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Neon Genesis Evangelion
Graphic designer Peiran Tan plumbs the typographic psyche of the
celebrated anime franchise.
Contributed by Peiran Tan on Oct 17th, 2019. Artwork published in
circa 1995
.
Neon Genesis Evangelion 1
Source: www.evangelion.co.jp (c)kara/Project Eva. (c)kara/EVAZhi Zuo Wei
Yuan Hui (c)kara. License: All Rights Reserved.
Created and directed by Hideaki Anno, Neon Genesis Evangelion (Xin Shi Ji
evuangerion, often abbreviated as NGE or simply EVA) is a
Japanese media franchise consisting of four main parts: a
twenty-six-episode TV series (1995), two sets of film adaptations
(1997 and 2007-), and a manga (1995-2013). Set in the postapocalyptic
fortified city Tokyo-3, the series revolves around Shinji Ikari, a
teenage boy recruited by his estranged father into a shadowy
paramilitary organization known as NERV, for which he and other
teenagers must pilot giant biomachines ("Evangelions") to defeat
incoming monsters ("Angels") who threaten another apocalypse
("Impact").
After starting out as a typical mechanical-robot ("mecha") anime,
Evangelion gradually evolved into an existentialist deconstruction of
its own genre, immediately winning critical acclaim. Its sustained
popularity through the years spawned a plethora of spinoff mangas,
novel adaptations, games, advertisement tie-ins, and even pachinko
gambling machines, leading it to permeate Japanese culture and
eventually become a worldwide sensation. Many of its visual motifs
became cultural lexicons, including its identity typeface: Matisse
EB.
Matisse EB and the Original Evangelion
Evangelion was among the first anime to create a consistent
typographic identity across its visual universe, from title cards to
NERV's user interfaces. Subcontractors usually painted anything
type-related in an anime by hand, so it was a novel idea at the time
for a director to use desktop typesetting to exert typographic
control. Although sci-fi anime tended to use either sans serifs or
hand lettering that mimicked sans serifs in 1995, Anno decided to
buck that trend, choosing a display serif for stronger visual impact.
After flipping through Fontworks' specimen catalog, he personally
selected the extra-bold (EB) weight of Matisse (mateisu), a
Mincho-style serif family.
Annotated printout of the L (Light) weight. Courtesy of Francis Chow.
Source: blog.justfont.com c Francis Chow. License: All Rights
Reserved.
Annotated printout of the L (Light) weight. Courtesy of Francis Chow.
Just as every mature metal type foundry in the West had to have a
Garamond, Matisse was Fontworks' answer to the Mincho genre for
desktop typesetting. Since few computer typefaces existed at the
time, completing the face quickly was paramount; stylistic
exploration could come in later releases. Furthermore, because the
typeface's initial designer, Francis Chow, was working with
inexperienced colleagues at the time, he wanted a direction simple
enough for them to follow. A combination of haste and inexperience
gave Matisse a plain look and feel, which turned out to make sense
for Evangelion. The conservative skeletal construction restrained the
characters' personality so it wouldn't compete with the animation;
the extreme stroke contrast delivered the desired visual punch.
Despite the fact that Matisse was drawn on the computer, many of its
stroke corners were rounded, giving it a hand-drawn, fin-de-siecle
quality.
The TV episodes' opening sequence featured a mechanically compressed
Matisse EB.
License: All Rights Reserved.
The TV episodes' opening sequence featured a mechanically compressed
Matisse EB.
Matisse EB remained mechanically compressed when used in an episode,
though less dramatically than in the title sequence.
Source: anime-font.tumblr.com License: All Rights Reserved.
Matisse EB remained mechanically compressed when used in an episode,
though less dramatically than in the title sequence.
In addition to a thorough graphic identity, Evangelion also pioneered
a deep integration of typography as a part of animated storytelling--a
technique soon to be imitated by later anime. Prime examples are the
show's title cards and flashing type-only frames mixed in with the
animation. The title cards contain nothing but crude, black-and-white
Matisse EB, and are often mechanically compressed to fit into
interlocking compositions. This brutal treatment started as a hidden
homage to the title cards in old Toho movies from the sixties and
seventies, but soon became visually synonymous with Evangelion after
the show first aired.
Japanese title card for Episode 1 ("Angel attack").
License: All Rights Reserved.
