"What Was the Phenomenon Called 'Evangelion'?" - Additional Thoughts by Sci Fi Critic Nozomu Omori
Comic Box 1997 End of Evangelion Special Archiving Project - Entry #2
(Below is a few introductory thoughts & observations on the essay, then the English translation, then the original Japanese text, as best as I could manage.)
There is no amazing art this time, but I think that is compensated for by a really hitting essay by critic and science fiction author Nozomu Omori, an otaku from one of the earliest generations to identify that way. Omori digs into how Evangelion is a cipher for the identity of each member of the audience due to how many influences are stuffed into its box, what cipher reveals about his own identity, and how Evangelion’s craft as a show allowed it to be so revealing to so many different people.
This essay is another time-capsule from 90’s Japan, but for media discourse as opposed to society - Omori is a devotee of sci fi literature, and sees a rising generation of otaku who no longer hold that literature to be quite as integral to anime’s lineage, something he wants to both combat and self-affirm. This lineage was extremely strong in anime up through the 80’s and into the 90’s, so much so that a distinction between anime and sci fi fans in the early days of anime didn’t exist; Hideaki Anno’s infamous DAICON III and DAICON IV short animations were named after their host convention, the Nihon SF Taikai, which as the name suggests was billed simply for sci fi fans. These sci fi origins were intensely international, as well - to Omori, Arthur C Clarke and the 60’s/70’s “New Wave” movement are just as critical ingredients to Eva as Gundam or Macross.
This is a lineage that hasn’t disappeared, but faded from the zeitgeist; sci fi and anime fans are no longer synonymous, cyberpunk is not a pillar of the anime market, and the literary sources going to anime productions range far wider. But Evangelion’s influence has not faded, and is absolutely still shaping anime culture today; and Omori shows Eva serves as vessel through which these works of foundational sci fi can still transitively be felt.
Other fun points:
Omori mocks Anno for his ‘taking off his pants’ approach to discussing Evangelion, which is a metaphor Anno has used on multiple occasions to describe works that fully express the true interests of the creator. The specific reference Omori is making is likely to an interview from “Schizo Evangelion”, published March 1997, though funnily enough Anno is referring to Miyazaki “taking off his pants and showing that his dick was erect” via the Nausicaa manga, and how he hopes he will do the same in the upcoming Princess Mononoke. It’s an S-tier quote from Anno and Omori’s mockery of it is equally hilarious.
Omori is another author who centers Eva’s appeal in how the audience “enjoyed not enjoying the work”. Its an idea that comes up a lot in this magazine and contemporary interviews; its not an unknown idea in film/media or anything, but I do think Evangelion is one of the first anime to embody this liminal space. Its a concise way of summarizing why it hit audiences so hard.
The author ends his highly personal, serious analysis of End of Evangelion by saying “By the way, if you don’t like the movie, try the Girlfriend of Steel video game tie-in”. I do not know if this is a joke and I don’t think I will ever find the answer that question.
Fear and the World and People and Me: What Was the Phenomenon Called ‘Evangelion’?
SF Critic Nozomu Omori
It's not that I don't find some pleasure in observing someone’s mind (and my own) through the words they speak about Eva.This text, after all, will be about "my Eva".
Why I have a problem with "Eva theories", is that they are just like assholes; everybody has one. The question these theories really ask is, who is this "me" behind the theory? It's not something I usually like to think about, but pretending to talk about Eva instead may help me to think about it without hurting my ego. In anime-otaku terms, instead of confronting "myself as an otaku," I am confronting Eva, which is why when I read the Eva-related texts that I often see in the contribution columns of anime magazines, on Internet web pages, or in the Eva chat room of NIFTY-Serve1, I am not sure whether I can relate to them or not. Whether or not you can identify with it depends on the degree to which you share the author's "me", their identity. The "me" in this article is built from things like "I am a 1960s-era print science fiction enthusiast. I am a male. I watch more anime than the average, but not as much as a true anime otaku. I have a wife and a good social life," or something like that.
