The EVA in the first draft phase had an internal structure very similar to the Gunbuster with a mechanical humanlike skeleton. Anno at that point may have thought "what if we go further with that concept?", culminating in the biomechanicanical robot we are familiar with.

When I was a kid I loved NGE because of the biomechas. When I got to college I rewatched it because of the occult symbolism, etc..., When I started working I cameback for Human Instrumentality Project and the philosophy behind this masterpiece.

Evangelion's one of my all time favorite anime alongside Gunbuster, Armored Trooper VOTOMS, Mobile Suit Gundam, and Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Just the fact that Eva is just so batshit crazy epic in both approach and execution is damn near close to my favorite thing ever, Xenogears.

I couldn't stop looking at Evangelion concept art, and needed explanation!

I noticed that you only mentioned the Yutaka Izubuchi designs for the Evas but didn't feature them. I managed to dig up a bunch of concept art of the Izubuchi Eva designs on Japanese social media sites (trying to find a way to link them without KZfaq automatically taking my post down...) I can tell you that: A) The YI designs bare a striking resemblance to the plugsuits seen on the super early Asuka and Rei designs (breastplate-shaped chest with collar, shoulder plates, gauntlets and boots, horns), which makes sense as the idea of the pilots and the Eva units being in synch with one another is an essential part of the series. B) The concept art shows that the white Unit 01 and Unit 00's later blue deco both originated from as far back as as the YI designs. C) Tokyo-III's design aesthetic was locked down as early as the YI concept art. D) Unit 01 was often shown in early NGE promotional art carrying either a traditional lance or spear-type weapon. This seems to trace all the way back to the early concept art including the YI designs. Given how this trend disappears later in the series' run, maybe this was an early concept for the Lance of Longinus? E) The YI designs seemed to pioneer the idea of Unit 02 having the four eyes, and features horns not dissimilar to the Rebuild design of Unit 02 (though her head design is vastly different overall). And lastly, unrelated to the YI designs but another set of Eva concept art designs from the Proposal (Unit 00 and 02) bare a striking resemblance to the mecha designs of Masami O'bari, specifically his work on Detonator Orgun (released in 1992). ARTMIC and Gainax were both very close, quite literally a short walk away from one another, and both were nerdy groups that collaborated in the past on works like Otaku no Video, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that the designs were more than just a coincidence... Anywho, that's all I got! I was working feverishly on a long-form fanfic based around the Proposal during 2020, and as a result I research a ton into the subject and found all this stuff. I hope this helps and I'll try to figure out how to share the YI designs!

I'm not an eve noob, but I'd never heard of this. Your explanation was amazing!

Gainax pretty much fucked everyone they ever worked with Hideaki Anno also had problems with the Production of Kare Kano with similar situations to EVA ( though most people say he left mid series, this haven't been confirmed yet )

id like to point out one major thing about the evangelion units. they are more comparable to the tokusatsu series like super sentai and daikaiju like ultraman than the mecha genre for one reason, they are not mechanical robots that are to be piloted like a vehicle, rather, like those fusion piloting system where the host and the body connected in a biological method

As an Evangelion fan since the early 2000's I had no idea this existed. Thank you for your brilliant video. Pleased look at the Rahxephon anime. I highly recommend it 👌 cheers.

Just let it die... rebuild 1 and 2 were EPIC. But the studio and producers bungled it by overexpanding and altering the lore and forcefully compressing it because of the limited duration of the films and the self impused limitation of 2 more films. Cassius Spear? Mari? Asuka is also part of a clone series? 4 progenitor angels? Not to mention that not even the original series covered all the lore. Side material was needed to fill the blanks.

First thanks for the video :)

Please do a video on code geass next

When I first saw this I was amazed to see that something like this really was something that affected the anime world

Anyone got a source for the version of cruel angel's thesis in the opening? It was really great and I need more.

0:20 I mean I dunno space runaway ideon and invincible super man zambot 3 kinda do it before

Normally Mechas should have uniform thiccness, but I can overlook Evas simply because of the fact that they are not Mechas. Not Biomechas. Not really.

Unit-01 as Gundam huh

Your videos are great! ..but after watching the last movie, this just makes me sad. What an awful ending to an amazing series

La verdad nunca me gustó Evangelion, los artes conceptuales los conocía y se ven geniales pero aún así, siempre voy a preferir a Rahxephon, toma muchas inspiraciones de Eva, raideen y el género del súper robot en general, pero los ejecuta de una forma mucho más sólida y satisfactoria que Eva a lo largo de toda su historia

Me neither man, it’s convoluted plot doesn’t do much for me. Its what I would imagine an acid trip would be like, yikes. I don’t know how it’s fanbase is large, but alas, to each their own.

I did not like eve very much but some Mecha anime that are my favorites are Fang of the sun dougram, Zambot 3, Gundam war in the pocket, Vifam, and Gravion.