The Theme Song to Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo Has Been Released!

As expected, the third Rebuild of Evangelion movie is a complete hit!

On Nov. 17, 2012, it was announced that Japanese singer Hikaru Utada's self-written new song "Sakura Nagashi" has been selected as the theme song for Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo. Utada, who also sang the theme songs to the first two Rebuild of Evangelion movies, has actually been on hiatus from the music world and has instead been focusing on humanitarian work. However, due to strong requests from the production staff, Utada answered the requests and delivered a song filled with deep thoughts for the world of Evangelion. Different in style from the previous two theme songs, “Sakura Nagashi” is a heart-wrenching, beautiful requiem to life.

Along with the release of the new Evangelion movie, the song was released on major online music stores on Nov. 17. The artwork for the song is an illustration of Hikaru Utada done by none other than Evangelion's character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Fans who purchase the song will receive a digital screensaver illustration as a present. However, this special gift is not available on some music stores other than iTunes.

A short version of the music video for “Sakura Nagashi” was also released on Nov. 17. Naomi Kawase, who won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, directed the video. This collaboration of artistic giants Utada and Kawase strongly conveyed the theme of "maternity" to the audience.

Also released simultaneously with the new Evangelion movie, the full version of the music video was available for three days on YouTube from Nov. 17-19. Within 2 days, the video accumulated more than 20 million views. The full video was officially released on Nov. 28.

A promotion is also underway through the official website for “Sakura Nagashi" in which 1000 fans can win exclusive stickers of the cover illustration to “Sakura Nagashi” by tweeting their thoughts on the song or video. The DVD single for “Sakura Nagashi” will be released on Dec. 26, 2012.

This article contains translated excerpts from :
http://blog.excite.co.jp/exanime/19223594/ (Japanese).