Japanese title card for Episode 1 ("Angel attack").
Japanese title card for Episode 15 ("Lie and Silence").
License: All Rights Reserved.
Japanese title card for Episode 15 ("Lie and Silence").
Japanese title cards, Episodes 1-26.
Source: eva-fan.com (c) kara (c) minnanoevuangerion(wevua)huan
. License: All Rights Reserved.
Japanese title cards, Episodes 1-26.
Innovating on the media of animated storytelling, Evangelion also
integrates type-only flashes. Back then, these black-and-white,
split-second frames were Anno's attempt at imprinting subliminal
messages onto the viewer, but have since become Easter eggs for
die-hard Evangelion fans as well as motion signatures for the entire
franchise.
Neon Genesis Evangelion 8
License: All Rights Reserved.
Neon Genesis Evangelion 9
License: All Rights Reserved.
Neon Genesis Evangelion 10
License: All Rights Reserved.
Instead of letting Western distributors translate episode titles
themselves, the Evangelion staff decided to offer their own English
episode titles. These are not direct translations, but rather
alternatives or subtitles, often featuring biblical or philosophical
references that might be difficult to integrate using Japanese. The
English title cards feature a number of different typefaces, often
tightly tracked and mechanically compressed. While most titles use
Helvetica, the words "NEON GENESIS EVANGELION" are set in one of the
bootleg versions of Century or Century Schoolbook that come with
numerous Japanese fonts. The same seriffed font (or a similar one) is
used in all caps for the titles in Episodes 5, 6, 7, and 23; and in
sentence case in Episodes 9, 11, 15, and 25. The lowercase exhibits
aggressively shortened descenders, a common feature implemented in
Japanese fonts to fit Latin glyphs into the character bounding box. A
horizontally squeezed Times is used in 12, 26 ("Take Care of
Yourself"), and 26' ("I Need You"). 25' ("Love is Destructive")
appears to feature Matisse EB's Latin glyphs.
English title cards for the 26-episode TV series and The End of
Evangelion, which contains two parts: "Love is Destructive"
(alternative to Episode 25) and "I Need You" (alternative to Episode
26).
Source: knowyourmeme.com (c) 2007-2019 Literally Media Ltd. License:
All Rights Reserved.
English title cards for the 26-episode TV series and The End of
Evangelion, which contains two parts: "Love is Destructive"
(alternative to Episode 25) and "I Need You" (alternative to Episode
26).
Short flash frames in the post-credit Easter egg in Rebuild of
Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance.
License: All Rights Reserved.
Short flash frames in the post-credit Easter egg in Rebuild of
Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance.
Established in title cards, this combination of Matisse EB and
all-caps Helvetica soon bled into various aspects of Evangelion, most
notably the HUD user interfaces in NERV. Although it would be
possible to attribute the mechanical compression to technical
limitations or typographic ignorance, its ubiquitous occurrence did
evoke haste and, at times, despair--an emotional motif perfectly
suited to a postapocalyptic story with existentialist themes.
Neon Genesis Evangelion 13
License: All Rights Reserved.
Neon Genesis Evangelion 14
License: All Rights Reserved.
Neon Genesis Evangelion 15
License: All Rights Reserved.
Neon Genesis Evangelion 16
License: All Rights Reserved.
Neon Genesis Evangelion 17
License: All Rights Reserved.
The iconic "SOUND ONLY" monoliths use outlined for the numerals and
all-caps Helvetica for text.
License: All Rights Reserved.
The iconic "SOUND ONLY" monoliths use outlined Chicago for the
numerals and all-caps Helvetica for text.
The shadowy cabal SEELE's logotype is probably the only occurrence of
a chancery serif (Bitstream's ) in Evangelion.
Source: evangelion.fandom.com License: CC BY-SA.
The shadowy cabal SEELE's logotype is probably the only occurrence of
a chancery serif (Bitstream's Cataneo) in Evangelion.
If great storytelling made Evangelion popular among anime fans, it
would soon become a fin-de-siecle social phenomenon, as a series of
real-life episodes unfolded in the franchise's production process.
