Was Tokyo 2040 really trying to be a copy of Evangelion?

Dec 10, 2025 9:54 AM

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Apr 2022

433

One of the most common complaints of Tokyo 2040 is that the series was trying to be a copy of Evangelion because they are some similarities between them. Down to the aesthetics and character designs, it almost look very similar to Eva. Do you think that Tokyo 2040 was trying to rip off Eva when it was released?

Dec 10, 2025 3:48 PM

Anime_God_King

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Feb 2016

269

No, I would say Evangelion, just copied old Bubblegum.

Dec 10, 2025 4:50 PM

ShySeishuro

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Mar 2012

First time I've heard that said about Tokyo 2040.
Eva's influence began to be seen much later. Also Bubblegum already had a name on its own.

Each era has a more or less similar aesthetic but I think the original Bubblegum style still holds up well in Tokyo 2040 and has a distinctly 80s feel.

Dec 14, 2025 8:38 PM

nekogunner

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Oct 2011

Also from a writing perspective, the creator put a lot of what he was and had gone through in his life into Evangelion.

There are multiple long form video essays you can watch on YouTube about it. One in particular analyzes the original series, the movies, the Remake ("Rebuild") version of the show independently of each other, as well together as one collective work.

You can see themes present in each that unique as well as shared and how they connect to Hideaki Anno.

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Was Tokyo 2040 really trying to be a copy of Evangelion?

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