Hideaki Anno, Neon Genesis Evangelion And a Revisionist Perspective on Cultural Trauma.

By Anonymous


Fig 1: Neon Genesis Evangelion Promotional Material

Before taking a deep dive into the crazy world of Neon Genesis Evangelion, I highly recommend first reading my piece on Gag manga as this piece, in many ways, is a reflection on that initial piece and a deep dive into one of Hashimoto's perspectives that she lays out in the story. The piece's title is "Gag/Comedy Manga Is A Good Tool To Work Through Collective and Personal Trauma." With that being said, let us dive into the mind of Hideaki Anno.


To briefly explain the premise of the show Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE), for short, is a show about young middle-schoolers who are forced ride operate giant living robots in order to protect humanity from the angels, a group of alien-like creatures who can start what is known as the third impact. NGE combined the technical specificity of Gundam-style real robots with the incredible powers and stakes of the Super Robot genre that the series supplanted, with a layer of twisted psychological horror serving as the glue between the two.


As straightforward as that sounds, both the show's lore alongside where Hideaki Anno got the idea for the show is dark and rich. Specifically, while creating this story, Anno fell into a deep four-year depression which was a result of both being overworked by the studio he worked for alongside events in Japan at the time, like the Sarin gas attacks which happened “in the Tokyo subway system killing twelve people and injuring over 5,000 on March 20, 1995.” (History1) What made it horrifying for Anno was that sarin gas was invented by the Nazis and is one of the most lethal nerve gases known to man, which brought up a ton of old emotions about world war two both within himself and Japan as a whole. 


Here, I would like to reintroduce the perspective of Narrating Perpetrators. Narrating Perpetrators actively demonstrates a nation's memory of war and, mainly, its defeat does not produce a “monolithic, consensual picture but creates a conflictive and polyphonic public discourse. What is most important about this narrative is that it recognizes that public interest is undoubtedly a factor in how people see and remember narratives.” (Hashimoto 14) In the case of NGE, Anno actively uses this narrative not to critique any larger government but instead to take a deep dive into himself, as many artists in Japan did during this time through their work.


Throughout the story of NGE, we are introduced to characters who are broken in their way. In many ways, these characters exist to explore the personal moral struggles in Anno's inner world. When looking at the main characters, it is clear that Shinji (the main character of the story) represents Anno's inclination toward escapism, Asuka his artistic talent and drive for validation, and Rei, his essential, childlike curiosity and desire for human connection. Bringing all these characters together in many ways adds to what we already know in terms of the tactics individuals use to work through trauma. 


In making a story-driven show, Anno has actively been able to work through his depression and trauma surrounding Japan's past while also outwardly giving a revised understanding of how individuals took the war. Anno recognizes himself as the perpetrator of his depression as even the villain is a part of him. However, in doing so, Anno is taking a revisionist perspective on what Japanese historians like Hyodo Akiko would consider necessary to work through collective trauma. Hyodo Akiko, in his writing, calls for empathy toward those involved in the war as there is an "intersection of the perpetrator and the victim as two sides of the same coin." (Hashimoto 80). However, Anno, in his writing, defies this by removing the victim side as a whole. In many ways while yes, the children in NGE are victims of the generation before them, Anno heavily focuses on the toxic nature of his characters and forces them to realize that they are as much at fault for the world as everyone else. Anno presents a new framework for looking at personal and cultural trauma, which is that we are all perpetrators, and we need to acknowledge that together. In some way or form, everyone is to blame and no one is blameless in Anno's eyes. Showing pride and or holding your head high during hard times is heavily followed within Japanese culture; however, what Anno is attempting to teach us with this very dark and tragic narrative is that in the end, no one person can deal with the weight of the world on their own. We owe each other to work together and work through our problems as together we can both prevent the mistakes of yesterday while also making the most of today.


Citiations 

Hashimoto, Akiko. 2015. The Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Japan.

New York: Oxford University Press.


History.com Editors. 2021. “Tokyo Subways Are Attacked With Sarin Gas

.” History.com,March 18th. Retrieved  May 1, 2022 (https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/tokyo-subways-are-attacked-with-sarin-gas).


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