“A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” might just be the most popular anime song of all time. In both Japanese and Western surveys, the opening theme from Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion performed by Yoko Takahashi is often ranked at the very top by anime fans and karaoke goers. Even people who aren’t really into Japanese animated shows may have picked up the song’s famous opening lyrics, Zankoku na tenshi no you ni … (“Like a cruel angel …”) through pop culture osmosis. Yet for all of the song’s popularity, there are still some things about it that you may not know, like how …
1. Yoko Takahashi Still Practices the Song Daily
Neon Genesis Evangelion premiered nearly 30 years ago in 1995. People can change a lot in that time, especially singers. Their voices may not be what they used to be or they may not have the same range or lung capacity, but it’s OK because nobody expects them to sing exactly like they did three decades ago.
Except for Yoko Takahashi. She expects herself to perform “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” during live performances just like she did in 1995 to transport the fans back in time to when they first encountered the show that most likely got them into anime. It’s why in past interviews, the singer has admitted to still practicing the song for up to two hours a day, focusing especially on the a cappella intro, which she finds particularly challenging.
2. The Song’s Title Was Inspired by an Incredibly Dark Manga
In interviews, the song’s lyricist, Neko Oikawa, claimed that the title “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” was a nod to the comic book A Cruel God Reigns (Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru). Created in 1992 by Moto Hagio, the manga is set in the US and tells the story of 15-year-old Jeremy who tries to murder his sexually abusive stepfather but ends up killing both his stepfather and his own mother.
The guilt eventually drives Jeremy into using drugs, which he affords by prostituting himself. Thankfully, none of that made its way into the final song, which, according to Oikawa, was inspired by the concept of “motherhood.”
3. Hideaki Anno Originally Wanted To Use Music From a Russian Opera for the Opening
There is a lot of symbolic imagery in Neon Genesis Evangelion, which fans of the show have analyzed again and again over the years. Hideaki Anno probably should have told them sooner not to waste their time. A lot of the visuals and plot points in Evangelion are, apparently, there simply because they seemed cool to him. Though in later interviews, Anno talked about finally embracing the complexities that fans saw in his creation, his approach to the original anime series was, basically, “No plans; just vibes.”
That’s possibly why, before contracting out the opening theme, he wanted to use something different and experimental to start off the show. His first choice was “Polovtsian Dances” from Act 2 of Alexander Borodin’s opera Prince Igor, the same song that opened the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The idea was ultimately shot down by the studio.
4. The Lyrics Were Slapped Together at the Last Minute
Neko Oikawa wasn’t closely involved with the making of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Her entire introduction to the project was a 30-minute meeting (without the music director, Hidetoshi Sato) and a screening of the first two episodes of the anime on fast-forward. After that, she was told to basically write whatever she wanted, as long as it felt “philosophical.” The writer admits it took her about two hours to complete the assignment.
5. There Are a Few Tricks to Singing the Song Perfectly
Yoko Takahashi was asked to sing the opening’s a cappella intro “in a child’s voice” or “like a teenager” (despite being 30 at the time). This, combined with some of Neko Oikawa’s difficult lyrics and the song’s tempo, provided a challenge to Takahashi, which she has learned to overcome over the decades. She then took all that she’s learned and put it into a 2021 instruction book of vocal exercises specifically for singing “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” and “Soul’s Refrain” — the theme from Evangelion: Death and Rebirth — perfectly. She recommends that fans of the song first “practice at a slow tempo … Just slow down at first and pay attention to the melody of the a cappella.”
However, the most important piece of advice that Takahashi has for fans is to not get discouraged. The singer herself reportedly still feels nervous when performing the intro to Evangelion because it really is a difficult song. But, as she says, the sense of accomplishment you get when you get through the whole thing is more than worth the effort.
