Volodymyr Seniv

Hunter × Hunter (pronounced "hunter hunter") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi. It has been serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump since March 1998, although the manga has frequently gone on extended hiatuses since 2006. Its chapters have been collected in 36 tankōbon volumes as of October 2018. The story focuses on a young boy named Gon Freecss who discovers that his father, who left him at a young age, is actually a world-renowned Hunter, a licensed professional who specializes in fantastical pursuits such as locating rare or unidentified animal species, treasure hunting, surveying unexplored enclaves, or hunting down lawless individuals. Gon departs on a journey to become a Hunter and eventually find his father. Along the way, Gon meets various other Hunters and encounters the paranormal.

Hunter × Hunter was adapted into a 62-episode anime television series produced by Nippon Animation and directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, which ran on Fuji Television from October 1999 to March 2001. Three separate original video animations (OVAs) totaling 30 episodes were subsequently produced by Nippon Animation and released in Japan from 2002 to 2004. A second anime television series by Madhouse aired on Nippon Television from October 2011 to September 2014 totaling 148 episodes, with two animated theatrical films released in 2013. There are also numerous audio albums, video games, musicals, and other media based on Hunter × Hunter.

The manga has been translated into English and released in North America by Viz Media since April 2005. Both television series have been also licensed by Viz Media, with the first series having aired on the Funimation Channel in 2009 and the second series broadcast on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block from April 2016 to June 2019.

Hunter × Hunter has been a huge critical and financial success and has become one of Shueisha's best-selling manga series, having over 79 million copies in circulation as of November 2021.

Hunters (ハンター, Hantā) are licensed, elite members of humanity who are capable of tracking down secret treasures, rare beasts, or even other individuals. They can also access locations that regulars cannot access.[3] To obtain a license one must pass the rigorous annual Hunter Examination run by the Hunter Association, which has a success rate of less than one in a hundred-thousand.[4] A Hunter may be awarded up to three stars: a single star for making "remarkable achievements in a particular field"; they may then be upgraded to two stars for "holding an official position" and mentoring another Hunter up to single star level; and finally upgraded to three stars for "remarkable achievements in multiple fields".[5]

Nen (念) is the ability to control one's own life energy or aura, which is constantly emitted from them, knowingly or not. There are four basic Nen techniques: Ten (纏) maintains the aura in the body, strengthening it for defense; Zetsu (絕) shuts the aura flow off, useful for concealing one's presence and relieving fatigue; Ren (練) enables a user to produce more Nen; and Hatsu (發) is a person's specific use of Nen.[6] Nen users are classified into six types based on their Hatsu abilities; Enhancers (強化系, Kyōkakei) strengthen and reinforce their natural physical abilities; Emitters (放出系, Hōshutsukei) project aura out of their bodies; Manipulators (操作系, Sōsakei) control objects or living things; Transmuters (変化系, Henkakei) change the type or properties of their aura; Conjurers (具現化系, Gugenkakei) create objects out of their aura; and Specialists (特質系, Tokushitsukei) have unique abilities that do not fall into the previous categories.[7] A Nen user can enter into a Contract (誓約, Seiyaku) where, by pledging to follow certain Limitations (制約, Seiyaku), their abilities are strengthened in relation to how strict they are. An example of this is Kurapika who, in order to have an unbreakable chain that will fully restrain members of the Phantom Troupe, offered his life, should he use it on anyone other than its members.

The story follows a young boy named Gon Freecss, who was told all his life that both his parents were dead. But when he learns from Kite, an apprentice of his father Ging Freecss, that he is still alive and has since become an accomplished Hunter, Gon leaves his home on Whale Island (くじら島, Kujira Tō) to take the Hunter Examination (ハンター試験, Hantā Shiken) in order to become a Hunter like him.[9][10][11] During the exam, Gon meets and befriends three of the other applicants: Kurapika, the last remaining member of the Kurta clan who wishes to become a Hunter in order to avenge his clan and recover their scarlet-glowing eyes that were plucked from their corpses by a band of thieves known as the Phantom Troupe; Leorio, a prospective physician who, in order to pay for medical school, desires the financial benefits that Hunters receive; and Killua Zoldyck, another twelve-year-old boy who has left his former life as a member of the world's most notorious assassin family.[10][11][3] Among many other examinees, Gon continuously encounters Hisoka, a mysterious and deadly transmuter who takes an interest in him. After many trials together, Gon and his friends end up passing the exam except for Killua, who fails after killing another applicant due to the influence of his brother, Illumi, and runs away to his family's estate in shame.

