

It just seems like they put all those symbolism for no reason, and it sounds
and looks pretty stupid IMO. The series would have been a lot better without
all the nonsense.


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2013-08-28T21:05:43.670
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2013-08-28T21:23:10.697
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neon-genesis-evangelion
Is there some deeper meaning associated with all the religious symbolism in Evangelion?


In a few interviews:

[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]

[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 it seems the creators didn't mean for there to be any deeper religious
meaning from all the religious symbolism. That doesn't mean that there isn't
in-universe meaning to the show. For example, the name of the Angels
correspond to their features (e.g. "Gaghiel" = "Fish", "Israfel" = "Music",
"Sahaquiel" = "Sky", etc), and the symbols themselves aren't haphazardly
placed. There could very well be an in-universe explanation for why the
symbolism is there at all, possibly inherited from the Angels themselves or
created by Seele.

Additionally, there could be meaning derived from the symbolism beyond what
the creators originally intended.


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