Part 1: Red Phones and Exploded Views
The first thing I hear when I think of Neon Genesis Evangelion is the sound of cicadas in a quiet Tokyo-3 afternoon. Shinji is trying to phone his dad on a pay phone but just can’t get through. For me, this is one of the most impactful moments in the series, and it’s an atmosphere that recurs every now and then in the show. For some reason, despite the lack of cicadas in Northwest England, the sleepy summer afternoons really resonated with me. I really don’t watch much anime. I have more of a curiosity in it – I’m a sucker for faux anthropological studies of fandoms, understanding what they go crazy about and getting involved in the fun that comes with it. Any community that positively celebrates a work to its deepest points is one that I can’t help but find myself drawn to.
Evangelion was one of the first anime that I committed myself to watching, and I can’t clearly remember what drove me to it. Nonetheless, the shots of a post-dystopian, calm street on a warm Japanese day imprinted on me very strongly. I took a closer look into this sound the other day and know that it’s often a recurring trope used in many other works due to the people gushing over it in the comments section of this video – Evangelion being one of these.
Maybe the thing that makes this moment stand out the most is its juxtaposition to what I was expecting for the first moment of the series to be. Evangelion was billed to me as a mecha anime – at least visually. It’s one of the funniest things about the show: how on the outset it seems to be focused on giant robots fighting giant monsters, but also deals with introspective deep dives and eldritch alien horrors at the same time.
Perhaps one of the hooks that sunk into me from this show was the theme music. I no doubt looked at it after Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series parodied it in the intro to one of their episodes, because the lyrics to that parody gave me the low-down on all the discourse surrounding it. Despite all this, the song is kinda good?! It’s so catchy and recognisable – I think the Cory in the House parody is another one of the funniest results of its popularity too.
On my rewatch I remember how well put together the opening sequence is with it being dynamic, snappy and abstract at the same time. It’s a great mishmash of all the key elements of the show: cutting between key characters, scenes and parts of its aesthetic alongside briefing the viewer with key terms such as ‘AT Field’, ‘Second Impact’ etc. I particularly like the exploded design views of some of the machinery to help ground the designs of the mecha – which is a neat little bit of worldbuilding.
Fun fact: I remember watching the first episode of Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series second by second as it buffered in the early days of YouTube on our family’s communal computer – thinking that it was the genuine anime version that I hadn’t been able to watch on normal TV but that my friends at school kept going on about. That first “Yu-Gi-Oh is filmed in front of a live studio audience” opening gag had me confused for a long time).
I found somewhere to watch Evangelion online for free – this was quite strange since it was quite a patchy experience, so I was always concerned that I would miss an integral episode. I do think that sometimes I did. I think I somehow also roped Ciaran into watching it with me. The last episode I recall watching online was episode 10 of the 26-episode series. At this point, the show was still following its monster of the week format and the endgame of the show’s arc wasn’t coming into play yet, so I had no idea how things would go beyond that.
After that I somehow lost interest and apart from occasionally checking back into it and seeing the remake movie releases from the touchlines, I did not follow up on it until around 7 years later when Netflix brought their own dub to their platform with great controversy and discussion.
They redubbed the whole thing from the ground up, and due to a lack of rights they didn’t have the covers of Fly Me to the Moon to close out each episode, which left it somewhat lacking. But that’s when I decided to give the series another go and watch it all the way through. Maybe it wasn’t so much the content that wasn’t gripping, but the way I was watching it which made it harder for me to stay interested. I do vaguely remember switching between the sub and the dub of the show out of convenience to just progress with it as that was the most readily available method for me to watch it.
Watching it again was an interesting experience, since it created some kind of half-baked nostalgia for me since I hadn’t fully completed the show all those years ago, but it had a solid place in my mind.