Budget difficulties, parents' protest against the show's graphic
imagery, and Anno's newfound interest in Freudian psychoanalysis all
pushed the closing episodes' visual direction from mainstream to
experimental, filled with abstract animation, line drawings,
flashbacks, and photographs. Told completely in a
stream-of-consciousness style, the final episode "ended" without
revealing an actual ending to the story, generating massive
controversy on the internet. Feeling betrayed, confused, and angry,
some fans made anonymous death threats to Anno in the form of letters
and vandalized office facades.
Having managed to cobble together a sufficient budget, Anno was
compelled to remake the series in response to fan dissatisfaction
with the finale, resulting in two movies: Death & Rebirth and The End
of Evangelion. While the former recaps most of the TV episodes, the
latter offers a genuine end to the Evangelion story. In utter
contrast to the congratulatory mood of the final TV episode, The End
of Evangelion is as visually arresting as it is thematically forlorn:
the viewer must witness a total meltdown of NERV and the gory deaths
of the main characters, culminating in humanity's extinction, for
which the protagonist is directly responsible. As if to further his
revenge against disgruntled fans, Anno even incorporated photographs
of some of the death-threat letters he received into the movie's
montages. Having solidified its status as visual shorthand for
Evangelion, Matisse--this time in its ultra-bold (UB) weight--flooded
the movies' background art and promotional materials with even more
unabashed mechanical compression. Aided by the franchise's boosted
popularity, the font CD-ROMs even briefly became sought-after
collector's items.
Poster for Evangelion: Death & Rebirth. The English title features
hand lettering that imitates ITC Avant Garde Gothic.
Source: yande.re (c)1997 GAINAX/EVAZhi Zuo Wei Yuan Hui . Illustration: Sadamoto
Yoshiyuki (Zhen Ben Yi Xing ). License: All Rights Reserved.
Poster for Evangelion: Death & Rebirth. The English title features
hand lettering that imitates ITC Avant Garde Gothic.
Poster for Evangelion: The End of Evangelion.
Source: yande.re (c)1997 GAINAX/EVAZhi Zuo Wei Yuan Hui . License: All Rights
Reserved.
Poster for Evangelion: The End of Evangelion.
Evangelion: Death & Rebirth contains an intermission that separates
"Death" and "Rebirth," featuring mechanically stretched Matisse EB
and compressed Helvetica.
Source: www.youtube.com License: All Rights Reserved.
Evangelion: Death & Rebirth contains an intermission that separates
"Death" and "Rebirth," featuring mechanically stretched Matisse EB
and compressed Helvetica.
Title card for The End of Evangelion.
Source: www.youtube.com License: All Rights Reserved.
Title card for The End of Evangelion.
End credits for The End of Evangelion.
Source: wiki.evageeks.org License: CC BY-SA.
End credits for The End of Evangelion.
Rebuild of Evangelion and Matisse Pro EB
Convinced that Evangelion's story should also adapt to its times,
Anno decided to establish his own animation studio in 2006 so he
could remake the entire series again. The result was Studio Khara (Zhu
Shi Hui She kara) and the movie tetralogy Rebuild of Evangelion (wevuan
geriwonXin Ju Chang Ban ); its first installment was released a year later.
While the first movie largely follows the same plot as the 1995 TV
series, significant deviation started cropping up at the end of the
second movie, and the third entered a completely different plot line.
The original Matisse family was produced in desktop typesetting's
nascent days, its glyphs following the popular Japanese Industrial
Standards (JIS), which prescribed what characters should look like.
To conform to advances in type technology over the years, Rebuild of
Evangelion uses Matisse Pro EB, which Fontworks reengineered to
follow the Adobe-Japan standard. The font files were also delivered
in OpenType, not the original OCF format. Following a new encoding
standard meant that some characters would necessarily look different,
so Fontworks kept the original versions as OpenType alternates.
Left: the original Matisse EB used in the 1995 TV series. Right: the
updated Matisse Pro EB used in Rebuild of Evangelion.
Source: fontworks.co.jp (c) Fontworks Inc. License: All Rights Reserved
.
Left: the original Matisse EB used in the 1995 TV series. Right: the
updated Matisse Pro EB used in Rebuild of Evangelion.
Alternate glyphs can be accessed via Adobe Illustrator's Glyphs
panel.
Source: fontworks.co.jp (c) Fontworks Inc. License: All Rights Reserved
.
Alternate glyphs can be accessed via Adobe Illustrator's Glyphs
panel.
