Is the birth of Eva-NieR upon us? 260224

A completely new series of 'Evangelion' is in production—

Moreover, director Hideaki Anno is absent, and Yoko Taro is in charge of series composition.

The moment I saw this news, only one phrase came to my mind.

"Ah, perhaps Eva is finally becoming NieR-ified."

Anno's Eva was the 'Gundam: The Origin'

Looking back, Anno's Eva was an extremely unique work.

• TV Series

• The End of Evangelion

• Rebuild of Evangelion (Thrice Upon a Time)

All of these were

the spiritual history of an individual named Hideaki Anno.

To use Gundam as an analogy,

• the original Gundam

• Char's Counterattack

• THE ORIGIN

are what they correspond to.

In other words, the "completion of a myth" by the creator.

And when a myth is completed, what comes next is always—

succession.

The path that Gundam has taken

Gundam was the same.

After Yoshiyuki Tomino's story ended,

• G Gundam

• SEED

• 00

• The Witch from Mercury

• and then Zeon-Axis

continue on.

While sharing the same worldview,

the protagonists and ideologies were updated with each era.

This is what's important.

Gundam, from a certain point on,

ceased to be just a "Tomino work"

and became a culture itself.

And now, Eva stands at that same point.

The moment Eva moves away from being a "personal story"

For a long time, Eva was a work that one should not touch.

Because,

• Shinji Ikari = Hideaki Anno

• Eva = the director's inner self

was the case.

For someone to create a new work

was akin to stepping into the author's heart.

However, with 'Evangelion: 3.0+1.0',

Director Anno himself brought the story to an end.

I believe this was effectively

a declaration that 'you are free to do what you want with Eva.'

that he was making.

What the participation of Yoko Taro signifies

The choice of Yoko Taro here.

This is not a safe strategy.

Quite the opposite.

It looks like a 'selection of people for the purpose of destruction'.

Yoko Taro's works always have the characteristics of

• betraying common sense,

• breaking down narrative structures,

• and involving the audience themselves.

In other words, the new Eva

might not be 'Shinji's story',

but rather

an Eva that the viewers participate in.

That is a possibility.

If an "Eva-Z-Axis" were to be born

Let's imagine it.

• The protagonist is completely new

• NERV is also an organization of the past

• Even the meaning of EVA is redefined

• Angels are not necessarily the enemy

And the story changes like this.

The Eva of the past:

The future of Eva:

This is exactly,

overlapping with the flow of how Gundam reached Sieg-Ax.

Myths are completed when they become 'playable'.

The first Eva was heavy.

The stagnation, loneliness, and anxiety of the 90s.

That was a record of the era.

However, 30 years have passed,

and Eva is moving away from being a personal confession.

The moment a myth leaves its creator,

it finally belongs to the many.

If a new work

becomes something one would want to call "Eva-Ziek-Ax"—

it might not mean that Eva is lost,

but that it has truly begunin the real sense.

The next Eva

will be a work not for nostalgia, but for looking toward the future.

Thinking of it that way, I'm starting to look forward to it a little.