Evangelion Opening Parodies
Part of a series on Neon Genesis Evangelion. [View Related Entries]
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.
[1] Wikipedia – A Cruel Angel's Thesis
[2] niconico Douga – Search results for the tag エヴァンゲリオンＯＰパロリンク
[3] YouTube – Search results for the keywords エヴァOP パロ
[4] Wikipedia – Khara (studio)
[5] Wikipedia – King Records (Japan)
[6] Wikipedia – Natsuki Katō
[7] YouTube – Search results for the keywords 残酷な天使のテーゼ or cruel angel's thesis
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![A Cruel Angel's Thesis (Neon Genesis Evangelion) [accordion cover]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/O9cl-qVq_1U/hqdefault.jpg "A Cruel Angel's Thesis (Neon Genesis Evangelion) [accordion cover]")
Top Comments
Kung Fu Cthulhu
Oct 14, 2014 at 07:41PM EDT
Yinzer
Oct 15, 2014 at 10:17PM EDT