The premise of the show is simple. 14-year-old Shinji Ikari is thrust into the responsibility of piloting a giant mechanical cyborg called an Evangelion, Eva for short. Working with the secretive organisation NERV, he’s crucial in the fight against Angels: colossal monsters which threaten to destroy Tokyo-3. The city is one of the last bastions of Japan’s civilisation following a cataclysmic event known as the Second Impact which happened 15 years prior, which killed half of the human race. Only Shinji and a few other 14-year-olds have the ability to pilot the Evangelions, which can be a bit tricky sometimes to understate it.
I remember something that shocked me with the first few episodes of the show was how raw it all was – it really doesn’t shy away from the trauma that Shinji, our main character, must put himself through to fight against these giant enemies. The way they pilot the Eva is established that they have direct control mentally but also feel the biological pain that the mecha would feel since they have biological elements themselves. One of the most painful and cringe inducing moments in Shinji’s first fight is when his Eva’s arms break, and muscles burst – which makes my spine shiver thinking about having to experience that pain. He spends a prolonged amount of time afterwards in the hospital dealing with the physical and mental trauma.
I think that the show adopts the monster of the week format quite well for its first half, as it channels into more of the happier sides of its own premise: the cycle of overcoming the adversity of the episode’s supernatural alien threat, each with some really creative challenges and puzzles for our cast of characters to overcome each week with their giant robots.
There’s some cool premises threat wise in some of the following episodes, which explore the post-apocalyptic survival of humanity in Tokyo-3 in an interesting way . Episode 6 deals with a prototype positron rifle being used by one of the mechs to snipe through the strong A.T. Field (force field) of the angel Ramiel, with an absolutely stunning sequence where they redirect the power of the entire country to power the sniper’s shots.
Episode 7 is an interesting piece, as it deals with a human made threat in the form of Jet Alone, a competitor to Evangelion, which malfunctions and risks a nuclear catastrophe when stuck on autopilot. This episode reminds me a lot of Thunderbirds (more on that later), with the presentation of risk with human technological advancement and the guarantee that something will go wrong. In this case however, Jet Alone was sabotaged by the protagonists’ side in a move of subterfuge, a case of the backstabbing that is apparent at the end of the world, with hints at a grander plan that cannot be disrupted.
Episode 8 continues to follow the pattern of new challenges each week for the NERV team as they face an underwater threat by playing hopscotch on United Nations battleships using their giant robot. One of my favourite things about Evangelion is the limits of technology baked in to the world, as without being plugged into a power source without the big plug on their backs, the Eva units only have 5 minutes of battery power before they power down. Most of the time this fucks them over, but in some moments it’s a very cool limitation. In this episode in particular, the “umbilical chord” of Asuka’s Eva unreels to its fullest whilst the angel drags it around everywhere.
Episode 9 is probably my favourite – the monster of the week is a double threat, as it splits into two and can recover itself over time. It’s an interesting premise to develop Shinji and Asuka’s teamwork in the Evas as they fail the first time and spend the rest of the episode rehearsing a ridiculous plan formed by their guardian Misato. The montage of the two of them practicing the routine together is always hilarious, and channels some of the more typical tropes of an anime here – the music is also noteworthy, as they use the ‘next time’ theme normally played at the end of each episode. This hilarious sequence culminates in my favourite moment of the show, where the two giant mechanical robots essentially pull off a fantastically animated dance-fight sequence. The choice of music here is also brilliant, as the theme doesn’t have any dialogue at all. The editing between each of the character’s faces is wonderful and the climactic moment is triumphant. When you watch it, it convinces you for half a second that Evangelion is a happy show.
Episodes 10, 11 and 12 continue this format with an interesting Angel concept each. All three instances showing the enemy’s creativity in attempting to destroy humanity’s last line of defence. Episode 10 explores a valid attempt for NERV to get ahead of the Angels by finding one which has yet to grow into a threat, and how they send Asuka’s Eva into a volcano to try and kill it. For the following two episodes, a corrosive acid angel and an angel attempting to create another extinction level meteoric event are inspired ideas, with the cast having to figure out creative ways to fight back. One scene in Episode 11 finds all three giant mecha-cyborgs having to crawl through a vent system to take a shot at the angel. Episode 12’s solution is literally stopping the angel from impacting earth at the last moment, leading to an incredibly intense climax.
