History Trivia / NeonGenesisEvangelion

* ShortLivedBigImpact: ''Evangelion'' was one of the most influential anime shows of the Giant Mecha Genre and in general, but only lasted one season and 26 episodes.

** Creator/TiffanyGrant, who famously voiced Asuka in the English dub of the original TV series and has reprised the role in all other ''Evangelion''-related projects, was understandably disappointed with the 2019 Netflix release for quite a few reasons. Besides having to tone down her performance during her first and only audition for Asuka, Grant was also appalled by the re-translated scripts (including Asuka's limited German dialogue) as well as Khara's involvement. Fortunately, Grant would later reprise Asuka for the last time in the Prime Video release of the ''Rebuild'' tetralogy, but criticized the very similar localization choices she herself was now subject to.
** Creator/AllisonKeith, who voiced Misato in the English dubs of the original TV series and all later ''Evangelion''-related works, was dismayed that she wasn't asked to return in the Netflix release. She eventually returned to voice the character for the last time in the Prime Video release of the ''Rebuild'' tetralogy.

* CelebrityVoiceActor: The Netflix English dub had three famous actors outside of the anime industry:
** Asuka Langley Soryu is voiced by Irish singer/actress Stephanie [=McKeon=]. While she's also known for doing voice acting, albeit exclusively for non-Japanese media until ''Evangelion'', for some Western viewers and listeners, she's known for playing Aisling O'Brien in the Irish TV SoapOpera ''Fair City'', her work as a West End actress in London (most notably as Princess Anna in the ''Theatre/{{Frozen}}'' musical adaptation), as well as her relationship with her husband, fellow Canadian singer/actor/composer Kyle Riabko.
** Film and TV actor Daniel MK Cohen, known for his work in the ''WesternAnimation/LegoCityAdventures'' series, voices Makoto Hyuga.
** Kozo Fuyutsuki is voiced by John Paul "JP" Karliak, best known as the voice of Wolfgang in ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}}'' and Boss Baby in ''WesternAnimation/TheBossBabyBackInBusiness''.

** Later in 2021, it turned out that not only did Gainax attempt the same thing for the ADV dub as what Khara pulled off on Netflix, but that they used the exact same script as Khara. In a [[https://twitter.com/amandawinnlee/status/1376266147750797312 pair of]] [[https://twitter.com/amandawinnlee/status/1376266404307955712 tweets]] by Creator/AmandaWinnLee (who voiced Rei in the ADV dub), she revealed that Khara's script was completely unchanged from Gainax's, and it took the ADV dub's director putting his foot down to Gainax's face to let the team go ahead with the more {{Woolseyism}}-heavy script that audiences heard back in the day.

* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: After their initial broadcast on Japanese television, Anno went back and re-cut the last six episodes of the series, removing and/or restaging some scenes and adding others, ostensibly to tie the series more closely to the ''End of Evangelion'' films. It's been widely speculated that the last episodes were strongly impacted by Gainax running out of funding; by the time of the recuts, the series had been a giant success and so Anno could better afford to do those episodes the way he wanted. The original versions of the last six episodes have only ever been released on DVD outside of Japan (in the original ADV dub in the US, as well as in two special edition "director's cut" volumes that contain both the original and recut versions of those episodes).

** The mass-market Collector's Edition which includes the ADV 1997 English dub and the Japanese subtitle translations commissioned for that release of the series, ''Death (True)
'' and ''The End of Evangelion'', as well as art cards and a condensed version of a companion book.

* EndOfAnEra: ''Evangelion'' firmly killed the notion that anime appealing to a wide teenager and adult audience were viable only in OVA form. It also ended the "kodomo" era of the mecha genre (as there was declining interest in mecha from the tween and younger teen audiences who overwhelmingly switched to [[FightingShow battle shounen]] series by the late 1990s) and ushered in a second otaku era, with a noticeably more "anything goes" era, a looser definition of what exactly can be mecha and more serious themes being explored once again, to an extent not seen since the peak of the [[RealRobotGenre real robot]] boom in the early 1980s.

