The Tree of Life in Evangelion


I've noticed references to the Kabbalah in a couple of anime I've watched. One
of them is Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Neon Genesis Evangelion has it in the sky in both the opening credits and in
the series itself:

![In the sky](https://i.stack.imgur.com/G5c2h.jpg) ![In the
credits](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XNMNo.jpg)

I also remember it was on the ceiling at NERV, but the best screencap I could
find of that was too tiny to be visible.

So, my question is, **Is there any deeper meaning to the use of the
Kabbalistic tree of life, or is it just used because it looks cool?**




As far as **Evangelion** goes, there's several statements from the staff
concerning their placement and usage within the show (emphasis is mine):

From the [Hiroyuki Yamaga: May 1998 issue of
"Evangelion"](http://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff#Hiroyuki_Yamaga:_May_1998_issue_of_.22Evangelion.22):

> **On the reasons for use of Judeo-Christian symbology in Eva**
>
> **YAMAGA:** I don’t know exactly why. **I suspect that Mr. Anno may have
> read some book on it, and there was some thoughts he wanted to express on
> it**. I personally am glad that, rather than Christianity, he didn’t express
> some obscure Buddhist theme, because then it would have been linked more
> with Aum Shinri Kyo. [LAUGHS]

From the [Kazuya Tsurumaki: Q&A from "Amusing Himself to
Death"](http://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff#Kazuya_Tsurumaki:_Q.26A_from_.22Amusing_Himself_to_Death.22):

> **Can you explain the symbolism of the cross in Evangelion?**
>
> **Kazuya Tsurumaki** : There are a lot of giant robot shows in Japan, and we
> did want our story to have a religious theme to help distinguish us. Because
> Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be
> mysterious. None of the staff who worked on Eva are Christians. **There is
> no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought the visual symbols
> of Christianity look cool.** If we had known the show would get distributed
> in the US and Europe we might have rethought that choice.

And from an NHK special "[Extra Curricular Lesson with Hideaki
Anno](http://www.evageeks.org/2010/10/extra-curricular-lesson-with-hideaki-
anno/)", a student asks:

> "Why is that robot-looking thing called an Evangelion"?
>
> **Anno** : "It is a Christian word meaning _Fukuin_ or Gospel and it's
> supposed to bring blessings. Actually, it's a Greek word. I used it because
> it sounds complicated"

So in the case of Evangelion, it's used mostly to look cool. It's more or less
an internally consistent window dressing that doesn't contain any actual
_religious_ meaning. That is not to say that the symbology doesn't have other
meaning within itself, especially in the context of the fictional show.




As far as **Evangelion** goes, there's several statements from the staff
concerning their placement and usage within the show (emphasis is mine):

From the [Hiroyuki Yamaga: May 1998 issue of
"Evangelion"](http://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff#Hiroyuki_Yamaga:_May_1998_issue_of_.22Evangelion.22):

> **On the reasons for use of Judeo-Christian symbology in Eva**
>
> **YAMAGA:** I don’t know exactly why. **I suspect that Mr. Anno may have
> read some book on it, and there was some thoughts he wanted to express on
> it**. I personally am glad that, rather than Christianity, he didn’t express
> some obscure Buddhist theme, because then it would have been linked more
> with Aum Shinri Kyo. [LAUGHS]

From the [Kazuya Tsurumaki: Q&A from "Amusing Himself to
Death"](http://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff#Kazuya_Tsurumaki:_Q.26A_from_.22Amusing_Himself_to_Death.22):

> **Can you explain the symbolism of the cross in Evangelion?**
>
> **Kazuya Tsurumaki** : There are a lot of giant robot shows in Japan, and we
> did want our story to have a religious theme to help distinguish us. Because
> Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be
> mysterious. None of the staff who worked on Eva are Christians. **There is
> no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought the visual symbols
> of Christianity look cool.** If we had known the show would get distributed
> in the US and Europe we might have rethought that choice.

And from an NHK special "[Extra Curricular Lesson with Hideaki
Anno](http://www.evageeks.org/2010/10/extra-curricular-lesson-with-hideaki-
anno/)", a student asks:

> "Why is that robot-looking thing called an Evangelion"?
>
> **Anno** : "It is a Christian word meaning _Fukuin_ or Gospel and it's
> supposed to bring blessings. Actually, it's a Greek word. I used it because
> it sounds complicated"

So in the case of Evangelion, it's used mostly to look cool. It's more or less
an internally consistent window dressing that doesn't contain any actual
_religious_ meaning. That is not to say that the symbology doesn't have other
meaning within itself, especially in the context of the fictional show.