I think that Episode 13 was the final episode I got to in my original run but another one of my favourites as it’s less of a big action-packed monster episode but a slower paced battle of wits. The angel this time is a very cool idea for a threat, with it being a biological computer attempting to initiate the self-destruct of the NERV headquarters. Another technologically imaginative part of the Evangelion’s world, their supercomputer is a 3-part system consisting of the Magi. Run by three human brains, one of which is its creator and mother of NERV’s scientific lead Ritsuko. With an interesting threat for her to battle against and a relationship to explore, it demonstrates a great amount of depth to the thought put into building the world our cast live in. The atmosphere of the episode very much channels the intensity of a film such as War Games: dim monitors in even dimmer rooms, fixation on computer monitors and close calls with flashing alphanumeric interfaces and dangerously close decimal point percentages.
The second half of the series is when things start to get a bit messy, as complications begin to arise. Political subterfuge, conspiracies and secrets are revealed within NERV, even more traumatic incidents for Shinji, an insane spiritual truth behind the Evangelions and their origins, it’s all there.
The final episode of the series is infamously known for being vague, confusing and a bit of a contemplative mess, compounded only by the clear lack of budget in its execution. However, I would much rather have a show end with a note of contemplation than an expected ending, especially a show like Evangelion. When watching it for the first time, the final episode of the series is centred on Shinji coming to his final introspective conclusion and ends with a very memeable scene of everyone clapping and bestowing congratulations upon him.
That’s the end of the series, but due to fan backlash, creator Hideaki Anno worked on and released The End of Evangelion, a parallel ending with a bit more finality to it. I had heard a lot about this, mainly through bumping into online discussion around it and a fascination on how it even existed at all. A lot of the conversations on it seem to be around its place in the narrative, if it’s an alternate ending entirely to what the show displayed or if it’s just an alternative point of view.
The End of Evangelion depicts the end of NERV and the final moments before the Human Instrumentality Project starts – a plan to remove the binding fields of all humanity and bring them together into one evolved form of human consciousness. Following another introspective sequence of Shinji’s mind, this time with a less positive outcome, the entire cast end up being embraced by ghosts of people who they desire the most eventually dissolving into a primordial orange ooze.
All of these scenes are shown over the music of Komm, süsser Tod (Come Sweet Death) which is a beautifully depressing song: elegantly painting a picture of downfall, calamity and a tragic ending (I watched this video recently which gave me a headache for how well it fits). In the meantime, Shinji’s Eva is crucified above earth whilst a giant version of Eva pilot Rei Ayanami holds a floating orb of light.
Yeah. Very open to interpretation, isn’t it?
The End of Evangelion is a fucking mess, and I don’t know how to feel about it other than being along for the ride and looking at it with morbid fascination. There are points in the movie too which shock and disturb me, not on a critical point of view but more on a natural reaction to some of the grim animated sequences. The one point that always comes to mind is Asuka’s final moments at the bottom of a lake after fighting mass produced synthetic Evas which tribally tear apart her mech, ripping and twisting its biological entrails apart whilst Asuka disturbingly feels the pain inside the cyborg. The eye of her cyborg essentially gets gouged out by a spear, it’s hard to watch and makes me cringe just writing about it. It left a bad taste in my mouth. With the choice presented to me, I would much rather not watch the film again, besides the few clips I mentioned. In the end it just creates an image of crude ruin on a series that I falsely and mistakenly projected too much positivity on from the outset. I don’t think I knew what I was getting in to, which is my fault.
