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Kids' Anime Shinkalion Goes Full Eva, Megumi Ogata Reprises Shinji Role
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Over the last few months, the kids' sci-fi mecha show Shinkalion began its slow evolution into Neon Genesis Evangelion. Originally the anime was planning to only air a referential episode to send off the Evangelion bullet train. The train was ending service in May, and seeing as the 500 TYPE EVA train already collaborated with Takara Tomy's Shinkanlion toy line in October, it would make for a fitting tribute.
The episode aired on May 5, but Shinkalion has decided to that its homage isn't quite done. The series' 31st episode will add Neon Genesis Evangelion's perpetually depressed protagonist Shinji Ikari when it airs on August 11. Just like the original show, voice actress Megumi Ogata will voice the character.
Alongside the announcement, Ogata said she had initially assumed someone else would play Shinji in the anime because she had yet to receive an offer. However, an offer came around the time when she had forgotten about it, and she was happy to get the role. She added that "The Shinji written in the script feels like more of a young man than usual, so I intended to make him a bit more of an adult," but she had to adapt to sound director Masafumi Mima's directions. Ogata also noted that the Evagelion seen in the anime is "also different from Unit 01," and it has more of a robot feel.
The new episode will again feature the transforming 500 TYPE EVA train with Shinji as its pilot.
Neon Genesis Evangelion director Hideaki Anno welcomed the collaboration when it was first announced and said he especially wanted to watch the transformation. Anno is a train fan himself, and he and original mecha designer Ikuto Yamashita worked directly on the 500 TYPE EVA train project.
The Shinkalion anime series premiered in Japan on January 6. The anime may just be fulfilling its self-titled destiny. The title "Shinkalion" written in katakana is "シンカリオン" while Evangelion is "エヴァンゲリオン". Despite different pronunciations in English, both share "lion" in the title. Shinkalion could simply be a portmanteau "shinkansen" and "Evangelion."
Source: Comic Natalie
