Last week Neon Genesis: Evangelion landed on Netflix.
Being one of the most prolific animes of the 90s, this has been a big deal.
But it didn’t take long for people to notice a glaring omission. The song from the closing credits was missing.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/06/evangelion-netflix-neon-genesis-changed-a-lot-more-localisation/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/06/neon-genesis-netflix-5.jpg
https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/06/neon-genesis-netflix-5.jpg
” title=”Fans Are Cranky Over Netflix’s Evangelion Translation” excerpt=”The worldwide release of Neon Genesis: Evangelion on Netflix has meant that the iconic series is much more publicly accessible — but as fans have quickly discovered, a lot has changed. To add insult to the injury of losing the iconic covers of Fly Me To The Moon from the series’ end credits, Netflix’s release of Evangelion has also made several subtle, but critical localisation changes, including one with a momentous impact on the final episodes.”]
Fans of the show will be aware of just how important this change is.
The song in question is a cover of Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon, which manifests itself at the end of every episode. It’s one of the most iconic aspects of Evangelion and its absence is overt to say the least.
Neon Genesis Evangelion ending: “Fly Me to the Moon” by Claire
We won’t forget you… pic.twitter.com/eAchV5IjFW— Daily Anime Openings (@OpeningsDaily) June 21, 2019
That feeling when Fly me to the Moon doesn’t start playing at the end of #Evangelion. What the hell kind of decision was that? pic.twitter.com/ga6RWOIVAq
— Valsu (@Valsu) June 21, 2019
When you find out Netflix Evangelion doesn’t have fly me to the moon pic.twitter.com/YwALgSHaD2
— Angie (@Scarletwktk) June 21, 2019
Gizmodo Australia reached out to Netflix to find out why the iconic song was removed, but the company declined to comment.
However, the song is still present if you’re watching the show via Netflix Japan. This suggests that it is most likely a licensing issue. Whether Netflix didn’t want to pay for international rights or if some other reason is at play remains unclear.
MTV’s Daria had a similar issue when it was first brought to DVD. The original runs of the show was permeated by modern pop and rock music that ultimately proved too expensive to republish on new media.
The removal of Fly Me To The Moon isn’t the only aspect of Netflix’s Evangelion run that has people angry. Social media has been rife with complaints about the the subtitles, translations and even the English dubbing.
This has resulted in iconic quotes, the NERV logo and even entire relationships being changed, the most significant being between Kaworu and Shinji.
You can keep up to date on all the changes that are making fans made over on Reddit.