Despite all this, I can clearly still look back at moments in the series which I enjoy and although I might not be happy to witness the final execution of the storyline, I can clutch onto the pieces I can gladly. On top of this, I don’t regret witnessing these parts as Evangelion has moments which capture an energy, aesthetic and mood that appeal to me greatly. It’s one of those things that if I ever got into a position to craft something that can borrow elements, I would love to pay homage to. After having witnessed the whole story too, I also feel onboarded into the discourse and fandom that the series has and can easily follow the full picture after finishing what I started all those years ago.
One of my favourite things about Eva is the worldbuilding in regard to the technology. It’s one long interesting exploration of the extremes humanity has been pushed to and the brilliance that has come out of it as a result. The launch experiences are always fun for me to watch with their timpani drum beat bouncing in the background, the close-ups of the mechanical launching devices of the Eva, red emergency phones, moving platforms etc. The rigs to hold the Eva’s upright and the dynamic, kinetic upthrust of the mechs into the Tokyo-3 skyline…it’s one great big dance of machinery. I love the idea that the skyscrapers of the city are giant weapons holders and barricades can be raised and lowered for a tactical advantage against the angels. The fact that NERV run so many technical tests, the sheer amount of resource that is always displayed to be dedicated to running the Evas and their capabilities is immense – both showing an inspiring message of unification and a distressing show of human desperation at the same time – all of this to send a giant robot out for 5 minutes without being plugged into a wall socket. Again, the 5-minute limitation is brilliant to me. Despite a lot of the lore of this world being bat shit insane, the constraint of human technology is still cripplingly limiting – however, strategy and resilience is the key to survival and leads them to victory time and time again throughout the series (most of the time by the skin of their teeth).
Part 2: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…
I can’t help but draw my appeal towards Evangelion to an existing love that had been nurtured within me for most of my lifetime – that of Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds. The launches can easily be linked to that of the prolonged sequences in the marionette casted show, with it generously focusing on the machinery and gadgetry that the show fully well knows will capture the imagination of the young eyes watching it. Even the vertical movement of the Eva in their launch sequence can be recognised as a mirror of Thunderbird 1’s diagonal movement to its launching pad. Even the low drumbeat is reminiscent of the Barry Gray soundtrack of Thunderbirds. Funnily enough, I’ve just found this video after writing this whole piece which has been a very enjoyable watch. Just know that I arrived at these conclusions independently!
I’ve always loved Thunderbirds ever since I can remember. There was just something so cool about it all.
The premise of the show was based on former astronaut Jeff Tracy’s family, who run the secret organisation International Rescue in which they pilot state of the art air, space, and watercraft to rescue people from man-made and international disasters. Often times they would face off against their evil arch nemesis The Hood who would often create many schemes and situations where he could photograph their technology, but would often times find himself failing (to comedic effect). Half of the episode’s runtime would involve a disaster waiting to happen, with close calls and tense situations set up for International Rescue to come and solve with their amazing craft.
Speaking of craft, Thunderbirds is known famously for its use of Supermarionation puppetry, miniature sets, and models for the vehicles. One of my favourite little quirks of the show is it’s use of real hands for up close and intricate actions like opening a pocket watch or a wallet – another little nugget of inspiration that I want to pay homage to one day. The show is so fun to watch already due to the way it was made – I remember watching a behind the scenes video a few years ago which brought me a lot of joy to see all the fun little tricks they did to help create scale and the huge set pieces, despite only using miniatures.
And of course, the toys that came from the show were also amazing – I had a big version of Thunderbirds 1, 2, 3, 4 and I don’t think they released a Thunderbird 5 toy, but I believe I was only missing FAB 1 from this set. These models came with small versions of the characters that could sit inside the interiors. The interior designs of the toys were applied by the owner with stickers that came with it, to add some more technical detail. I can visibly remember the askew stickers that I didn’t place properly, and the designs which were curled up or faded because I wanted to play out aquatic adventures in the bathtub with Thunderbird 4.