Fontworks was officially credited as the font vendor in Evangelion
2.0's end credits. (Fontworks appears just above HP.)
Source: fontworks.co.jp (c) Fontworks Inc. License: All Rights Reserved
.
Fontworks was officially credited as the font vendor in Evangelion
2.0's end credits. (Fontworks appears just above HP.)
In both Japanese and English versions, mechanical compression
officially became a celebrated identity element, used to produce a
starker and more austere look for the films. The decision to use
mechanical compression instead of commissioning a compressed-width
variant is also confirmed by Evangelion's official website, which
loads the normal Matisse Pro EB and then uses the CSS transform
property to achieve the compression effect.
Japanese title card for Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone.
License: All Rights Reserved.
Japanese title card for Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone.
English title card.
License: All Rights Reserved.
English title card.
Key art for Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone.
Source: hdymly.com (c)kara/Project Eva. Illustration: Sadamoto
Yoshiyuki (Zhen Ben Yi Xing ). License: All Rights Reserved.
Key art for Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone.
Japanese title card for Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance.
License: All Rights Reserved.
Japanese title card for Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance.
English title card.
License: All Rights Reserved.
English title card.
Key poster for Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance.
Source: images4.wikia.nocookie.net (c)kara/Project Eva.
Illustration: Kazuya Tsurumaki (He Juan He Zai ). License: All Rights
Reserved.
Key poster for Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance.
Japanese title card for Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo.
License: All Rights Reserved.
Japanese title card for Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo.
English title card.
License: All Rights Reserved.
English title card.
Key art for Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo.
Source: evangelion.fandom.com (c)kara/Project Eva. Illustration:
Sadamoto Yoshiyuki (Zhen Ben Yi Xing ). License: All Rights Reserved.
Key art for Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo.
Matisse's Latin counterparts received a facelift, too. Neue Helvetica
now complements Matisse on the movies' user interfaces, sometimes
sporting its condensed variant.
Matisse Pro EB set alongside Neue Helvetica in regular and condensed
widths. The middle image additionally features Eurostile Extended.
License: All Rights Reserved.
Matisse Pro EB set alongside Neue Helvetica in regular and condensed
widths. The middle image additionally features Eurostile Extended.
As the youngest typeface category, sans serifs have come to be
associated with scientific and technological advancement. For
example, Akzidenz-Grotesk often appears on Braun products under
Dieter Rams's direction, and Futura was chosen to represent humanity
on the moon. Their unadorned letterforms conveyed the precision,
progress, and optimism characteristic of mid-century modernism.
Evangelion's incorporation of Futura, Helvetica, and Eurostile in its
visual world-building (especially when used for decorating Tokyo-3
and NERV) serves the opposite purpose, however. A last gasp after two
presumably destroyed Tokyos, Tokyo-3 is a fortified underground city
built to withstand giant monster attacks, its aboveground portion
serving directly as a combat zone. Here, civic life gives way to
heavy militarization. Civilization is on the brink of collapse, and
humanity teeters on the edge of extinction. Futura and Eurostile do
appear on objects in Evangelion that are as sophisticated and
enormous as NASA rockets in real life--but while space exploration
looks to the future with unending aspiration, Evangelion uses these
typefaces to document the past and all of its unhealable trauma. In
other words, the fact that typefaces like Eurostile and Futura are
used in Evangelion as high-modernist signals offers an entry to a
profound reflection on the collective human endeavor known as
modernism by alluding to a world in which such endeavors were pushed
to the limit, having already failed.
"VCCIFSS" set in Futura.
License: All Rights Reserved.
"VCCIFSS" set in Futura.
"RESCUE NERV" set in Eurostile.
License: All Rights Reserved.
"RESCUE NERV" set in Eurostile.
"6th ANGEL: A.T. Field; extended" set in Helvetica; "Realtime Data
Feed" set in Futura.
License: All Rights Reserved.
"6th ANGEL: A.T. Field; extended" set in Helvetica; "Realtime Data
Feed" set in Futura.
"R-08" set in Eurostile, including a stenciled version.
License: All Rights Reserved.
"R-08" set in Eurostile, including a stenciled version.
"KUROSHIO" set in Futura. The Kuroshio corporation appears wherever a
logo is needed in Rebuild of Evangelion, from beer to books to
military equipment. The name "Kuroshio" refers to the 1969 animated
movie Flying Phantom Ship, whose key animation and design work were
carried out by Anno's former boss, Hayao Miyazaki.