* EndOfAnEra: ''Evangelion'' firmly killed the notion that anime appealing to a wide teenager and adult audience were viable only in OVA form. It also ended the "kodomo" era of the mecha genre (as there was declining interest in mecha from the tween and younger teen audiences who overwhelmingly switched to [[BattleShow battle shounen]] series by the late 1990s) and ushered in a second otaku era, with a noticeably more "anything goes" era, a looser definition of what exactly can be mecha and more serious themes being explored once again, to an extent not seen since the peak of the [[RealRobotGenre real robot]] boom in the early 1980s.

* ShrugOfGod: After fans were upset with the ambiguity of the series, Creator/HideakiAnno declared that it was up to viewers to determine their own meaning and reprimanded them for expecting all the answers on a silver platter. Over the years he has offered, at best, several vague and contradictory statements as to the meaning(s) and intentions of the series. He has, however, occasionally spoken out on a couple of details, such as disproveding the fan theory that [[spoiler:Misato was the one who shot Kaji]] stating that it was [[spoiler:a unknown assassin who carried out the deed either on SEELE or NERV's behalf]].

** The mass-market Collector's Edition which includes the ADV 1997 English dub and the Japanese subtitle translations commissioned for that release of the series, ''Death(True)
'' and ''The End of Evangelion'', as well as art cards and a condensed version of a companion book.

*** The only recast in the original 1996-1997 TV series dub was Toji, who was voiced by Joe Pisano for episodes 3-18 before he left to join a circus act, then Michael O'Connor briefly took over for episodes 19-20 before he was offered a stage opportunity in the UK, and finally Brett Weaver took over for episode 26 and the ''Death/Rebirth'' recap movie.
*** For the original ''Death/Rebirth'' and ''End of Evangelion'' dubs from 2002, Kaworu (Kyle Sturdivant to Aaron Krohn), Fuyutsuki (Guil Lunde to Michael Ross), Hyoga (Matt Greenfield to Keith Burgess), Ibuki (Kendra Benham to Amy Seeley), Yui Ikari (Kim Sevier to Amanda Winn-Lee), Keel (Rick Peeples to Tom Booker), and Hikari (Carol Amerson to Kimberly Yates) were also recast.

** The Manga dub of ''Death & Rebirth'' and ''The End of Evangelion'' managed to bring back the voice actors for Shinji (Creator/SpikeSpencer), Rei (Creator/AmandaWinnLee), Asuka (Creator/TiffanyGrant), Kaji (Aaron Krohn), Misato (Creator/AllisonKeith), Ritsuko (Sue Ulu), Kensuke (Kurt Stoll), Toji (Creator/BrettWeaver), Aoba (Jason C. Lee) and Gendo (Tristan [=MacAvery=] in his final role before he moved to Syracuse, New York).

** The mass-market Collector's Edition which includes the ADV 1997 English dub and the Japanese subtitle translations commissioned for that release of the series, ''Death(True)
'' and ''The End of Evangelion'', as well as art cards and a condensed version of a companion book.

** DoubleSubverted with the Netflix streams of Episodes 21 to 24, where the Japanese Netflix stream only has the original TV broadcast versions but the international Netflix streams have the DirectorsCuts. However, the international streams still do not have ''Fly Me to the Moon'' while the cut-down Japanese stream still does have the song.

* CrossRegionalVoiceActing: The original ADV dub of the TV series was entirely recorded in Houston. However, the Manga Entertainment dub of ''Death/Rebuild'' and ''End of Eva'' was produced by Los Angeles-based Gaijin Productions, and was mainly recorded there (including Spike Spencer as Shinji, Amanda Winn-Lee as Rei, and Sue Ulu as Ritsuko, all of whom had relocated), but some recording was also done in Houston for actors that were still living there (including Tiffany Grant as Asuka and Tristan [=MacAvery=] as Gendo). Allison Keith (Misato) was living in New York at the time, but flew out to LA to record the films.

