Forum - View topicAbsolute Borderline: The Early Days of Evangelion Fandom, Part Two
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tintor2
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I heard rumors that Anno was a fan of Devilman since his childhood (how can children read that manga?!) so he based at least Shinj's mecha on the series. They say he was also involved in Gundam so I can see erotic designs of some characters being inspired on the 1979 Gundam where Sayla Mass became kinda of an icon due to a bath scene completely uncensored. But yeah, Toji's episode was so brutal that he didn't even appear again and Sadamoto decided to downright kill him. The mecha eating an angel was also insane like a crazy Godzilla movie.[/img]
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Silver Kirin
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If I'm not mistaken, I believe the original Devilman manga was actually a shonen series, though it seems back in the '70s and '80s shonen manga could get away with a lot more thanthese days, not to mention that Go Nagai created Devilman in collaboration with Toei, since they wanted to make an anime adaptation, which ended up being lighter in regards to its content. Don't know if Anno was a fan of Devilman, but there's some similarities, I guess Hideaki is fan of Go Nagai, considering he directed the live-action Cutey Honey movie, and Eva units having a more "demonic" design actually does harkens back to Mazinger Z being inspired by the giant animated statue from the kaiju movie Daimajin.
I'm pretty sure Anno was in college when the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime was airing, in fact, I found a translated interview Anno gave to Animage magazine back in 1991, where he listed his favorite anime at that that time, the list was:1) Space Battleship Yamato; 2) Mobile Suit Gundam; 3) Gundam: Char's Counterattack; 4) Ideon; 5) Animal Treasure Island; 6) Fight! Pyuta!; 7) Future Boy Conan; 8) Aim for the Ace; 9)Tom & Jerry [in Japan, western cartoons are listed as anime]; 10) Anne of Green Gables. Anno is also a huge fan of tokusatsu series like Kamen Rider and Ultraman, and Evangelion has ton of references to both, particularly to Ultraman, but I guess most people in the West did not know that Shinji and Asuka's double kick was a reference to the Rider Kick. As far as other works that are referenced in Evangelion, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a big one. |
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tintor2
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I'm pretty sure Tomino worked with Anno for the movie Char's Counterattack due to one weird interview from Gundam book where Tomino tries to express his preference on women and how he wrote Char in that movie. I think there was a big commentary to about how Amuro also had multiple love interests and how the staff from Sunrise couldn't decide on any one for the tv series. The 1979 anime was famous for Saiya's nudity enough that even the manga Gundam Sousei had Tomino finding fanarts of Sayla naked and corrected fans how she should be drawn. In the interview about Devilman, it seems Anno was too young when reading Go Nagai's works as he didn't react to the nude scenes Nagai often drew. |
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Silver Kirin
Posts: 1755 |
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Going back to the topic of how people first reacted to Evangelion for the first time, I'd say that my first viewing experience was quite similar in certain aspects, As I say, while I became aware of Evangelion when I was a small child, back in the late '90s, I didn't actually watched the show until Animax Latin America aired the Renewal version in 2009 when I was in high scholl, and while I had encountered a few spoilers here and there, I actually kind of jump into the series blind. I'd say that the first 15 episodes of NGE feel more like a typical monster of the week show, more akin to Ultraman, but I think the turning point in the series is episode 16, the first episode that actually scared me a bit the first time I watched it. While both episodes 17 and 18 have great direction, I'd say that I actually prefer Sadamoto's interpretation in his manga adaptation, particularly the interactions between Shinji with Toji and later Shinji's interactions with Kaji.
I would have never imagined that people had those types to reactions towards the violence and mature themes in Evangelion, don't know if people back then assume that, while having different standards, TV anime was technically aimed towards kids and teenagers and that Evangelion was pushing the envelope in regards to the content that could be shown on Japanese television. |
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jdnation
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I bought Evangelion simply on a whim as a teenager when I saw the original black box DVD set at a convention stall.
The internet was a thing, and I was intrigued by pictures of this blue haired girl in a white plugsuit that I kept seeing, and there were some Anime Music Videos which were a thing, so I'd seen out-of-context clips here and there. But otherwise, aside from people name dropping the series and promotional art, I didn't know a thing about it. It became one of my best spur of the moment take-a-chance purchases I'd ever made! Not that I make a lot of them, as I have also been disappointed about some. But that's how I got into Eva. |
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ThatGuyInTheHoodie
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I think my first exposure to Evangelion was on the back of a comic book. I want to say the single issue heavily censored Pokemon ones funnily enough. I saw a picture of Asuka, Rei, and Misato in skimpy outfits on a car and it made me interested (obs lol) so I rented the anime from Blockbuster and the rest is history. Maybe it wasn't Pokemon but its a funnier story if I saw it was... I dont know what other anime single issue comic I'd have been reading at the time.
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