Ahead of the Japanese theaters release ofShin Evangelion Gekijobanon January 23, Studio Khara published newguidelinesfor derivative fan works of the franchise, which includes porn.These kind of guidelines are regularly published by anime, games, manga, light novel related companies in Japan. And most of the time they’re very lax. Globally that’s the case as well with these new Khara guidelines published December 28, which for example asks fans to “please refrain” from makingEvangelionporn or grotesque fanart, among other things.However, Netlab, one of the fastest Japanese outlets to relay the guidelines, mistakenly stated Studio Khara was “prohibiting” all explicit fan content. This created a huge misunderstanding as news like “it’s now forbidden to makeEvaR18” spread like wildfire on Japanese Twitter. Creating situations with some artists stating they won’t drawEvacharacters anymore. The best example isMogudan(this is an R18 artist we’re talking about here so click at your own risk), who mentioned they won’t be drawing Ayanami Rei anymore. The original chara designer ofScrapped Princess(great anime, you should watch it) has been drawing Ayanami for decades. And probably couldn’t stop even if they wanted to. You probably heard about it if you’ve been watching anime for at least 20 years. This triggered tens of thousands of retweets and sad reactions from legendary anime personalities such asTsukasa Kotobuki.
Netlab only corrected its article six hours later. The damage was done.
Seeing the confusion, Khara published a follow-up twitter thread on December 30. In summary. Studio Khara stressed this is not a ban. It emphasized its understanding of fans, and how it realizes all fan works are created with the intent of supporting the original work. Studio Khara stated it never tried to regulate fan-made content in the past. And that stance will not change.
Moreover, Khara explained the guidelines are voluntarily ambiguous to give as much freedom as possible to the fans. And for each person making fan content to read the guidelines. And continue their activities or not while thinking about their own situation and risks. Studio Khara ended the message stating it’d never wish to crackdown on fans.
In the first place, Studio Khara and Hideaki Anno are otaku, so it’s very unlikely they’d be banning that kind of stuff. I’m not paid enough to elaborate. But if you’ve been watching anime for decades and know otaku culture you should know full well.
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time- Trailer
Shin Evangelion Gekijoban, officially titledEvangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time in English,uses the slogan"bye-bye, all ofEvangelion". I personally highly doubt this is the end of anime projects for the franchise though. I’m eager to watch the final movie, and hope that followingKare KanoandFushigi no Umi no Nadia,theAttacker YouOSTwas recycled for the occasion.
