u/Old-Definition7490

I bought three Evangelion CDs.

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION ADDITION. Tamashii no Refrain (single). THE END OF EVANGELION.

Picking them up after almost 30 years.

ADDITION — released December 21, 1996. Three months before Death & Rebirth hit theaters. This wasn't a soundtrack — it was the hype drop. The pre-movie CD that fans like me played on loop while we counted down to the theatrical release. I owned it at 14 and played it to death. CDs were expensive for a kid back then — ¥3,000 a pop was real money — but I had this one.

Opened the booklet just now and every track came back instantly. Cruel Angel's Thesis, Fly Me to the Moon, the "Ode to Joy" chorus from Beethoven's 9th. At 14 I had no idea what any of those German words meant. I do now. Doesn't help.

The real reason I bought this CD: the radio drama "終局の続き" — "After the End." I listened to it obsessively at 14. I'm about to hear Hayashibara Megumi go bin-ta, bin-ta, bin-ta one more time. In 2026.

Tamashii no Refrain — I owned this one. But the old movies messed me up so badly that I think I only played it back a handful of times. The song is fused to Death & Rebirth in my head — pressing play meant going back to that theater.

THE END OF EVANGELION — I had completely forgotten this red case. End of Evangelion — the summer '97 film — traumatized me so badly I think I sealed it away.

The case I sealed. The song stayed alive inside me. I've heard Komm, süßer Tod three times in my life. Once at the theater in 1997. And once at my own wedding. I used it as the closing track. Most recently, I caught the 2025 revival in a theater.

Hooked up the player. Lined up the three cases. I'm writing this post with THANATOS playing in the background.

The act of putting an Eva CD into a tray in 2026 is already doing the thing.

Memory on refrain. Ah, music is wonderful, isn't it.

NHK BS4K here in Japan started airing the 4K remaster of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water in April, Sundays at 9pm, and we haven't missed an episode. I actually bought a new 4K TV specifically for this rebroadcast — that's how much this show means to me.

I first watched it when I was 7. The only other time I'd revisited it was at the 2014 Tokyo International Film Festival, during Anno's "World of Hideaki Anno" retrospective on the big screen.

Now my daughter sits on the rug in front of the TV every Sunday night, totally locked in on Nadia and Jean, and I get to watch it again through her eyes. The 4K transfer looks incredible, but honestly the real luxury is sharing this show with my kids 35 years after it first aired. Sundays at 9 have become sacred in our house.

P.S. Honestly can't wait to experience the legendary Island arc animation in 4K. Going to be a real treat.

Following up on my earlier post about the 1999 copy of "an omnipresence in wired" — I'm a Japanese fan who only started using Reddit this month, and honestly, the reactions and conversations here have been more joyful than I expected. Thank you all for the warm reception to that post.

It made me want to keep digging in the same box, and I found more from Yoshitoshi ABe:

• the 2005 rebuild edition of "an omnipresence in wired"
• Haibane Renmei art book「グリの街、灰羽の庭で」
• Faces (doujinshi)
• Ryutai 流体 (doujinshi)

The rebuild edition is interesting — the afterword is dated 2005-08-05 and ABe writes about why the original went out of print after 2001.

ABe's non-Lain work is worth a look too. Haibane Renmei has the same quiet emotional weight.

He's my favorite artist for capturing that specific 90s melancholy.

The other day, at a neighborhood trash drop in Japan, I found an Evangelion old-movie VHS. Without thinking, I took it home.

Two VHS tapes.

The first. "EVANGELION: DEATH (TRUE)² AND EVANGELION: REBIRTH." Commonly called "Shito Shinsei."

The second. "THE END OF EVANGELION — Air / My Purest Heart for You."

Picking up a VHS in 2026. And it's Evangelion. And it's the complete set of the old movies.

On Evangelion's 30th anniversary, a VHS whose role was finished had been thrown out.

The Full Complete Blu-ray BOX came out in December 2025. There's streaming too. There's almost no home left that can play a tape like this. For the owner, this was probably the time.

If someone throws them out, someone picks them up.

But something's on my mind. The case and the tapes are brand new. Almost no sign of use. Watched once, maybe. Or maybe never played at all.

Maybe someone bought them but couldn't watch them. Someone who couldn't find the courage to see that movie again.