Canon and Apocrypha in Neon Genesis Evangelion

In a frequently cited quotation, Kazuya Tsurumaki, the assistant director of the popular anime Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE), claimed that the show’s Christian symbolism is incidental to its overall meaning. As a result of this statement, it has become axiomatic that the religious references in NGE are purely ornamental. In fact, many references cannot be visual flourishes because they are not visual at all. The religious references consist of three types. They are primarily extrabiblical rather than biblical. They are primarily Jewish rather than Christian (although this is not true of the more recent Rebuild films). Finally, they tend to focus on the “mythological” time of Urzeit and Endzeit—the beginning and the end—than any historical references. While NGE does not promote any religion, it is nevertheless part of an ancient and ongoing process of using Judeo-Christian material to compose new religious myths.