That kind of person doesn't really respond to ‘pants jokes’ (the way the director Hideaki Anno talks about Eva, how it is him "taking off his pants"); instead the kind of person I am is sensitive to science fiction symbols. For example, I was proud to be able to quickly explain the source of the subtitle of the final episode, which was revealed in the preview of episode 25 (laugh)2
In fact, “my Eva” is primarily a masterpiece of modern science fiction. When I first wrote this, I was scolded by an anime-otaku lady (of the Gundam generation) in a NIFTY-Serve chat room, saying, "Don't be a sci-fi otaku and come at me with a paternalistic attitude about Eva.” However, GAINAX itself is a company born out of the science fiction fandom, and given its history of showing related works at science fiction events, it is not surprising that science fiction fans would feel a kinship with Eva. In fact, Eva's narrative theme is the evolution (or transformation) of humankind as a species, which is a very science fiction-like theme. To the objection that the background of Eva's story is not the scientific rationalism on which science fiction is based but rather the mysticism of Teilhard de Chardin, one could argue again that George Zebrowski's "Omega Point" is still science fiction, but this kind of argument is of little interest to readers who are not science fiction enthusiasts.3 The question of whether Eva is science fiction or not turns out to be the same as evaluating Eva itself. As for the criticism that Eva is not science fiction because there are leaps in logic and too many unexplained mysteries in the work, I need only mention the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey as a sufficient counterargument that such leaps are disqualifying.
To summarize “My Eva” then, understood in terms of SF history, I would say it is an "SF anime that started out with Sakyo Komatsu, went through cyberpunk, and ended up as New Wave.
The flow of End of Evangelion from outer space to cyberspace to inner space4 was acrobatically developed immediately after the last TV episode as a desperate attempt (laugh) to recover Eva as science fiction, but now that I have seen the beach at the end of the last scene, I think the work landed not so far off the mark. Just as Eva’s anti-mystery approach doubted and rejected the necessity of solving mysteries (such as the identity of the Angels or the scientific principles behind the Human Instrumentality Project), New Wave science fiction rejected the absoluteness of solving science fiction mysteries in their works. In post-New Wave science fiction, it is no problem if the fate of humanity is left to the inner struggles of one boy.
However, this is not the consensus view among science fiction otaku; there are as many views of Eva among science fiction otaku as there are science fiction otaku. In general, when one is unfamiliar with a field, there is a tendency to mistake one person's statement as the representative view of the whole field, but this kind of generalization doesn't work at all as far as Eva is concerned.
For example, there are endless variations of X in "Eva is like X, isn't it?” From mecha anime like Mazinger Z, Gundam, Macross, and Armored Trooper VOTOMS, to horror manga like Devilman or Majuu Sensen, to creators like Daijiro Moroboshi, Kihachi Okamoto, to everyday stories like Hamidashikko or Diary of a Junior High Student, or social phenomenon like personality modification seminars or new spiritual religions, and so on. Even when I say Eva is science fiction, X is further subdivided into novels like Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke, Blood Music by Greg Bear, Haruki Bunko by Sakyo Komatsu...and more.
People see in Eva what they want to see. The last scene of End of Evangelion is the most obvious manifestation of this. There are quite a few people who think they saw something they didn't want to see, but ‘seeing things they don't want to see’ is ‘the Eva you wanted to see,’ so it can't be helped. And since that scene (seems to be) intended to ‘show the audience what they didn’t want to see’, that audience is in the end rather happy to be left thinking "I didn’t want to see that"; or at least most likely they are.
