Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most legendary series within the medium of anime for good reason, with Hideaki Anno creating a world that was as thoughtful as it was brutal. With the four-movie long series, Rebuild of Evangelion, recently coming to an end, Anno recently took the opportunity to answer a number of fan questions about the series and the work that he put in behind-the-scenes when it came to creating the world of Shinji and his troubled friends that fought the angels in Eva Units.
To start, Anno told a fan that “if someone actually commanded you to pilot Evangelion Unit-01,” he would not join Shinji in jumping into the robot and battling against the extraterrestrial threats known as the angels. To extrapolate on this point, Hideaki confirmed that Eva Unit-01 was his favorite mech in the series, while also stating his fondness for characters Misato, Asuka, and Ritsuko when it came to the favorite characters that he had made in Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Hilariously enough, Anno also dove into his work on the recent films as well as how many times he has watched the movies that he helped to create in the Rebuild series. Stating that he has watched the movie exactly “zero times,” Hideaki also stated that he has brought Evangelion to an end “three times” and believes that “that’s enough” when asked if he would ever return to the series.
One of the other main questions that arose from the back and forth between Anno and fans came in the form of one fan asking whether Shinji was actually happy now that the series came to a close. Verbatim, Hideaki had this to say:
“I’ll leave those interpretations of the characters up to the sensibilities and imagination of the viewers.”
While there hasn’t been confirmation that Evangelion will be making a comeback, Eva Unit-01 was recently featured in a collaboration poster that saw Shin Godzilla, Kamen Rider, and UltraMan side-by-side, which has some fans believing that NERV might be making the leap into the world of live-action at some point in the future.
What question would you ask Hideaki Anno? Do you think we’ll one day see Neon Genesis Evangelion make a comeback? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of NERV.