** The mass-market Collector's Edition which includes the ADV 1997 English dub and the Japanese subtitle translations commissioned for that release of the series, ''Death (True)'' and ''The End of Evangelion'', as well as art cards and a condensed version of a companion book.

** {{The Movie}}s feature commentaries by Creator/AmandaWinnLee, her husband and Creator/TaliesinJaffe, which are generally beloved/despised (some have even nicknamed it "Commentary of Evil") for being mostly riffing, with a lot of conjecture about the possible meanings behind the films' abstract symbolism, and details on the process of dubbing the films and remastering the audio.

* GeorgeLucasAlteredBersion: After their initial broadcast on Japanese television, Anno went back and re-cut the last six episodes of the series, removing and/or restaging some scenes and adding others, ostensibly to tie the series more closely to the ''End of Evangelion'' films. It's been widely speculated that the last episodes were strongly impacted by Gainax running out of funding; by the time of the recuts, the series had been a giant success and so Anno could better afford to do those episodes the way he wanted. The original versions of the last six episodes have only ever been released on DVD outside of Japan (in the original ADV dub in the US, as well as in two special edition "director's cut" volumes that contain both the original and recut versions of those episodes).

** The Japanese-American-German Asuka Langley Sohryu is voiced by Houstonian Creator/TiffanyGrant in the original dub of the TV series and films, as well as the ''Rebuild'' films.

** Joe Fria, who voiced Hyuga in the Amazon Prime Video release of ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'', said he understood the divisiveness of the Netflix release amongst fans.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: Back in the series' heyday in the mid-to-late 90s, Shinji listened to his music on an S-DAT player, as the format still had a following among Japanese audio enthusiasts when the series was made, while in the West record industry concerns about piracy relegated it to professional use. Nowadays, with the sporadic manga releases, it's been replaced by a Mini [=iPod=]. ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' has him keep the S-DAT player despite being released in 2007.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** The JSSDF soldiers that raid NERV in ''End of Evangelion'' all carry H&K G11 rifles, which would have been considered futuristic... in 1997. The G11 program fell apart in 1990 and the rights repurposed by 2004 with only a few functioning rifles ever being built and is considered and abject and expensive failure instead of the future of military arms.
** Plus, the series is set in a fictional vision of 2015. Notice the lack of smartphones. Shinji using a Digital Audio Tape player also sticks out, given that today the format exists as a footnote in audio tech history, noted only for the severe legal issues with the recording industry that plagued it upon release. It could be slightly justified by the fact that the InUniverse backstory is that the Second Impact, which occurred in 2000 and killed off a large portion of humanity in addition to causing severe damage all around led to an AlternateHistory. [[spoiler:This was addressed rather creatively in the ending of the manga adaptation where Shinji is seen using a smartphone to talk to his aunt. In this version, Shinji stops "Instrumentality" and retroactively prevents The Second Impact from ever happening in the first place, creating an alternate reality where human technology developed as it did in the real world. The nearly [[ScheduleSlip two-decade]] production that plagued the manga actually ended up helping it in this regard]].

** In the original French dub, Creator/DonaldReignoux was 16 years old when he first voiced Shinji.

** Donald Reignoux, the French voice for Shinji, disliked his work on the first French dub of the original TV series for quite a few years. This has some sense, considering he was brought back to reprise his role for the 2019 Netflix re-dub.

* NamesTheSame: Richard "Rick" Peeples, who voiced Keel Lorenz in the ADV release, shares the same nickname and surname with Roderick "Rick" Peeples of ''Series/PrisonBreak'' fame.

