About

Evangelion Opening Parodies refer to parody videos of the opening credits of the Japanese TV anime Neon Genesis Evangelion produced by Studio Gainax, set to the song "A Cruel Angel's Thesis."

Origin

Neon Genesis Evangelion series aired 26 episodes between October 1995 and March 1996. The opening movie for the anime is known for foreshadowing characters and keywords consecutively without staff credits. Its theme song, "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" (Japanese: 残酷な天使のテーゼ, Zankoku na Tanshi no Thesis)^[1] was quite popular, as the number of CD and digital sales for the song had reached over 1 million in January 2014.

Spread

The opening sequence for Evangelion inspired many parodies over the course of the 2000s, including MADs, hand-drawn animation and live-action. Parodies remain popular on 2channel, YouTube^[2] and Nico Nico Douga.^[3] In particular, YouTube's popularization in 2006 shed light on many old Evangelion MAD videos which had been circulating on the web from late-1990s to early-2000s. Those parodies/fan works are usually named by the phrasal templates "X-gelion" (○○ゲリオン) or "A Cruel X's Thesis" (残酷な○○のテーゼ).

Meanwhile, those parody videos have been often removed from the video hub sites due to the copyright claims by Studio Khara^[4] and King Records.^[5]

Live-Action Parodies

Since the mid-2000s, live-action versions for the opening credit movie have been made by indie film or otaku groups and posted to the web. Additionally, a Japanese TV show's 2010 live-action parody starred Japanese actress Natsuki Kato^[6], a dedicated fan of the anime.

A Cruel Angel's Thesis Tributes/Parodies

Numerous parodies/tributes to the song have been posted to YouTube^[7] and Nico Nico Douga.^[8]

Search Interest

External References

Editor’s Note: Registration is needed to browse the original videos listed in this section.