License: All Rights Reserved.
"KUROSHIO" set in Futura. The Kuroshio corporation appears wherever a
logo is needed in Rebuild of Evangelion, from beer to books to
military equipment. The name "Kuroshio" refers to the 1969 animated
movie Flying Phantom Ship, whose key animation and design work were
carried out by Anno's former boss, Hayao Miyazaki.
The KUROSHIO logo set in Eurostile.
License: All Rights Reserved.
The KUROSHIO logo set in Eurostile.
Evangelion and Matisse EB in the physical world
Since 2007, Anno has released three of the four planned Rebuild of
Evangelion films, and the series has become a worldwide phenomenon.
Capitalizing on its almost unparalleled cultural impact, Evangelion
has spawned a huge official merchandise business, including
electronics accessories, apparel, food, and even outdoor gear.
Evangelion merch can also afford to reference a plethora of deeply
embedded visual elements without showing entire drawings or scenes
for context, the way many other anime need to do. Occupying center
stage in these visual references, Matisse Pro EB has earned a couple
of fond nicknames: "EVA Ultra Bold Mincho" or "EVA Ultra Bold Serif"
(EVA Ji Tai Ming Zhao Ti ).
Sharp's SH-06D mobile phone: NERV special edition, as it appeared in
the Verge.
Source: www.theverge.com (c) 2019 Vox Media, Inc. License: All Rights
Reserved.
Sharp's SH-06D mobile phone: NERV special edition, as it appeared in
the Verge.
Men's shirt from Radio EVA, Evangelion's official fashion label. The
fact that "Summer" is the only season not crossed out is an oblique
reference to the earth having stopped spinning in the series, leaving
Tokyo-3 in a permanent summer. The detail on the right shows Futura.
Source: www.radio-eva.jp (c) 2019 RADIO EVA Online Store. License: All
Rights Reserved.
Men's shirt from Radio EVA, Evangelion's official fashion label. The
fact that "Summer" is the only season not crossed out is an oblique
reference to the earth having stopped spinning in the series, leaving
Tokyo-3 in a permanent summer. The detail on the right shows Futura.
The now-famous title-card T-shirts.
Source: route2015.evastore.jp (c)khara (c)khara/Project Eva. License: All
Rights Reserved.
The now-famous title-card T-shirts.
The title cards' iconic look is strong enough to stand alone as
subway ads.
License: All Rights Reserved.
The title cards' iconic look is strong enough to stand alone as
subway ads.
Assorted Evangelion CD and DVD packaging featuring Matisse EB.
Source: fontworks.co.jp (c) Fontworks Inc. License: All Rights Reserved
.
Assorted Evangelion CD and DVD packaging featuring Matisse EB.
Although seldom appearing in the actual movies, ITC Avant Garde
Gothic can be seen in some promotional materials, such as this
special booklet accompanying the theatrical release of Evangelion
3.0. It is also the Latin typeface for Radio EVA's identity.
Peiran Tan. License: CC BY-SA.
Although seldom appearing in the actual movies, ITC Avant Garde
Gothic can be seen in some promotional materials, such as this
special booklet accompanying the theatrical release of Evangelion
3.0. It is also the Latin typeface for Radio EVA's identity.
Packaging for Evangelion 1.11 Blu-ray Discs. The English subtitle is
set in all-caps Gill Sans.
Source: www.blu-ray.com (c) 2002-2019 Blu-ray.com. License: All Rights
Reserved.
Packaging for Evangelion 1.11 Blu-ray Discs. The English subtitle is
set in all-caps Gill Sans.
Cross-merchandising between Evangelion and Schick Razor.
Source: www.crunchyroll.com (c)kara. License: All Rights Reserved.
Cross-merchandising between Evangelion and Schick Razor.
Cross-merchandising between Evangelion 3.0 and UCC Coffee.
Source: www.crunchyroll.com (c) Mynavi Corporation. License: All Rights
Reserved.
Cross-merchandising between Evangelion 3.0 and UCC Coffee.
Fans also use the Matisse fonts to express their affection,
referencing Evangelion in unexpected places like self-storage
lockers.
Public storage lockers at Sotokanda, Chiyoda City, Tokyo, decorated
in the style of Evangelion title cards, with the text switched out.
