Anna Daniels
Fans of Hideaki Anno’s Neon Geneses Evangelion have been waiting with bated breath for the fourth and final installment of his Rebuild of Evangelion series. However, Anno’s work on Shin Godzilla proved to be something of a hurdle in the series’ timeline, extending the wait. Luckily for fans, the final installment, Evangelion 3.0+1.0 has finally been given a Japanese release date. In the meantime, Anno has been dealing with the bad press hitting Gainax following its recent controversy, despite the fact that he is no longer associated with the studio.
The Gainax controversy, Hideaki Anno responds
Hideaki Anno has recently had to confront bad press leveled at Gainax, following a recent scandal involving its president. While Hideaki Anno himself no longer works at Gainax, his name is still heavily associated with the studio thanks to Neon Genesis Evangelion.
In a shocking turn of events, the president of Gainax, Tomohiro Maki, was arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. It has since been revealed that Maki took illicit photographs of a teenager working with Gainax.
Maki claimed to be developing voice talent in young women for Gainax. However, in a sordid revelation, it’s been discovered that Maki contractually obligated the women to stay at his apartment, which he dubbed the “women’s dormitory.” The victim claims that Maki not only took photographs, but also touched her and massaged her without her consent. Maki has since claimed, “I was asked so I took the photos. The truth is different.”
Hideaki Anno has since responded to Maki’s arrest. In a letter posted on Diamond Online, Anno thanks the victims for bringing Maki’s behavior to the public eye. He also stresses that Gainax is in no way related to Rebuild of Evangelion, an important distinction for him to make with Evangelion3.0+1.0 on the horizon.
Anno clarified that “there is no one involved in the production of Evangelion at Gainax today.” He also noted that Maki, “was someone who joined Gainax only a few years ago and has never been involved in Evangelion.”
Gainax and Hideaki Anno’s troubled relationship
Hideaki Anno’s relationship with Gainax following the production of Neon Genesis Evangelion was strained, to say the least. Those who worked on Neon Genesis Evangelion, including Hideaki Anno at the time, saw very little of the profits from the monumental anime.
Things got worse for Anno while working with Gainax. As reported by Anime News Network, Gainax’s then-president was arrested for tax fraud. With no prior knowledge of the president’s crimes, Anno was made to publicly apologize to the public on Gainax’s behalf — an embarrassing experience.
Furthermore, after Anno took his Rebuild of Evangelion to Studio Khara, Gainax asked Khara for a loan of $1,000,000. Gainax eventually stopped repaying the loan, and Khara had to take them to court in order to receive loan repayments. Anno also discovered that Gainax had been selling rights to some of his older projects without his knowledge, as well as selling off key animations, storyboards, and production materials from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Anno once said, “I could have shrugged off the loan that never got repaid, but we were anxious to preserve the production materials we had poured blood, sweat, and tears into.”
‘Evangelion 3.0+1.0’ release date revealed
While his experience with Gainax surely left a sour taste in Hideaki Anno’s mouth, that hasn’t stopped him from working on Rebuild of Evangelion. His work on the remake of Shin Godzilla did get in the way for a few years, but fans can now rejoice — there’s an official release date for Evangelion 3.0+1.0 in Japan.
While the U.S. release date has yet to be confirmed, the film will debut on June 27, 2020 in Japan. Ticket presales have already gone live for the film. For U.S. fans, the wait might be a little longer — Evangelion 3.0 had U.S. fans waiting roughly half a year between the Japanese release and the U.S. release.
Written by: Cheat
