Behold, I Show You a Mystery (Wednesday Nights at 6:30)
If you're like most people in the English-speaking world reading this, you still haven't had the chance to see Neon Genesis Evangelion; those who have are in general lucky enough to have Japanese video stores in their communities or be pen pals with those who do. Rest assured, though, that there's still many surprises awaiting everyone: even those who have seen some Eva are working with admirable but admittedly quite preliminary fan translations. And if it appears that much has been given away in this article, the truth is actually still out there: even beyond the halfway point of the series, we don't really know what the Instrumentality Project is (human-induced evolution, as hinted at by Anno?), exactly why the Angels are attacking (to stop the Instrumentality Project?), what makes the "children" of Eva special (if they were genetically engineered as pilots as some fans originally assumed, then why was it necessary to conduct a worldwide search to find them?), and what the relationship is between the "technology" of the Angels and that of the Evangelion units. We often get maps to the puzzle piece rather than the pieces themselves.

But it's not just solving the background puzzle that keeps viewers watching, for there is another mystery at work in Evangelion; the mystery of human emotion. Evangelion is very much a human story: a story of war, of growing up, of reconciliation, romance and love among its multi-generational cast. It is becoming increasingly apparent to the fans that the intriguing writing of Eva does not merely include a mysterious plot with a human element, but a story which combines the search for personal growth with the fearless vision of the best science-fiction; a combination Gainax displayed long ago in Honneamise.

Overriding it all, as the noted Japanese social writer, Sato Kenji, has remarked, is Anno Hideaki's overall honesty, his own whisper of the heart--"to live is to change"--from one of Japan's top animators, caught for four years in the personal hell of depression and helplessness as an artist. It helps to remind one that the people who make anime don't do it just for the often paltry living it provides, but to express what's inside them with these tools they know. To make something that means something to them is the reason Gainax makes everything. "Arrogant and selfish" is how Anno describes it. An egotistical, fan boy, inward-seeking approach, bound to fail? You can ignore their work as easily as a spiral on the sea: hurricane arms, wrapped with otaku dross like shipwrecks, secret at the center, storming with ambition.

-- Carl G. Horn

(The author would like to express his thanks to Gainax, Okada Toshio, and Mitsuhiro Wada, who greatly assisted in the preparation of this article)

Bio: Anno Hideaki
Eva Sidebar: Background and Characters
Interview: The EVA Script Translators