My Thunderbird 2 model had a broken crane hook underneath it which was a real shame, and I also let my curiosity get the better of me by taking some of the tiny figures apart or losing them entirely, which always annoyed me when I couldn’t find them!
I suppose that the essence of the show’s production with its highly detailed models made it very easy to find the toys appealing – and the realisation that the show was originally produced in 1964 – 1965 absolutely blew my mind! The fact that it was still a marketable franchise, popular in the minds of British children until early 2000s is a testament to Thunderbirds’ brilliance.
There were also miniature models of the toys, with some articulate parts which were cool, although I only ever got the miniature versions of Thunderbird 2, 3 and 4 made by Hornby. I never could figure out how to complete the set, which was a shame since I had the Tracy Island toy set which would be a good home for all of them. My friend George’s dad is a fan of Airfix kits, models and also Thunderbirds as he owns a full set of the toys, which made be very jealous.
I did also have a small International Rescue uniform too, with the yellow sash/holster, baby blue jumpsuit and little blue forage cap. I can go back to my family home right now and find the photo of me in that outfit, wearing sunglasses for some reason (I think they made me look cooler?).
However, the strongest memory I have associated with playing with Thunderbirds toys is when I didn’t have any at all. I used to fly my hand around, extend my thumb and pinky finger like the inverted wings of Thunderbird 2, and sing the theme song all around the house. Just the idea of doing something as simple as that and having so much fun still makes me smile to this day.
Oh, and the music of the show is fantastic – I mentioned earlier the expert tension building technique of Barry Gray, but the whole show features amazing pieces and cues full of intensity, suspense, and militaristic action. Of course, the main theme is fantastic, and it scares me to think about how many people have only encountered the show’s influence through Busted’s Thunderbirds Are Go from the 2004 movie.
I remember being very interested in the movie, but when I started seeing the merch and redesigns of the original show’s models it seemed as though it lacked the essence of what I liked about the original. I was only a kid, but it seemed all too glossy and alien for my liking.
I have a fond, yet cloudy memory of it being New Year’s Day – me and the whole family sat around the TV to watch an episode of Thunderbirds, I believe it was Day of Disaster, as I recall a bridge, a space rocket and Thunderbird 4 coming to the rescue, which was always a pleasure to see. Thunderbird 4’s deployment is one of my favourites, I just remember loving seeing Pod 4 get dropped and the submersible launching into the water. It felt like an exciting treat whenever Thunderbird 2 launched and used Pod 4, since you KNEW what was inside that bad boy. I do also wonder just how exactly they managed to retrieve the pod though from the ocean…
My favourite episode of the show is Sun Probe. I always find myself drawn to rewatching it when I dust off my DVD collection of the series. It’s such a fantastic premise that I remember made me panic the first time seeing it. Without wanting to spoil too much of the twist, International Rescue head into space to rescue three solarnauts on a space mission but end up in a bit of hot water themselves. The pacing of the episode is exquisite and has throws a great curveball at the audience with how soon the problem is resolved, with midway twist to boot. Also, there’s an equal amount of earth-based action too, with a cool juxtaposition between very hot and extremely cold environments.
Another funny memory for me is around the old logo for the show, which featured a craft that resembled Thunderbird 1 but didn’t have the same colouring. I remember it clearly from the abysmal Game Boy Colour game that I had for it, which wasn’t very good at all. Anyways, my brother established the lore that the nose of Thunderbird 1 became red because it flew into the heart of a giant that was attacking a city, thereby killing it and permanently staining the nose with its blood. This of course was enacted out by my brother playing the giant and using my Thunderbird 1 toy.
Just one more fond memory: the Thunderbirds website at the time used the iconic ‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1…’ countdown that opened each episode. I used to LOVE it. One time my dad would just let me watch it on the website then reload it for me to watch again. It was so cool.