In that sense, it is an ironic coincidence that End of Evangelion was released at the same time as Princess Mononoke. That film, “a movie that scarcely arouses the otaku-ness of the audience,” is almost the polar opposite of End of Eva. This cinematic confrontation can be seen as a repetition of the clash between Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, which were released together in the summer of 1984. As Hiroyuki Morioka said in his essay in the September 1997 issue of Animage magazine, there are many points of correspondence between End of Eva and Urusei 2. In Urusei 2, the ‘time loop of the eve of the school festival’ Ataru & Lum get stuck in is none other than a comfortable utopia; ‘the world Lum wished for’ where ‘the fear of others’ does not exist. By destroying this world, Lum eventually returns to the real world. However, the real world that they return to was that of Tomobiki High School, the morning of the school festival. The endless slapstick comedy and familiar characters is guaranteed to continue (at least for the audience).
In the final episode of the TV version of Evangelion, the "Gakuen Evangelion" (including scenes such as Rei-chan running to school with toast in her mouth) was shown as another possible world to give the audience a similar sense of security. But in End of Eva, the path to escapism is completely blocked by the film. Shinji strangles Asuka even after reviving humanity’s AT field and returning to the real world. With the last line Asuka spits out, the “Gakuen Eva” illusion of a comfortable world is completely shattered, and at that moment the theater lights come on. By placing the end credits halfway between episode 25 and 26, the film doesn't let the audience soak in the afterglow of a typical film ending. The moment Asuka utters her final line, “Disgusting”, the audience is thrown out of the theater into the real world.5
This no-questions-asked ending contrasts sharply with the fannish play at the beginning of the film (a series of credit titles for all the companies involved). The contrast is symbolic, given that Eva as an anime was continually torn between attachment to and hatred of otaku pleasure.
Otaku-esque genre works inevitably have a kind of self-referential structure. This is only natural since they are destined to draw on the memories of earlier works. Eva's thorough pursuit of such otaku-ness paradoxically enabled it to break through the closed nature of otaku culture and achieve a high degree of generality.
