oguro, Yūichirō. "第42回 エヴァ雑記「第九話 瞬間、心、重ねて」". Style.fm (in Japanese). Archived from the original on December 20, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  35. ^ Porori 2010, p. 48.
  36. ^ Oguro, Yūichirō. "第50回 エヴァ雑記「第拾七話 四人目の適格者」". Style.fm (in Japanese). Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  37. ^ Platinum Booklet. Vol. 4. ADV.
  38. ^ a b Nebbia (2023), Chap 1: Tenir bon jusqu'à la fin
  39. ^ Nebbia (2023), Chap. 2: Les Anges
  40. ^ Tomo no Kai, ゲリオンな人達: 樋口 真嗣の達
  41. ^ Sanenari 1997, p. 66.
  42. ^ Filmbook 1996, p. 66.
  43. ^ a b "Resurfaced Interview Sees Evangelion Creator Reveal His Father's Abusive Ways". 17 September 2019. Archived from the original on 29 September 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  44. ^ Filmbook 1996, p. 36.
  45. ^ "Episode #18". Evangelion Original II TV版劇本集 (in Japanese). Taiwan Toyo Sales Co., Ltd. ISBN 957-643-751-2.
  46. ^ Evangelion Chronicle (in Japanese). Vol. 47. Sony Magazines. p. 3.
  47. ^ Filmbook 1996, p. 44.
  48. ^ Filmbook 1996, p. 63.
  49. ^ Filmbook 1996, p. 49.
  50. ^ a b c "Episode 18: Ambivalence". Neon Genesis Evangelion Blue Ray Ultimate Edition Encyclopedia. 2021.
  51. ^ Nebbia (2023), Chap. 3: L'Ultraman de Jissôji
  52. ^ Megumi Ogata (2012). "With all my respect to the two Shinjis ...". Neon Genesis Evangelion 3-in-1 Edition. Vol. 1. Viz Media. ISBN 978-1-4215-5079-4.
  53. ^ "EVA新生!!". Animedia (in Japanese). Gakken. October 1997.
  54. ^ Eva Tomo no Kai (in Japanese). Vol. 6. Gainax. 1996.
  55. ^ Evangelion Chronicle (in Japanese). Vol. 26. Sony Magazines. p. 26.
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