Okay one LAST fond memory of Thunderbirds. My close friend Sam and I bonded over Thunderbirds in secondary school since his own dad got him into it when he was little. It was very fun to both discuss it and defend it to death against people who would cast aspersions on it. One time when I was at his playing Just Cause 2, we played this track from the soundtrack whilst a plane we were riding on in game was hurtling to the ground – one of the most brilliant gaming experiences I’ve ever had.
Thunderbirds also opened the door up to me for the slightly darker Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons. Still a Supermarionation show with the same DNA as Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet depicted a war of nerves with The Mysterons – an invisible enemy who sabotaged and attacked Earth on the regular. Captain Scarlet himself, belonging to the global security agency Spectrum (headquartered on the hovering Cloud Base), is a replicant created by The Mysterons themselves, but after being deprogrammed he has retained his indestructability and continues to fight against them.
Again, the theme music for this show is amazing. I remember reminiscing about it with Sam – the opening sequence is amazingly atmospheric, with a lone stranger walking down the street, turning to shoot our titular character, only to be have the courtesy returned to him with deadly accuracy. The iconic 7 drumbeat spelling out the name CAPTAIN SCARLET lives rent free in my head today. It was a staple motif of the show, transitioning stylishly from one scene to another, yet another piece I want to steal with pride one day.
If I remember correctly, The Mysterons are an invisible force that can sabotage or influence things from afar. One time when we were stuck in a traffic jam and sat in the back of the car, my brother and I were both fooled by an empty car parked on the side of the road when my mum reversed slightly, making it look like it was driving itself forward, which remains a very funny memory.
For toys, I had a miniature version of Cloud Base, the red Spectrum Saloon, the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (which was always hidden in the field for the agents in the best places, revealed with the utterance of a password), and one Angel Interceptor jet I found at a charity shop.
They remade Captain Scarlet in CGI “Hypermarionation” when I was growing up, it lacked some of the detail and nuance of the original, especially in the music department, but nonetheless was an entertaining re-imagining for then current day audiences. I remember Stephen Mulhern and Holly Willoughby introducing it on Saturday mornings for ITV’s Ministry of Mayhem.
One of the most fun parts of Captain Scarlet was watching the credits, which featured different works of art of our hero in horribly dangerous situations, which his indestructibility would help him endure. A lot of these were comically threatening – tied to a weight and thrown into shark infested waters, trapped in a snake pit, about to be crushed by two closing spiked walls (always reminds me of the scene in Simpsons Bible Stories when they crush into each other to make a ladder). It would also pique my imagination to think about how he would escape these situations.
I also can’t talk about Supermarionation productions without of course mentioning Team America: World Police. To me the idea of parodying Supermarionation was a great choice for the type of film Matt Stone and Trey Parker wanted to make. I remember watching it for the first time as a teenager and finding it equal parts hilarious but there is a small amount of concern that it would lead people to constantly associate the use of puppets with Team America. I think that people can make that detachment though and still enjoy both, but I will always champion the craft, technical expertise detail and technique that went into making the puppetry work so well. Even writing this, I’m reminded of the funny sequences in that film can’t help but go on a Team America clip binge.
I remember watching one of Nintendo’s E3 presentations a few years ago, and they featured a bit with Shigeru Miyamoto talking about his inspiration for Star Fox – I lit up as he talked about one of his inspirations being Thunderbirds’ air flight action being a huge influence on the title. This put a smile on my face to see it be recognised and know that it touched one of the greatest creative minds of this generation, going on to exist in the essence of one of Nintendo’s beloved franchises the world over. With proof that Thunderbirds had cultural capital in the pacific, one can’t help but think if my connection to Evangelion is much more than a light coincidence.
To kind of wrap things up, this whole sphere of works that I’ve discussed above all have a unique connection to each other in my mind, and you can even consider this being a reverse engineering of why each of them appealed to me so much. With all that said, it’s still important to understand influences that each work have had and had yet to have on others – and appreciating that everything that was ever made was built on the shoulders of giants, balancing atop a house of cards, in order to achieve greatness.
minutiae+musings 