Evangelion overwhelming victory over Princess Mononoke (and I don't mean the box office) is a triumph that signals the maturation of otaku culture. The criticism that this is merely a juvenile form of maturity is, of course, a fair one, but if becoming an adult means ceasing to be an otaku, then I don't really want to be an adult. “My Eva”, which depicts the ecstasy and anxiety of being an otaku, is a milestone in 20th century otaku culture, whether the director likes that culture or not. If you didn't like End of Evangelion, the “Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel" video game is a good alternative.
ボクと恐れと世界と他人と: エヴァンゲリオン」とは何だったのか?
SF評論家大森望
エヴァについて語る言葉を通して語り手の心を そして自分の心を)観察することには、それなり の楽しみを見出せないわけでもないし。
というわけで、この文章も当然、「オレのエヴァ」 でしかない。「エヴァ論なんてケツの穴と同じだ。 だれにでもひとつはある」とか。問題はその「オレ」 が誰なのかということで、ふだんはあまり考えた くないことだけど、エヴァを語るフリをしていれ ば、自我を傷つけることなく考えられたりする効 用もあるだろうし。 アニメおたく的に言えば、「お たくである自分」と対決するかわりにエヴァと対 決してたりするわけで、これはアニメ誌の投稿欄 とか、インターネットのWWWページ、 NIFTY- Serveのエヴァ会議室なんかでよく見かけるタイ プエヴァについて書かれた文章を読む場合、そ れに共感できるかどうかは、筆者の「オレ」をどの 程度共有できるかにかかっている。この文章の 「オレ」が前提にしているのは、「一九六〇年生ま れの活字SFおたく。男性。 アニメも世間の平均 以上には見ているけど、真性アニメおたくよりは 全然薄い。妻あり。社会生活は一応良好」とか、 そんな感じですか。
こういう人間は あくまで一般論としてだけ ど ーパンツ系のネタ(「パンツを脱いだ」という言 葉に象徴される、監督の内面にひきつけてエヴァ を語る論調)にはあまり反応しないかわり、SF 的な記号には敏感に反応する。 第弐拾伍話の予 告編で明らかになった最終話サブタイトルの出典 をたちどころに説明できたことにSFファンの誇 久々に感じたりとかさ(笑)。
じっさい、オレのエヴァは、第一義的に現代S Fの傑作なのである。 ・・・と書いたら、 NIFTY- Serve某会議室で、アニメおたくのおねえちゃん (ガンダム世代)から、「SFおたくがいまさら父親 面して(アニメに)すり寄ってこないでよ」と叱られ たこともあったけど、 GAINAX自体、SF ファンダムの土壌から生まれた会社だし、関連作 品がSF系イベントで上映されてきた歴史に鑑み れば、SFファンがエヴァに親近感を抱くのは無 理もない。だいいち、エヴァの物語的なテーマは、 人類の種としての進化(もしくは変容)という、すぐれてSF的なものではなかったか。その背景に あるのは、SFが基盤とする科学合理主義では なく、むしろティヤール・ド・シャルダン的な神秘 主義でしょ、という反論に対しては、だってジョ ジ・ゼブロウスキーの『オメガ・ポイント』もS Fなんだし ~と再反論できるわけだが、その種 の議論はSFおたく以外の読者にはほとんど関 係がない。エヴァがSFかどうかって問題と、エ ヴァ自体の評価は別物ですからね。 ま、論理に飛 躍があるからSFではない(作中で説明されてい ない謎が多すぎる)という批判に対しては、反証 として映画の「二〇〇一年宇宙の旅」を挙げるだ けにとどめておこう。
SF史的に了解された「オレのエヴァ(SF篇)」を一言で要約するなら、「小松左京から出発し、サイバーパンクを経由して、ニューウェーヴで終わったSFアニメ」ということになる。
アウタースペース→サイバースペース→インナ スペースの流れは、TV最終話放映直後、エ ヴァをなおもSFに回収するための絶望的な試み (笑)としてアクロバティックに編み出されたもの なのだが、夏エヴァ(「THE END OF EVAN GELION(以下略)」を指す)ラストシーンの終着 の浜辺を見てしまった今は、そう的はずれでも なかった気がしている。アンチミステリがミステ リ的な謎解きの絶対性を疑い、拒否したように、 ニューウェーヴSFはSF的な謎解き(使徒の正 体とか、補完計画の科学的裏付けとか)の絶対性 を否定したわけで、ニューウェーヴ後のSFにあ っては、人類の命運がひとりの少年の心の問題 に委ねられたって一向にかまわないのである。
もっとも、これはSFおたくの共通見解ではな い。SFおたくのエヴァ観もSFおたくの数だけ 存在する。一般に、自分にとってなじみのない分 野だと、特定のひとりの発言を、その分野の代表 的な見解だと誤解しがちな傾向があるけれど、そ の種の一般化はエヴァに関するかぎりまったく通用しない
たとえば、「エヴァってやっぱり××だよね」にお けるXXには無限のバリエーションがある。マジ ンガーZ、ガンダム、マクロス、ボトムズから、 デビルマン、魔獣戦線、諸星大二郎、岡本喜八、 はみだしっ子、中学生日記、人格改造セミナー、 新興宗教・ ・エヴァってやっぱりSFだよね、 と言ったとき、XXはさらに細分化されて、『幼 年期の終わり』、『ブラッド・ミュージック』、『継 ぐのはだれか』……………と変化していく。