* ImageSource:
** ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' (anime)
*** AdjustingYourGlasses (3[[superscript:rd]] image)
*** {{Angst}}
*** {{Beergasm}}
*** BrokenSmile
*** BrokenTears
*** TheConsigliere
*** CluelessChickMagnet
*** TheDoorSlamsYou
*** EverythingsBetterWithPenguins
*** FieryRedhead
*** FreudianTrio
*** GainaxEnding
*** HeroesGoneFishing
*** ImpromptuTracheotomy
*** LeaveTheCameraRunning
*** ReiAyanamiExpy (center)
*** [[ShoutOut/WesternAnimation Shout-Out.Western Animation]] (top half: ''The End of Evangelion'')
*** SisterTrope (right half: fan-art)
*** UsefulNotes.{{The Renaissance Age of Animation}} (bottom-left)
*** VerticalMechaFins
** ''Manga/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' (manga)
*** JerkassWoobie
*** OffingTheOffspring
*** TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness
*** SheFu
** ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion''
*** BandageBabe
*** FingerTenting
*** RiversOfBlood
*** SinisterGeometry
** ''Manga/ReTake''
*** Heartwarming.FanWorks

* FanNickname:
** "Tang" for LCL.
** MindRape (The TropeNamer).
** GNR, or Giant Naked Rei, [[spoiler:glowing white naked Rei that Lilith transforms into.]]
** "[[TheWoobie Puppy-kun]]" for Shinji, at least for Eva fans who like him.
** EMK, or Evil Manga Kaworu, for the Kaworu who [[spoiler:kills a kitten]] in the manga -- hence the meme "every time you masturbate, Kaworu [[spoiler:kills a kitten]]."
*** To differentiate between the three Kaworus, fans mostly call them “Animeworu”, “Mangaworu”, and “Qworu” (because another name for [[Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion Rebuild 3.0]] is Q - similar to how the [[spoiler: Tentative Name Ayanami Rei]] appearing in that specific movie is called Rei Q). The manga Shinji and Kaworu are also nicknamed “Shaun” and “Karl” respectively and the specific manga Shinji/Kaworu relationship is called “Karlshaun”, although this isn’t too popular.
** "Yui-mama" for [[spoiler:Unit 01]].
** "Uberpimp" for Gendo. [[spoiler:Super Gendo, Super Adam Gendo]] and others for [[spoiler:his insane AT Field-generating incarnation]] in the manga.
** Zeruel's arms are often called toilet paper.
** "Harpies" for Evangelion units 05-13 because they look like grotesque cyber-vultures.

** The series has been out of print in North America for some time, with only ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' continuing to be released; the Blu-Ray release of the show hasn't been released there at all. Additionally, ADV Films' original DVD release of the series contained French and Spanish dub tracks, making it the only instance of the French dub being released in North America.[[note]]Said dubs weren't included with the Director's Cut or Platinum Edition, and the show never aired on French-Canadian TV. However, Latin Americans are a bit luckier in this regard, since the show aired on TV there and had its own home video releases.[[/note]] That was until 2021, when Creator/{{GKIDS}} announced that they would be releasing both the ADV and Netflix dubs of the series.

** The 5,000 copy per region Ultimate Edition, which also includes full-size art boards from the original Japanese Laserdisc releases, a resin paperweight of Sachiel, the full version of the companion book, and a NERV ID card with lanyard.

* OldShame: ''Evangelion'''s original French dub became this trope for Shinji's original French voice actor, Donald Reignoux. He admitted he had a terrible time during the dub's recording sessions and refused to work at Chinkel for years. Nowadays, Reignoux's far less negative about the series since he reprised Shinji for the second ''Rebuild'' film and has continued to play the character ever since. Interestingly enough, Chinkel is owned by VSI Media, which produced the Netflix dubs for the series.

*** In the Italian dub, everyone else suffered the same fate as the other dubs, [[RoleReprise except for]] Oliviero Dinelli, who voiced Kozo Fuyutsuki in every incarnation of the ''Evangelion'' series. Interestingly enough, a couple other actors from the original series returned for this dub as different characters. For example, Domitilla D'Amico, the original voice for the younger Asuka, returned here as Misato. However, most of the original cast [[TheOriginalDarrin returned]] for the Prime Video release of ''Rebuild''.

** Amy Seeley and Michael Ross, who respectively voiced Kozo Fuyutsuki and Maya Ibuki in Manga Entertainment's dub of the films. would eventually marry two years after the films were released on DVD. As of 2022, they're still together.