Source: www.facebook.com Chen Jian Ming (Jianming Chen). License: All Rights
Reserved.
Public storage lockers at Sotokanda, Chiyoda City, Tokyo, decorated
in the style of Evangelion title cards, with the text switched out.
Promoting Matisse EB as the "official font of Evangelion," Fontworks
also sells a special disc package containing the two versions of
Matisse EB alongside a complimentary booklet. Note that Fontworks
does not authorize this version of Matisse EB for commercial use--fan
art only!
Source: www.evastore.jp Xin Shi Ji evuangerion (c) kara/Project Eva;
Xin Shi Ji evuangerionJu Chang Ban (c) 1997kara/EVAZhi Zuo Wei Yuan Hui ; wevuangeri
wonXin Ju Chang Ban (c) kara; (c) Fontworks Inc. License: All Rights Reserved.
Promoting Matisse EB as the "official font of Evangelion," Fontworks
also sells a special disc package containing the two versions of
Matisse EB alongside a complimentary booklet. Note that Fontworks
does not authorize this version of Matisse EB for commercial use--fan
art only!
The fourth and final installment of Rebuild of Evangelion will land
in theaters in the summer of 2020, to coincide with the Tokyo
Olympics. A ten-minute teaser has already been released in Paris, Los
Angeles, Shanghai, and various locations in Japan.
Director Hideaki Anno's personal copy of the new movie script.
Source: www.instagram.com (c)kara. License: All Rights Reserved.
Director Hideaki Anno's personal copy of the new movie script.
Japanese version of the teaser poster, featuring mechanically
compressed Matisse EB.
Source: evangelion.co.jp (c)kara. License: All Rights Reserved.
Japanese version of the teaser poster, featuring mechanically
compressed Matisse EB.
English version of the teaser poster, featuring mechanically
compressed Helvetica.
Source: evangelion.co.jp (c)kara. License: All Rights Reserved.
English version of the teaser poster, featuring mechanically
compressed Helvetica.
Japanese version of the key art.
Source: evangelion.co.jp (c)kara. License: All Rights Reserved.
Japanese version of the key art.
English version of the key art.
Source: evangelion.co.jp (c)kara. License: All Rights Reserved.
English version of the key art.
The 1995 TV series and the two 1997 movies featured masterful
direction, superb voice acting, and a form of visual storytelling
that combined existentialism, Freudian psychoanalysis, teenage angst,
and biblical references into a mind-boggling stew. And the series of
real-life episodes that accompanied its production process made
Evangelion not just a franchise, but also a historical event. For
many anime fans born in the eighties and nineties, the word
"Evangelion" evokes certain fond memories, as does seeing text set in
mechanically compressed Matisse EB. For me personally, as a graphic
designer, Evangelion epitomizes the best of both worlds: solid
Japanese typography combined with a Swiss sensibility. The final
installment of the Rebuild tetralogy will certainly be no exception.
Before you see it, be sure to revisit the remastered classic
twenty-six-episode TV series and the two 1997 movies on Netflix.
Peiran Tan is an interaction and graphic designer who obsesses over
type in his spare time. He has a degree in graphic design from the
University of Washington and is currently completing a master's
degree in Georgia Tech's Human-Computer Interaction program. He would
like to thank Francis Chow for shedding light on many of the
technical aspects of Matisse's production process.
