Notes: Evangelion parallels in Sailor Moon
Some rough notes for a larger project I am working on:
Character parallels:
Usagi/Misato
- Both share the same Japanese voice actor.
- Anno reportedly said he intended Misato to be like a grown-up Usagi.
- Similar design: Misato’s hair is extremely similar to Usagi’s, just a different colour and without the buns.
- Usagi’s mother looks suspiciously similar to Misato in a few cuts (hair colour is very close).
- Same comedic character traits (ditzy, lazy, gluttonous, lustful, bad cooks) combined with a fierce will in moments of intense danger or emotional distress.
Hotaru/Shinji
- Messianic children:
- Sacrifice: in order for the world to be saved, the messiah must be sacrificed.
- Childhood trauma narrative.
Scene/visual parallels:
- Hotaru in the lab experiment disaster — Anno indisputably created a parallel here with Shinji at Yui’s death (the framing is almost identical).
- Professor Tomoe has the Gendo glasses.
- E151: Ami’s dream sequence where she talks to her inner self — feels similar to Rei’s inner dialogue in E23 of NGE.
- The daemons in Professor Tomoe’s basement look suspiciously like the Mass Production Evas (E124).
- E123: Chibiusa’s dream of Hotaru up on the cross being grabbed by demonic hands — looks/sounds very much like something from Eva.
- Similar crucifix imagery in Sailor Moon R: The Movie, as Usagi’s energy is drained by Fiore. Note that Anno worked on some scenes in the film (CHECK WHETHER HE ANIMATED THIS).
- Also looks extremely similar to the image of the young Arima during the Monolith scene of His & Her Circumstances (E24), which Anno directed after Evangelion.
Thematic parallels:
Negative utilitarianism (esp. in the 2nd and 3rd movies) vs Nietzschean affirmation.
- In both films, the villains espouse a philosophy of negative utilitarianism, aiming either to kill humanity or place it in eternal slumber so as to save it from the hardships of life (though in practice they exhibit only violence and anger towards humanity). Usagi argues rather that life should be embraced despite its sorrows, as there is also the opportunity for great happiness. She puts forth an ethic of overcoming.
Cosmic nihilism and alien invasion.
- Idealism vs cynicism: Haruka/Michiru take a pessimistic view of the world, and believe that sacrifice is necessary in order to protect humanity as a whole. Usagi is an idealist, insisting that nobody should be sacrificed, and that the power of love/friendship will overcome apparently hopeless odds.
- E106: Michiru says she doesn’t want to have to make these tough decisions like potentially killing the boy who had turned into a monster — very Eva (did this influence Anno, or vice-versa?)
- Sacrifice and the Dionysian spirit:
Freud:
Jungian Shadow:
Fun Bonus: Gunbuster specials
Hideaki Anno made his directorial debut with the mecha OVA Gunbuster in 1988,
A number of bonus shorts were released alongside the main series, giving insight into some of the scientific ideas and broader worldbuilding of the Gunbuster universe. Apparently these were quite popular, as a additional shorts were created to accompany a few of Gunbuster’s rereleases, which gave rise to this scene:
Noriko describes herself as an otaku, a fact hinted at by the numerous anime posters decorating her bedroom (My Neighbour Totoro and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind being the obvious items — no doubt a nod to Anno’s mentor Miyazaki). What we don’t see are any references to Sailor Moon, because that series didn’t start airing until 1992 (four years after Gunbuster premiered). However, because Gunbuster’s story begins in 2015, it makes sense that Noriko would have seen the Sailor Moon anime growing up. When Gainax sat down to make the new specials, it must have seemed the perfect opportunity to retcon Sailor Moon into the Gunbuster universe (especially given Anno’s fondness for the show).
