Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most influential anime of all time. Throughout the series and following movies, creator Hideaki Anno masterfully tells the story of Shinji Ikari, a young teen who was abandoned by his father at a young age and has lived a life of escapism since. Shinji, alongside the other characters, must fight to protect Earth from “Angels” who plan to destroy the planet, while also dealing with their own personal issues. However, aside from the detailed animations and the fairly well written plot, the music of Evangelion, also known as Eva, plays a significant role in deepening the impact that many scenes have. A mix of classical pieces as well as songs in both English and Japanese all have their place in emotionally captivating the massive audience that Eva has garnered.

The first song that viewers hear is A Cruel Angel’s Thesis, which is the series’ opening theme and sung by Yoko Takahashi. While the lyrics tell the story of a child leaving their mother and nest, it also connects to the main character Shinji, who is leaving the area of comfort that he has remained in for most of his life in order to become a pilot of an Evangelion, the part robot, part monster that the series gets its name from. The song’s tempo combined with Takahashi’s bright voice creates the idea that Evangelion is a more action packed and happy anime. While there is plenty of action, the facade of Eva being “happy” cleverly conceals the true and darker reality of what goes on in the show. Unfortunately, the hopeful and positive atmosphere radiated by A Cruel Angel’s Thesis puts it in the minority of the Eva soundtrack, with the vast majority of songs throughout the series taking on darker roles. 

At the end of each episode, viewers hear Evangelion’s outro, British singer Claire Littley’s take on the popular Fly Me to the Moon (provided viewers aren’t watching on Netflix.) At surface level it seems like the song could simply have been chosen because it goes well with the different extraterrestrial components of Evangelion, but there is a deeper meaning. 

In Japanese, “moon” can sometimes be interpreted as love, due to the similar sounds of how they are pronounced, with “tsuki” meaning moon and “suki” in some cases meaning love. All the characters of Evangelion have lost, never understood or felt love. Misato Katsuragi, Shinji’s parental figure, broke up with her boyfriend Ryoji Kaji before taking on the role of providing for Shinji. They eventually get back together when Kaji returns from Germany with Asuka Langley-Soryu, another Eva pilot who moves in with Misato and Shinji. However, internal conflict has been escalating between NERV, the organization founded by Gendo Ikari and responsible for operating the Evangelions, and SEELE, the mysterious organization that has control over much of the world’s existing governments and factions, including NERV. This comes to a climax for Kaji when he is killed by a SEELE agent.

Misato, who has now lost her love once again, this time for good, enters a low point in her life. She is never truly happy again until her death in End of Evangelion after saving Shinji, where she can finally be reunited with Kaji.  Her story and the stories of all the other characters who have also either lost love or have had it withheld from them are a major reason why Fly Me to the Moon and its theme of loving someone else tie well with Evangelion.

One of the more well known and depressing songs is Komm Susser Tod, which is German for “Come Sweet Death.” This song plays during one of the most powerful scenes in the first movie, End of Evangelion, during the Third Impact. While it’s difficult to understand and thus explain the Third Impact, what essentially happens is all life on Earth is reduced to a Fanta-looking liquid called LCL, which happens due to Shinji wishing for humanity to die since he believes his own existence to be irrelevant. The silencing of billions of souls on Earth is accompanied by Komm Susser Tod, which expertly juxtaposes a cheery tune with depressing lyrics. 

The song seems to reflect Shinji’s own mind, where singer Arianne Schreiber, better known as Arianne, sings, “I feel the best thing I could do is end it all and leave forever, what’s done is done, it feels so bad. What once was happy now is sad, I’ll never love again, my world is ending.” 

Up until now, Shinji has been questioning his reason for existence after seeing his friends nearly killed and his father Gendo coldly reminding him that he must move past his emotions in order to fulfill his missions as a pilot and thus protect humanity. As a result, Shinji makes the selfish decision to end all of humanity in an act of revenge. He has always felt alone because of how he chooses to lead his life, where he constantly pushes others away and refuses to come to terms with reality in order to live a safe life. Now he has the opportunity to get back at all the people who have ignored and hurt him. Adding to its depressing lyrics, Komm, Susser Tod’s instrumentals expertly juxtaposes its vocals with a cheery tune that would remind most people of a pop song. 

“When you listen to this you realize that the tune or instrumental of the song matches nothing about the show whatsoever, except maybe some of the finality in the end, the lyrics fit some of the show’s aesthetic and plot, but altogether this song isn’t that adds to the show, and granted I don’t remember when in the show it was played, it just does not fit what I think about when I hear about Evangelion,” said AHS junior Kaden Jackson. “The song just does not reflect the usual aspects of the show.” 

Similarly, the lyrics of Everything You’ve Ever Dreamed, one of the unused songs for End of Evangelion, are directly tied to Shinji, but mock his seemingly endless loneliness. Shinji has never felt or understood the feeling of loving someone or being loved due to his father abandoning him at a young age, leaving him without a parental figure until he becomes a teen. 

The song recognizes this, where Arianne sings, “You can wait a million years, and find that Heaven’s too far away from you. Love’s just a thing that others do, what is love ’til it comes home to you?” 

The “til it comes home to you” references how Gendo Ikari never came home to Shinji after he left, which the viewers later learn is to attempt to reunite himself with Shinji’s mother Yui, who died in an accident when the Evangelions were still in development and Shinji was still young. Komm Susser Tod and Everything You’ve Ever Dreamed are just two of many songs that build further emotion to the more somber scenes and themes of Evangelion.

Without a doubt, some of the most important pieces that tie the episodes and movies of Evangelion together don’t need words. Eva’s instrumental soundtrack, which has been composed by Shiro Sagisu since the series’ debut in 1995, as well renowned classical pieces such as Ode to Joy and Kanon D-Dur, creates additional suspense in its battles, harps on the mindsets of its characters during their low points, and adds a sense of realism to part of the hard-to-imagine world of Shinji and the other characters. While other songs may receive more praise, the pieces orchestrated by Sagisu make up the backbone that keeps Evangelion engaging, for a show without solid background music can easily lose the interest of the audience. 

After over 25 years of gloomy music and even gloomier moments throughout the series, viewers at long last find One Last Kiss in Hideaki Anno’s final chapter of the story of Shinji and the members of NERV, the Rebuild movie Evangelion 3.0. +1.0: Thrice Upon a Time. One Last Kiss, sung by Hikaru Utada, is a powerful albeit bittersweet ending to Evangelion. 

The lyrics, “I really do understand, that even til’ the end of time, that even when I grow old, there’s someone I won’t be able to forget,” effectively reflects the difference between Shinji previously and Shinji in the final film. Now, instead of choosing to push other people away and live only for himself, Shinji chooses to reset Earth to be a world without Evangelions. This means that everyone, not just him, will be happy. Sadly, this means he will never actually meet any of the characters that fans have come to adore over the years, and the only person who will remember any of what happened before will be him, hence the “someone I won’t be able to forget.” That someone isn’t just one person, but instead is everything that has gotten Shinji to the point where he is now capable of making a better world for everyone including himself. There is a lot about Neon Genesis Evangelion that viewers struggle to make sense of and will likely never understand. In spite of this, its music proves that you don’t need to understand everything that goes on to be moved, and immerses the audience into what happens on screen, allowing them to better relate with what the characters are experiencing.