Typefaces
* Matisse
* Helvetica
* Neue Helvetica
* Times
* Helvetica Condensed
* Chicago
* Cataneo
* Futura
* Eurostile
* ITC Avant Garde Gothic
* Gill Sans
* unidentified typeface
Formats
* Packaging (1312)
* Advertising (1359)
* Object/Product (670)
* Branding/Identity (4483)
* Posters/Flyers (3320)
* Film/Video (606)
Topics
* Entertainment (962)
* Fashion/Apparel (931)
* Lifestyle (873)
* Art (2586)
* Film/TV (1166)
Designers/Agencies
* Masashi Ichifuru (2)
* Hideaki Anno (1)
* Ikki Todoroki (1)
* Katsumi Yasuda (1)
Tagged with
* Neon Genesis Evangelion (1)
* high profile (502)
* TV series (101)
* film (90)
* anime (9)
* manga (12)
* Tokyo (5)
* multiscript (411)
* bilingual (500)
* Japanese (language/script) (73)
* English (language) (979)
* title sequences (222)
* title cards (7)
* black and white (1403)
* stretched type (267)
* typeface combinations (1937)
* stacked glyphs (285)
* outlined type (794)
* end credits (57)
* movie posters (432)
* logos (2517)
* merchandise (102)
* phones (12)
* shirts (26)
* strike-through (40)
* subway ads (24)
* compact discs (CDs) (201)
* DVD/Blu-ray Disc covers (40)
* lockers (3)
* fan art (17)
* type as pattern/ornament (117)
Artwork location
* Japan (94)
* Tokyo (32)
In Sets
* Japanese Pop Culture (Quentin Schmerber) (10)
* FIU Extreme (Florian Hardwig) (15)
* Graphic References (Tristan Ford) (5)
* crewneck inspo (orlando gillam) (5)
* fonts (yang fang) (19)
* Typography (Ruolin Feng) (19)
18 Comments on "Neon Genesis Evangelion"
1. Jake says:
Oct 17th, 2019 4:56 am
Men's shirt from Radio EVA, Evangelion's official fashion
label. The fact that "Summer" is the only season not crossed
out is an oblique reference to the earth having stopped
spinning in the series, leaving Tokyo-3 in a permanent summer
For what it's worth, this isn't quite what happened--the Earth not
spinning would roast one side of the planet and freeze the other.
The actual situation in the show is that in the wake of the
world-spanning disaster known as Second Impact, the tilt of the
planet's axis has been reduced, the results being the permanent
summer you mentioned as well as the near-total melting of the
polar icecaps.
2. Fuero Dandy says:
Oct 17th, 2019 8:41 pm
I know Evangelion for more than 10 years now - and still I learn
new things about it, it's amazing when you think about it, haha.
Your article provided a lot of insight into things I did register
but didn't consider until now. Thank you for the writeup!
3. Stefan says:
Oct 21st, 2019 10:55 pm
It's refreshing to see such a well-researched, complete and
carefully-crafted blog - I'm new to this website but I'll be
sticking around! Thanks.
4. Stella Wanh says:
Oct 22nd, 2019 8:32 pm
Been fascinated by Evangelion's aesthetics since 15 years ago,
work as a graphic designer now, saw your post, can't describe how
satisfying it is!
5. Andrea A. says:
Oct 25th, 2019 3:56 pm
Amazing work! It's been a pleasure to read it and learn from it.
6. Diego Almeida says:
Oct 28th, 2019 9:45 pm
Great article! I was obsessing over this topic when I rewatched
the series on Netflix. It was good to see someone going so deep
into this awesome typographic rabbit hole.
A couple of things:
+ Throughout the series, you can sometimes catch those control
panels with a grotesque other than Helvetica or any of the
fonts you listed i think - as seen in one of the gifs in the
post, the one with the big countdown "ACTIVE TIME REMAINING/
INTERNAL". There's a softer R like that of Arial (rounded
light) but idk.
+ Hey, you forgot to mention what in my opinion is the craziest
Evangelion type of all! The high-contrast serif spelling
"EVANGELION" behind katakana in the intro logo, like some
mecha-didone or mecha-art-deco weirdness.
It was recreated by Icelar in Fontstruct as Evangelion.
7. Florian Hardwig says:
Oct 29th, 2019 8:56 am
Here's the intro logo mentioned by Diego. Chances are it's
lettering (i.e. custom drawn) and not type (i.e. a font in use),
and hence wasn't discussed by Peiran, but I don't know for sure.
If it's based on a font, it probably was customized, see the
flopped V and the barless A.
[-tKhyNLtUa]
8. Florian Hardwig says:
Oct 31st, 2019 11:32 am
This article was linked by Hacker News and received a number of
interesting comments. A few selected ones are quoted below.
"...there's the wonderful observation that 'the artifacts of
your medium will become its defining and desired
characteristic'. See how we have systems trying to emulate
CRT scanlines, or Synthwave style of music that not only
reproduces the limitations of early synths but applies those
limitations to newer sounds." -- AceJohnny
"I suppose that mechanical compression faithfully evokes what
condensed fonts actively try to mitigate: the squeezing and
stretching itself, which lends it a sense of emotional stress
and tension.