After Gon and the others convince Killua to rejoin their side, Leorio and Kurapika depart temporarily for their own personal reasons, while Gon and Killua set for the Heavens Arena (天空闘技場, Tenkū Tōgijō), a skyscraper where thousands of martial artists compete daily in fighting tournaments, seeking to improve themselves and gain monetary rewards.[12] There they meet Zushi, a fellow Heavens Arena applicant, who has a kung fu master named Wing who trains them in utilizing Nen, a Qi-like life energy used by its practicers to manifest parapsychological abilities, and is also considered to be the final requirement to pass the Hunter Exam. Sometime later, Gon and his friends reunite again in Yorknew City (ヨークシンシティ, Yōkushin Shiti) where they have a clash with the Phantom Troupe. During the occasion, two from the band of thieves are killed by Kurapika and he is forced to give up the chance of hunting down the rest in order to rescue Gon and Killua from captured, but not without succeeding in sealing the powers of their leader, Chrollo Lucilfer.

A few days later, Gon and Killua achieve their objective and begin playing Greed Island, an extremely rare and expensive video game with Nen-like properties following some clues about Ging's whereabouts.[13] While exploring the game, it is revealed that its scenario is actually set somewhere in the real world, created with Nen by a team led by none other than Ging himself. Outclassed by the challenges in the game at first, they are soon joined and trained by Biscuit Krueger, an experienced teacher of Nen and kung fu master. With Biscuit's help, Gon and Killua train their Nen and learn to shape their abilities to their traits. Killua takes a short break from Greed Island to apply for the Hunter Examination again, this time passes with success. The trio then complete the game together against all odds and Gon obtains the right to choose the artifacts from the game necessary to reunite with his father.

Gon decides to have Killua accompany him to meet his father using the artifacts, but the duo are sent to meet Kite instead. They decide to help with Kite's research of a man-sized Chimera Ant queen, an insect that devours other creatures and then gives birth to progeny that inherit the characteristics of the different species it has eaten. The queen washes up onto an island nation called the Neo-Green Life (N.G.L.) Autonomous Region, where she quickly develops a taste for humans and builds a colony powerful enough to overcome the population, especially after her offspring learn the power of Nen from consuming Hunters. Upon facing the Royal Guard of the Chimera Ants, Kite sacrifices himself to allow Gon and Killua to flee and alert the Hunter Association. After weeks of preparation, the Association sends a team of some of their most powerful Hunters, including Netero, the president of the Association himself to defeat the Ants and their king Meruem, whose subjects secretly overthrew the government of the nearby Republic of East Gorteau (東ゴルトー共和国, Higashi Gorutō Kyouwakoku) as part of their plan of subduing all of mankind. Despite losing to Meruem in combat, Netero ends up killing him with a bomb implanted in his body that poisons him to death soon after. Meanwhile, Gon has a showdown with Neferpitou, the Ant who killed Kite. After overusing Nen to exact his revenge, he is hospitalized and in critical condition.

After the Chimera Ant incident is resolved, the Hunter Association's top echelons the Zodiacs, from which Ging is a member, begin the process of choosing Netero's replacement as Chairman, while Killua returns home to ask for his younger sister Alluka to save Gon's life. His family is unwilling to risk losing Alluka or having her dangerous powers used against them, but after evading his older brother Illumi's attempts to intercept him, Killua manages to bring Alluka to Gon's side and have him fully restored. He then attempts to seal away Alluka's alter ego which grants them their power (Nanika, likely a creature from the Dark Continent), but at the last moment decides to revert the process rather than seal away Nanika Alluka's only other friend. Killua then parts ways with Gon to travel the world with Alluka, while Gon himself finally meets his father and learns the true nature of his quest.

Some time later, Netero's son Beyond assembles an expedition to the Dark Continent (暗黒大陸, Ankoku Tairiku), the forbidden, vast area outside of the known world; he is sponsored by the Kingdom of Kakin. Fearing that the expedition may bring disaster, just like in all previous attempts, the world's five greatest powers accept that Kakin join their ranks in exchange for full authority over its findings. To accompany Beyond and ensure his compliance, the Zodiacs decide to watch over him and invite Kurapika and Leorio to join them, replacing Ging and former Vice-Chairman Pariston Hill, who assembled their own Dark Continent exploration teams by Beyond's request.[14]

Meanwhile, Chrollo regains his powers and fulfills Hisoka's wish to have a duel with him, which ends with Hisoka defeated and killed. After reviving through Nen, Hisoka starts killing off the Phantom Troupe members one by one, who have boarded Kakin's ship to the Dark Continent to rob it. Aboard the ship, Nasubi, the king of Kakin, starts a battle to the death between his heirs to decide his successor. Kurapika, who also infiltrated the ship with other Hunters, takes part in the succession war as the bodyguard of Fourteenth Prince Wobble, Kakin's youngest prince and a toddler. Kurapika's personal objective, however, is to retrieve the last batch of scarlet eyes from the Kurta Clan in custody of Tserriednich, Kakin's Fourth Prince.

