Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone

After his film Cutie Honey (2004), Neon Genesis Evangelion director Hideaki Anno began to plan another live-action project; however, a script for this film could not be drafted and the director decided to refocus on animation. Anno had planned to work on the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise again since the release of the DVD box set of his series Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. He officially began working on a Neon Genesis Evangelion-related project in November 2005, considering it a suitable franchise he could work on without rights issues or interference. Anno was inspired by the Gundam franchise, which had been created years before by Yoshiyuki Tomino and was still running through television series, video games, and comics. He gave himself the purpose of Gundamizing Evangelion, expanding the franchise, possibly with the contribution of new and young authors; initially having in mind a title in the wake of G Evangelion, he tried to create a work capable of completely overturning the entire concept of Evangelion, similar to what G Gundam did for Tomino's franchise. He believed that animation was at a standstill, perceiving the need to produce "a work that would appeal to middle and high school-aged men, who quickly grow away from anime", and raise the general level of animated productions. In children's animation, Anno found a wide range of content available such as Hayao Miyazaki's and Studio Ghibli's films, but for the older age groups he only noted Gundam; as Tomino's franchise had reached popularity beyond the boundaries of the otaku fanbase, Anno set himself the goal of doing something similar.