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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?**


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2013-08-12T23:52:35.237
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neon-genesis-evangelion
The Tree of Life in Evangelion


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.


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2020-06-17T09:17:53.303
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yes it was in Gendo's office, therefore he believes in what it represents.

The whole nerv project was 1) to defend humanity against the angels and 2) the
instrumentality project.

the tree of life probably relates to 2). The end goal was for humanity to
become one so everyone can be 'happy'. I don't know the details of kabbalah
but I imagine it relates to this.

Judaism/Christianity is a deep topic and probably does not directly relate to
what evangelion was about. But there does seem to be a connection in terms of
judaism/Christianity being about salvation of humanity, filling in that flawed
nature we as humans have. which is what the instrumentality project was about.

Anno seems to have a focus on the question of how one solves lifes problems.
The evangelion characters egos badly handling their life's difficulties.
Religion tries to address this very question, placing importance on ones
relationship with God to solve the question of how to live life("God is in his
heaven, all is right with the world").

There is the connection that religion is a form of therapy and transformation.
Jesus healed the demons that people suffered from. Life is about confronting
our demons and living life the best we can. In M scott Peck's book: 'the road
less travelled' He brings together God and psychotherapy. It is well worth
reading to see the connection with religion(spirituality) and psychological
problems, two big themes in evangelion.


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