By The Eva Monkey on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007
I was poking around the internet last night, entering into Google various terms like evangelion, article, interview, and hideaki anno. And usually, given enough time between Google searches, something interesting is bound to show up. Last night was no exception, as I came across an article about anonymous group suicide in Japan entitled “Let’s Die Together” by upcoming writer David Samuels. I found the subject of the article itself an interesting read, but that in and of itself is not why I read the lengthy editorial. Midway through the article, Samuels interviews none other than Hideaki Anno, who provides commentary on Evangelion and today’s Japanese society. The article doesn’t explicitly blame Evangelion for the rise of anonymous group suicide, but does use it as an iconic example of what has led Japan to become what Anno describes as “a country of children”. There are a number of interesting thoughts, comments, and realizations about Japan and otaku culture that I feel many fans of Japanese pop culture would find of interest, depressing as it may be. The article has sparked commentary from a number of other bloggers on the net, through whom I discovered Samuels’ article.