I've always thought SKU and NGE are pretty much the same thing!

It's not just that one scene, it's the whole shebang. At first you think you're watching a run-of-the-mill series about giant robots/magical girls, but before you know it you're swept into deep psychological ponderings and world-shattering events. I love it. It makes me sad that even though NGE has earned itself great respect in the anime community, SKU never really has.

And I had no idea Rei's name was also inspired by SM and Ikuhara! That's crazy interesting.

we never talk how much Nemuro/Tokiko mirror Gendo/Tokiko. I mean, Tokiko has the same haircut, profession and clothing than Yui.

KissFromARose wrote:

I'm not sure if it's intended as a direct homage, but they are quite similar, so it's entirely possible.  I think I read somewhere that Anno actually wanted Ikuhara on the Eva staff...

Yōji Enokido worked on the script of both Utena's last episode and Evangelion 2.0's last scene. He also worked on the original Evangelion TV series.
Here's an interview where he talks about the role he took in the production of 2.0.


You could write entire books about Anno's and Eva's weird friendship/relationship/obsession with Ikuhara if you tried. Here's a few links for starters:

* Anno himself about his plan to invite Ikuni to join the Eva staff: http://wiki.evageeks.org/Resources:Char … 3.82.A4.29

* Ikuhara's interview about Kaworu and his onsen meeting with Anno that inspired the famous bath scene in episode 24(!) http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/12975/ … on-Kaworu/

* Ikuhara's weird suggestions to Anno on Eva's ending: http://forum.evageeks.org/post/501561/Ikuni-and-Anno/

* Anno and Ikuhara about the state of Japan's animation industry in 1998: https://www.cjas.org/~leng/anno-ikuhara.txt

* The legendary discussion between Ikuni and Anno during the "Kunihiko Ikuhara's World" event - a must-read for every Anno/Shinji - Ikuhara/Kaworu crack shipper:
http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/15342/ … iscussion/

Ikuhara: I am normal!

Anno: No you ain't! You're weird! Because the world is different from you I think it's better to recognize the gap between you and it!

...

Anno: I want to be with you forever like this.

...

Ikuhara: [...] If I had not gone to art school I wouldn't have entered anime industry. Meeting Anno was the same too. If it wasn't for meeting Anno I don't think I would've left Toei and created Utena. I still have countless dreams left, even though I don't know how much of my career is remaining...

Ikuhara: But there's no way that can be true. I have a dream to create something together with Anno one day.

KissFromARose wrote:

Doeessss anyone know where i can get a working image of this?? I wanted to send it to a friend...

For what's worth, the image itself comes from http://ath.brainld.org/commentary/rando … ebuild.jpg and was originally posted in http://forum.evageeks.org/post/386062/R … omages-Etc .

Now that I think about it, I should really update the montage with some fresh, shiny images from the BD set...

KissFromARose wrote:

moonrabbit wrote:

Yeah, in regards to the final scene of 2.0, here's a scene-for-scene comparison someone made: http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/8541/skurebuild.jpg

I'm not sure if it's intended as a direct homage, but they are quite similar, so it's entirely possible.  I think I read somewhere that Anno actually wanted Ikuhara on the Eva staff...

Doeessss anyone know where i can get a working image of this?? I wanted to send it to a friend...

Found it on the wayback machine... i'll see about hosting it on imgur or something?

https://web.archive.org/web/20111204030 … ebuild.jpg

Wow!
The hand grasping thing certainly reminded me of Utena (they did it in Steven Universe as well) but I didn't catch on to the rest of the scene. So cool!