Also, with digital fonts as new as they were when NGE was
released, it's likely that compression seems more like a
novel way to establish identity, rather than the now
ubiquitous ignorant rescaling of fonts." -- jhanschoo
"Regarding mechanical compression: it's probably not 100% so,
but afaik in kanji/hanzi and likely many other SEA scripts
[SEA = South East Asian? Chinese or Japanese should be East
Asian, not South East Asian -- ed.], proportions of a
character don't matter much--they're just strokes in a grid
that you can squish without harm to legibility. That's why
labels on cheap Chinese goods often had deformed
quasi-monospace Latin type: the author just had no idea
anything is wrong." -- aasas
Peiran notes that he contests the statement that Hanzi's
proportions don't matter much - "they matter a lot from a
stylistic signifiers standpoint - but this commenter does have a
point that legibility deteriorates slow for Chinese characters
under mechanical compression."
"Yes, U+FF01-U+FF5E is a 'full width' copy of printable ASCII
(U+0021-U+007E).
Yes, U+FF01-U+FF5E is a `full wid
th' copy of printable ASCII (U+00
21-U+007E)." -- kps
According to Peiran, that's a "brilliant mention of fullwidth
ideographic characters in Unicode, which are devised precisely to
accommodate metal-era Japanese type founding practices, just like
the aggressively shortening of descenders."
"There is one more anime that comes to mind if we're talking
about typography - Bakemonogatari. Throughout the series
still images are shown containing vital information about the
thoughts of characters, events' second meaning, puns, etc.
Sometimes split second only, sometimes in a fast slides.
Really novel and interesting take on animation.
Example: https://youtu.be/-jm-xrO2c_0 (first 30 seconds shows
one of the still images and there's much more)" -- wst_
Peiran agrees that the Monogatari series is another example of
integrating typography into animated storytelling. He add that
"it's also using typography as the series's graphic identity -
the FangSong style, faux-italicized, then individually rotated
back to upright position."
9. sean says:
Nov 28th, 2019 11:00 am
You're an absolute legend for cataloguing this, thank you. That
font compression is nothing short of haunting!
10. Peiran Tan says:
Dec 28th, 2019 5:14 pm
The article has been republished in Chinese titled on The Type.
Translation by Skye Mok and editing by The Type's editor, Mira
Ying.
11. Florian Hardwig says:
Dec 29th, 2019 11:13 am
Outstanding! Congrats, Peiran, and thanks to all who have been
involved!
12. Steven Larkin says:
Aug 6th, 2020 7:30 am
I'm a freelance graphic designer, and EVA is my hands-down
favourite anime title -- thank you so much for this fantastic
article, and the research you put into it!
13. Marc McCoy says:
Mar 22nd, 2021 12:45 am
What font is used to spell "SELEE" in that logo?
14. Jake says:
Apr 30th, 2021 2:24 am
Marc: I think that's just lettering, probably drawn in the same
program as the rest of the logo--Adobe Illustrator or whatever
they used.
15. Carter says:
Jun 8th, 2021 1:46 am
Amazing article. I've referenced this many times, which makes me
wish it were a book or zine of some sort. Thank you for this!
16. John says:
Aug 20th, 2021 3:12 pm
I trying to create the iconic "SOUND ONLY" monolith. in this
article, it says that they used Chicago for the numeral part. but
when I checked, it doesn't have a diagonal line on the "0". That
makes me think that the numerals don't use Chicago as a typeface.
Do you have any suggestions for the alternatives?
17. Florian Hardwig says:
Aug 21st, 2021 7:02 am
Hi John, I'm not sure which version of Chicago you're looking at.
Note that there are several unrelated typefaces under the same
name, and that the Chicago in question is no longer available for
licensing, at least not from distributors like MyFonts.
The Chicago I'm looking at (version 3.5a3, (c) 1990-98 Apple
Computer Inc. (c) 1990-97 Type Solutions Inc. (c) 1990-97 The Font
Bureau Inc.; included in Mac OS9) does have a slashed zero.
[Chicago]
18. Jamie says:
Sep 29th, 2021 2:29 pm
Awesome article! Tokyo-2 was not destroyed, though. The
government of Japan is in Tokyo-2 after the destruction of "old"
Tokyo. The government planned to relocate to Tokyo-3 but that
never happened.
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