Neon Genesis Evangelion Is Coming Back With The Perfect Writer
Write the reboot, Yoko. Or Hideaki will have to do it again.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the greatest anime series of all time. From the mystical worldbuilding to that catchy theme song to that divisive ending, its influence is found everywhere. It’s almost certainly the only anime series to be referenced by Robin Williams in a horror movie.
Since the series premiered in 1997, there have been a slew of movies with plenty of alternate endings, but now the series is about to go back to where it all began — with a brand-new anime series with a sci-fi mastermind at the helm, someone who could usher in a new age of Evangelion.
Nier writer Yoko Taro will write a new Neon Genesis Evangelion series.
During a festival celebrating the upcoming 30th anniversary of Neon Genesis Evangelion, it was announced that a new Evangelion anime series is in production. It will be directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, the director of the Rebuild of Evangelion movies, but the series will be written by none other than Yoko Taro.
Yoko Taro, usually seen behind an evil-looking smiling mask, is the writer behind the Nier franchise of video games, a similarly lofty story and world with a meta twist. Much like Hideaki Anno’s original series, the world of Nier uses the tropes of anime storytelling to stretch the limits of what’s possible in the visual form.
However, one big question remains: how will a new series slot into the Evangelion world? The anime is pretty unique as it includes multiple endings: one in the original series, another in the End of Evangelion movie, and another at the end of the Rebuild of Evangelion movies. None of them really have any wiggle room for a sequel, which has the added issue of making one ending canon over the others.
The first ending of Evangelion was very divisive, could a new series write another different ending?
There are a few ways a new series could get around this: They could set the series in the far past as a way to isolate the story from the original canon entirely; it could retell the entire story completely, even though Rebuild of Evangelion did pretty much the same thing; or the series could take a cue from the modern trend in adaptations like Fallout and tell a self-contained story that sits alongside the more well-known story. The events of Evangelion touch countless peoples’ lives — any one of them could be the focus of this new story.
Regardless of the direction it goes, Yoko Taro is the perfect choice for the franchise’s newest chapter. Evangelion is known for its sheer ambition, regardless how you feel about it, and Taro’s mind is one of the few who won’t be tempted to play it safe to keep the fandom at bay.
