The 30th anniversary of Neon Genesis Evangelion just delivered one of the most talked-about moments in the franchise’s history, and most fans will probably never get to see it officially.
Studio Khara, the studio founded by Hideaki Anno that has been behind Evangelion since the Rebuild films, premiered an exclusive 15-minute short film centered on Asuka Langley Soryu at the EVANGELION:30+; 30th Anniversary of Evangelion festival, held at Yokohama Arena from February 21 to 23.
The catch: it was strictly for attendees only, and the studio made that boundary very clear when bootlegged footage started circulating online almost immediately.
What the short film actually shows
According to attendees at the Yokohama event, the short takes Asuka through a series of alternate scenarios and possible futures, some of them surprisingly tender.
Among those futures is one where Asuka and Shinji end up married, a moment that instantly sent shippers into overdrive across every corner of social media.
The short was written by Hideaki Anno and directed by Naoyuki Asano, who previously worked on the first and fourth Rebuild of Evangelion films. Despite being described as “mostly fan service,” the film reportedly ends with Asuka rejecting those alternate happy endings in favor of carving out her own path, which is very on-brand for her character.
The problem is that almost no one outside that arena was supposed to see any of this. Studio Khara had made it clear from the start that the short was an exclusive experience for festival attendees, with no streaming release planned on platforms like Netflix or Crunchyroll.
When leaked clips and screenshots started popping up on X and other platforms anyway, the studio responded fast and firm. “Reposting, sharing, or otherwise distributing such content without permission on social media or other platforms is also prohibited. Violators may be subject to legal liability,” the official statement read.
This isn’t the first time Khara has gone this route, they issued strikes against leakers of Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time back in 2021 as well.
Fans are divided and the FOMO is real
The reaction from the community has been split down the middle. Japanese fans who attended the festival largely support the studio’s position, they bought their tickets, made the trip, and feel the exclusivity is part of what made the experience special. International fans, on the other hand, are frustrated.
Not everyone has the budget or the ability to fly to Yokohama just to catch 15 minutes of animation, and seeing content they can’t access get dangled in front of them, then legally threatened away, hasn’t sat well with a big part of the global fanbase.
There is a small ray of hope. Anno himself stated at the event that he would work with rights holders to release as much content from the anniversary festival as possible, leaving the door open for an eventual official release of the short, though no date or platform has been announced yet.
On top of all of this, the festival also dropped the biggest Evangelion news in years: a brand-new anime series is officially in production, with Yoko Taro of NieR: Automata fame handling the screenplay.
Directors Kazuya Tsurumaki and Toko Yatabe will lead the project, with music composed by Keiichi Okabe and animation co-produced by Studio Khara and CloverWorks. No release date or plot details have been shared yet, but after 30 years, Evangelion is clearly nowhere near done.
Do you think Studio Khara should release the Asuka short officially for fans worldwide, or was the in-person exclusivity part of the deal? Tell us what you think in the comments!