Evangelion Original Soundtrack
The original music for the soundtrack of Neon Genesis Evangelion was composed mainly by Shiro Sagisu, who has also worked on other popular anime series like Bleach, Magi, and SSSS.Gridman. For his work on the Neon Genesis Evangelion, he received an award for “Best Music Score” in the 1997 Animation Kobe Awards. This original soundtrack would later be physically released in three installments over a period of approximately six months. These albums were all produced by director Hideaki Anno and released under King Record’s Starchild label. The opening theme and ending theme, “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” and “Fly Me to the Moon” respectively, were also included in several of these albums. Additional movie soundtracks and compilation albums were also recorded in later years.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
“Neon Genesis Evangelion I”
This is the first album of the anime’s soundtrack. The 23 track album was recorded on November 22nd, 1995 and released only a couple of weeks later on December 6th. The album was also released in the United States under Geneon Entertainment on January 1st, 2004. A remastered album titled “Neon Genesis Evangelion [2013 HR Remaster Ver.]” was made in 2013, while a vinyl record of the album was made in 2015. The opening track of the album is a director’s cut of the anime’s opening theme, “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis”. Three variations of “Fly Me to the Moon” sung by either Yoko Takahashi or Claire Littley are also included.
“Neon Genesis Evangelion II”
The second soundtrack album of Neon Genesis Evangelion was released on February 16th, 1996, only a month and a half after the first album. It contains 25 tracks. Geneon Entertainment released the album in the US on March 16th, 2004. It includes the TV edits of “A Cruel Angels Thesis” and various versions of “Fly Me to the Moon”. Several versions of these endings are sung by Megumi Hayashibara while acid bossa, bossa techno, and jungle remixes of “Fly Me to the Moon” can also be heard.
“Neon Genesis Evangelion III”
The final “official” soundtrack album of the series was released on May 22, 1996 and contains 34 tracks, 12 of which are variations on “Fly Me to the Moon”. A bonus album titled “Neon Genesis Evangelion Addition” was later released on December 21st, 1996. The limited-edition version of this album included a movie ticket to Evangelion: Death and Rebirth, as well as the 12 tracks included in the regular release. One such track is a drama track that revolved around the main characters of Evangelion humorously attempting to decide how to continue the series.
Movie Soundtracks
Evangelion: Death
This album includes several tuning tracks and classical quartet pieces, as this compilation movie has sections where the characters play in a string quartet. It also features Giuseppe Verdi’s “Dies Irae” and a track titled “False Regeneration”, a track from Rebirth.
The End of Evangelion
This album features the soundtrack of The End of Evangelion and was released on September 26th, 1997 (May 11th, 2004 in the United States).
Rebuild of Evangelion Series
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone: Two versions of the soundtrack were released for the first Rebuild movie. The first was released on September 25th, 2007 while the second was released on May 25th 2008. Both versions were performed by the London Studio Orchestra and recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, although the second release features several extra tracks. Hikaru Utada sings two songs in this album. One song is an original piece used to promote 1.0 called “Beautiful World” while the other is a cover of “Fly Me to the Moon”.
Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance: Like the previous movie, this album was performed by the London Studio Orchestra and recorded in Abbey Road Studios. Both a regular and special edition of the soundtrack was released on July 8th, 2009.
Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo: An album for this movie was released on November 28th, 2012.
Compilation Albums
Neon Genesis Evangelion: S2 Works
This limited release included a 7-disc box set of all of the tracks from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Evangelion: Death, and The End of Evangelion. It was released on December 4th, 1998. Several previously unused and rearranged tracks can be found in this release as well. The “S2 Works” in the album’s title refers to a special organ that all Angels have that provide them a nearly infinite source of energy.
The Day of Second Impact
This album compiles 11 tracks from the original series and the first two movies. It was released in Japan on September 13th, 2000, the same date as the catastrophic event called the “Second Impact” that took place 15 years before the beginning of the series. Geneon Entertainment also later released this album in America on September 7th, 2004.
Neon Genesis Evangelion Decade
Decade is an album that was released to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the initial airing of the original series. It features re-recorded versions of “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” and other background tracks from the anime.