人はエヴァに自分の見たいものを見る。そのこ とが顕著に現われたのが、夏エヴァのラストシー ンだろう。オレは見たくないものを見たと思って いる人も少なくないが、見たくないものを見るこ とも、「あなたが望んだエヴァ」なのだからしかた がない。そして、あのシーンが、観客に「見たく ないものを見せる」ことを意図している(ように見 える)以上、「見たくないものを見た」と思えるこ とは、むしろ幸福なんじゃないかと思う。
その意味で、夏エヴァが「もののけ姫」と同時期 に公開されたことは、皮肉な偶然というしかな い。観客のおたく性をほとんど刺激しない”映 画である「もののけ姫」は、夏エヴァのほとんど 対極に位置している。この対立の構図は、一九 八四年の夏にそろって公開された「風の谷のナウ シカ」と「うる星やつら2 ビューティフル・ドリ アーマー」の対立の反復だと見ることもできる。森 岡浩之氏との対談(アニメージュ9年9月号)で もしゃべったことだが、夏エヴァと「うる星2」に は照応する点が少なくない。「うる星2」におけ る、永遠に”くりかえされる学園祭前夜」は、他人 の恐怖”が存在しない、居心地のいいユートピア” ラムの望んだ世界」にほかならない。 この世 界を破壊することによって、あたるとラムは最終 的に現実世界へと帰還する。しかし、帰還した現実世界とは、学園祭の朝を迎えた友引高校。おなじみのキャラクターによるドタバタがはてしなく続いていくことは(少なくともアニメファンで ある観客の中では)保証されている。TV版エヴ ア最終話では、ありうべきもうひとつの世界とし ての「学園エヴァンゲリオン」(トーストくわえて 走ってくレイちゃん)が観客に安心感を与えた。 しかし、夏エヴァでは、現実逃避の道は完全にふ さがれている。 ATフィールドを復活させ、現実 世界に帰還したにもかかわらず、アスカの首を絞 めるシンジ。 アスカが吐き捨てるように口にする 最後のセリフ。 学園ゲリオン的な居心地のいい世 界への幻想は完璧に打ち砕かれ、その瞬間に劇 場の客電が点灯する。エンドクレジットを25話と 26話の中間に持ってくることで、映画は観客が 余韻に浸ることを許さない。「気持ち悪い」のセリ フと同時に、観客は劇場の外の現実世界へと放 り出されることになる。
問答無用のこの結末は、映画冒頭のファニッ シュな遊び(関係各社のクレジットタイトルの連 続) とみごとな対照を見せる。 エヴァがおたく的 な快感に対する愛着と憎悪のあいだで引き裂か れつづけていたアニメだったことを考えれば、こ のコントラストは象徴的だ。
おたく的なジャンルの作品は、必然的に、ある 種自己言及的な構造を持つ。先行作品の記憶を ひきずる宿命にある以上、それは当然のことだろ う。エヴァはそうしたおたく性を徹底的に突きつ めることで、おたく文化の閉鎖性を突き抜け、高 い一般性を獲得した。
「もののけ姫」に対する夏エヴァの圧倒的な勝利 (ってもちろん興行収入のことじゃないよ)は、お たく文化の成熟を告げる勝利だ。それは幼形成 熟にすぎないという批判はもちろん正論だが、 大 人になるってことがおたくじゃなくなることを意 味するのなら、べつに大人になんかなりたくない。 おたくであることの恍惚と不安を描き出したエ ヴァは、監督の好むと好まざるとにかかわらず、 20世紀おたく文化の金字塔なのである て いうのが、「オレのエヴァ(おたく篇)」でした。 な お、夏エヴァが嫌いだった人は、「鋼鉄のガール フレンド」で補完すると吉。
TN: A major Japanese internet provider - think old ISP chat rooms
TN: “The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World”, which comes from a collection of short stories by American New Wave Sci Fi author Harlan Ellison
TN: Thiers de Chardin was a French priest and philosopher who’s 1959 work The Phenomenon of Man influenced Arthur C Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as the cited work of Sci Fi author George Zebrowski
It is beautiful how well this line translated - what a writer
He is so good, I love him
Fascinating articles, thank you for providing these translations! You've made it read very well, I wouldn't have thought it was MTL-based.
It's funny how there is still more to say about Eva, still more angles to frame it from, even now. I started watching it again recently and like, somehow I was still startled like 'oh! this is really good!' That pants line from Anno is hilarious, I hadn't seen that one before.