Author Yoshihiro Togashi explained that one of his hobbies was collecting objects of all sorts, so he was inspired to create a manga involving collecting titled "(something) Hunter".[15] He came up with the final name Hunter × Hunter while watching the television variety show Downtown, in which the hosts often repeat what they say to make the audience laugh.[15] The "×" in the title is silent.[16] As with his previous series, Yu Yu Hakusho, Togashi used drafting ink and Kabura pens for his illustrations but began using an eMac to color them.[17] Togashi uses few or no assistants in the manga's production;[18] however, fellow manga artist and future wife Naoko Takeuchi assisted Togashi in adding screentone to single-color pages for the first volume.[19][20] With the birth of their first son early in its publication, Togashi felt that this personal aspect of his life would be a great influence on his work, particularly the manga's theme of a young boy searching for his father.[17]

There have been several instances in which Togashi has apologized to readers in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump for low-quality artwork and promised to redraw portions of the chapters for their tankōbon (collected volume) releases.[21][22][23] In addition, the publication history of the Hunter × Hunter manga has been plagued with hiatuses, in which serialized chapters would be separated by extended periods of time.[24][25][26][27] After returning from a two-year-long hiatus in June 2014,[28] and joining the English-language Weekly Shonen Jump lineup, the manga went on another just two months later.[29] The series returned from this hiatus on April 18, 2016,[30] however, just over two months later, Hunter × Hunter began another hiatus on June 4, 2016.[31] It came back on June 26, 2017,[32] and just over two months later, on August 31, the series went on hiatus again, planning to return by the end of that year.[33] The series came back on January 29, 2018,[34] before going on hiatus again on April 9 of the same year.[35] After a five-month hiatus, the manga resumed publication from September 22 to November 26, 2018, before entering another hiatus, currently its longest one to date.

Main article: Hunter × Hunter (2011 TV series)

A new Hunter × Hunter anime adaptation was announced in July 2011. Instead of continuing the story from the OVA series, it restarts the story from the beginning of the manga in an attempt to adapt it more accurately. The series is directed by Hiroshi Kōjina, produced by Madhouse, scripted by Atsushi Maekawa, and character designs were created by Takahiro Yoshimatsu. The series began airing Sunday mornings on Nippon Television starting October 2, 2011.[75] It switched to airing at 1:29 am on Tuesday nights from October 8, 2013 onwards.[76] The series ended on September 23, 2014 after 148 episodes.[77] An hour after each episode aired in Japan, American website Crunchyroll provided English subtitled simulcasts in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.[78] The series started airing on Animax Asia on April 24, 2012.[79] On October 9, 2015, Viz Media announced their license to the reboot anime at their panel at New York Comic Con.[80] They will release the anime on DVD/Blu-ray with an English dub. On April 1, 2016, it was announced that the series would premiere on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block, which began airing on April 17, 2016.[81][82] Madman Entertainment acquired the series for distribution in Australia and New Zealand,[83] and made the series available on AnimeLab.[84] Funimation began streaming the series in the United Kingdom and Ireland on July 17, 2020.

Neon Genesis Evangelion[4] (Japanese: 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン, Hepburn: Shinseiki Evangerion, lit. "New Century Gospel") is a Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Gainax and animated by Tatsunoko, directed by Hideaki Anno and broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 1995 to March 1996. The cast included Megumi Ogata as Shinji Ikari, Kotono Mitsuishi as Misato Katsuragi, Megumi Hayashibara as Rei Ayanami, and Yūko Miyamura as Asuka Langley Soryu. Music for the series was composed by Shirō Sagisu.

