Director Neon Genesis Evangelion spoke sharply about working for a foreign audience

The director of the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series Hideaki Anno has stated that he has never worked for an audience outside Japan. He believes that it is not the author who should adapt, but the viewer, if he is really interested in the work.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a cult series that takes place in the near future, when the climate has changed due to a catastrophe and part of the land has gone under water. The protected city of Tokyo 3 began to be attacked by huge Angel creatures. The only weapon against them were the Evangelions, giant biorobots.

Since the release of the series, Japanese popular culture has been firmly entrenched in the international market. At the same time, according to Hideaki Anno, anime studios did not make any conscious efforts for this.

According to Anno, the author should focus on the domestic market, and if the work suddenly attracts a foreign audience, it will be a pleasant bonus.

The reason is that creating content for foreigners involves many difficulties, including the language barrier.

Because of this, the director believes, it is pointless to adjust to the external viewer. According to him, even industry giants such as Hayao Miyazaki Studio have a similar opinion.

Earlier it became known that the visual reference for the new game Control Resonant, announced at TGA 2025, were the Neon Genesis Evangelion series and the Christopher Nolan film Inception.