‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ Has Its Own Racer Fleet

Neon Genesis Evangelion changed the landscape of the anime industry as it became such a landmark success, that the series influenced many other anime premiering at the time.

It was so influential, in fact, that the series’ reach is still felt to this day and even now has a Japanese race team completely branded with it.

The Tokyo based Run’a Entertainment (which you can find on Twitter @evaracing) has been running with a Neon Genesis Evangelion themed team since 2012, and this ranges from race cars embedded with Eva-01 and Eva-02 imagery but even the crew wearing various levels of cosplay. This just shows how popular the series has become despite ending its initial run many years ago.

Despite its darker tone and theme, Neon Genesis Evangelion has become one of the most fruitful properties when it comes to merchandising. Recent examples include a line of dictionaries featuring profile images of the main characters, and even a full fashion line based on the styles of the series. Those are just the recent examples too as the series has been put on everything from napkin and tissue dispensers to razor blades.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a psychological drama by way of giant monster versus mech anime. The franchise debuted as a television series in 1995-1996 with two films following in 1997. Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth is an one-part drastically abridged retelling of the first 24 episodes of the television series, and one part new animation. The End of Evangelion, the second film, would incorporate some of Death & Rebirth‘s original animation and offer an alternate take on the original series’ controversial final two episodes.

The series follows Shinji Ikari, who is recruited by his father to pilot the giant mech Evangelion in the fight against giant monsters known as Angels in the futuristic city of Tokyo-3. But Shinji is unwilling to bear this huge responsibility and is often conflicted about taking part in a war he was dragged into. This conflict of emotions leads to many introspective episodes that cover the range of religious, philosophical, and existential concepts.

This has also meant that series fans have eventually made a joke out of Shinji’s refusal to pilot with the often uttered, “Get in the robot, Shinji.” The series itself is known for its first abrupt finale during its first broadcast run featuring a complete collapse of its world.