Evangelion Art Books
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a Japanese anime TV series first aired in 1995 which received worldwide recognition and fame. The Evangelion Unit mecha robots mainly designed by Ikuto Yamashita became classic figures in the anime mecha scene. Also, the main characters designed by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto of the anime series, Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Soryu became iconic characters in the anime industry. The anime series and succeeding films spurred a wave of merchandise and collaborative promotions with food, clothing and toy companies in Japan. In addition Evangelion Art Books.
Here are a few art books released encompassing the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise listed below.
Der Mond
Der Mond is an art book published by Kadokawa Shoten with character Rei Ayanami on the cover and initially released as a limited edition on 30th September 1999, and later as a wide release next year, on January 21, 2000. The book was originally published in Japanese and it was translated by the publisher Viz media.
“Der Mond” means “The Moon” in the German language, and the art book features Evangelion art illustrated and created by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. It contains a variety of renditions of the Evangelion characters in scenes familiar to the Evangelion anime. It also includes concept artwork, character designs and Sadamoto’s personal notes on his artwork.
The book has a hardcover binding and has 120 pages, filled with beautiful large prints. Most of the images are from Evangelion but there are some from other anime and games too.
Die Sterne
Die Sterne is the second installment of the Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Evangelion art book series. Once again Rei Ayanami is the poster girl for the cover, published by Kadokawa Shoten, the name “Die Sterne” means “The Stars” in the German language.
This art book is a softcover binding book with more than 121 pages featuring Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and the work of many other contributing illustrators. The art book focuses on more of a variety of Evangelion theme work such as model kit boxes, calendars and appearance in other media. Due to the mix of contributing artists, this art book lets the reader enjoy and see their favorite Evangelion characters in a variety of settings and contexts.
A second edition of Die Sterne was released in 2007 as Die Sterne Ver.2.0. The second edition featured an additional 75 illustrations.
Die Sterne Contributing Illustrators
- Takeshi Honda
- Shinya Hasegawa
- Shunji Suzuki
- Kazuya Tsurumaki
- Tadashi Hiramatsu
- Ichiro Kamei
- Kou Youshinari
- You Yoshinari
- Hiroyuki Imaishi
- Hideyuki Fukuoka
- Sushio
- Hideyuki Morioka
- Masayuki
- Ikuto Yamashita
- Takeshi Okazaki
- Tatsuya Egawa
- Katsuya Terada
- Sho'u Tajima
- Tsutomu Nihei
- Kazuaki Koizumi
- Yuuji Kaida
- Yoshinori Sayama
- Nobuteru Yuki
- Mitsuaki Hashimoto
- Yoshiyuki Takani
- Katsuichi Nakayama
- Shoji Saiki
- Kazuhiro Takamura
- Nobutoshi Ogura
- Shigeki Sunada
- Hanako Enomoto
Carmine
The third installment of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto’s art books based on the Evangelion series, released in 2020. The first art book to use Asuka Langley Soryu as the front-cover girl. The art book contains the newest and best digital renditions of his Evangelion work.
This art book also features a large amount of other work in which he was in charge of character development in the 2000’s. Such as FLCL, .Hack, Diebuster, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
Neon Genesis Evangelion Artbook Photofile 01: Eve and 02: Adam
These two artbooks contain images and screenshots from the TV series.
Groundwork of Evangelion
Groundwork of Evangelion is a collection of 5 artbooks that contain production sketches and images prior to the release of the new films in the Evangelion Rebuild series. Some of the images are colored, while the others are sketches
2015: The Last Year of Ryoji Kaji
2015: The Last Year of Ryoji Kaji is a limited edition book that was published and released through Newtype in June 1997 (Mainly in Japanese, but partly in English). The book is a combination photo/text book profile made by the character Ryoji Kaji. Firstly there are a collection of photographs and digitally-altered pictures supposedly taken by Kaji, including the Evangelion Units, Angels and inside NERV HQ.
With these pictures, the book includes a collection of notes that had letters, notes, and poems that give more insight into the character of Kaji in the Evangelion series. The text is written by the original TV series screenwriter Hiroshi Yamaguchi. While the photographs were taken by Ichiro Kamei. The book was created to recreate Kaji’s memories as if he wrote a journal during his time on mission at NERV during the Evangelion story.
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Character Design
Here are the most famous titles that Yoshiyuki Sadamoto played a role in the character design.
- Daicon IV (1983)
- Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (1987)
- Gunbuster (1988)
- Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990-1991)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (1994–2013)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995–1996)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (1997)
- The End of Evangelion (1997)
- Pilgrim (1998)
- FLCL (2000, 2018)
- .hack//Sign (2002)
- Gunbuster 2 (2004-2006)
- Gunbuster vs Diebuster: Aim for the Top (2006)
- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)
- Summer Wars (2009)
- Wolf Children (2012)
- Short Peace (Gambo) (2013)
- Starwing Paradox (2018)
- Evangelion: Rebuild Series (2007-2020)