Evangelion is set fifteen years after a worldwide cataclysm, particularly in the futuristic fortified city of Tokyo-3. The protagonist is Shinji, a teenage boy who was recruited by his father Gendo to the shadowy organization Nerv to pilot a giant bio-machine mecha named "Evangelion" into combat against beings known as "Angels". The series explores the experiences and emotions of Evangelion pilots and members of Nerv as they try to prevent Angels from causing more cataclysms. In the process, they are called upon to understand the ultimate causes of events and the motives for human action. The series has been described as a deconstruction of the mecha genre[5] and it features archetypal imagery derived from Shinto cosmology as well as Jewish and Christian mystical traditions, including Midrashic tales and Kabbalah. The psychoanalytic accounts of human behavior put forward by Freud and Jung are also prominently featured.[6][7]

Neon Genesis Evangelion received critical acclaim but also garnered controversy.[8] Particularly controversial were the last two episodes of the show, as the ending was considered confusing and abstract to many viewers and critics alike. In 1997, Hideaki Anno and Gainax released the feature film The End of Evangelion, which brought more context to the original ending of the show. A series of four films, titled Rebuild of Evangelion, retelling the events of the series with different plot elements and a new ending, were released between 2007 and 2021. The success of the series led to a rebirth of the anime industry, and it has become a cultural icon. Film, manga, home video, and other products in the Evangelion franchise have achieved record sales in Japanese markets and strong sales in overseas markets, with related goods selling over ¥150 billion by 2007 and Evangelion pachinko machines generating ¥700 billion by 2015.

In 2015, fifteen years after a global cataclysm known as the Second Impact, teenager Shinji Ikari is summoned to the futuristic city of Tokyo-3 by his estranged father Gendo Ikari, director of the special paramilitary force Nerv. Shinji witnesses United Nations forces battling an Angel, one of a race of giant monstrous beings whose awakening was foretold by the Dead Sea Scrolls. Because of the Angels' near-impenetrable force-fields, Nerv's giant Evangelion bio-machines, synchronized to the nervous systems of their pilots and possessing their own force-fields, are the only weapons capable of keeping the Angels from annihilating humanity. Nerv officer Misato Katsuragi escorts Shinji into the Nerv complex beneath the city, where his father pressures him into piloting the Evangelion Unit-01 against the Angel. Without training, Shinji is quickly overwhelmed in the battle, causing the Evangelion to go berserk and savagely kill the Angel on its own.

Following hospitalization, Shinji moves in with Misato and settles into life in Tokyo-3. In his second battle, Shinji destroys an Angel but runs away afterward, distraught. Misato confronts Shinji and he decides to remain a pilot. The Nerv crew and Shinji must then battle and defeat the remaining fourteen Angels to prevent the Third Impact, a global cataclysm that would destroy the world. Evangelion Unit-00 is repaired shortly afterward. Shinji tries to befriend its pilot, the mysterious, socially isolated teenage girl Rei Ayanami. With Rei's help, Shinji defeats another Angel. They are then joined by the pilot of Evangelion Unit-02, the multitalented but insufferable teenager Asuka Langley Sōryu, who is German-Japanese-American. Together, the three of them manage to defeat several Angels. As Shinji adjusts to his new role as a pilot, he gradually becomes more confident and self-assured. Asuka moves in with Shinji, and they begin to develop confusing feelings for one another, kissing at her provocation.

After being absorbed by an Angel, Shinji breaks free thanks to Eva acting on its own. He is later forced to fight an infected Evangelion Unit-03 and watches its pilot, his friend and classmate Toji Suzuhara, become incapacitated and permanently disabled. Asuka loses her self-confidence following a defeat and spirals into depression. This is worsened by her next fight, against an Angel which attacks her mind and forces her to relive her worst fears and childhood trauma, resulting in a mental breakdown. In the next battle, Rei self-destructs Unit-00 and dies to save Shinji's life. Misato and Shinji visit the hospital where they find Rei alive but claiming she is "the third Rei". Misato forces scientist Ritsuko Akagi to reveal the dark secrets of Nerv, the Evangelion boneyard, and the dummy plug system which operates using clones of Rei, who was herself created with the DNA of Shinji's mother, Yui Ikari. This succession of events leaves Shinji emotionally scarred and alienated from the rest of the characters. Kaworu Nagisa replaces the catatonic Asuka as the pilot of Unit-02. Kaworu, who initially befriends Shinji and gains his trust, is in truth the final foretold Angel, Tabris. Kaworu fights Shinji, then realizes that he must die if humanity is to survive and asks Shinji to kill him. Shinji hesitates but eventually kills Kaworu; the event makes Shinji overridden with guilt.

After the final Angel is defeated, Seele, the mysterious cabal overseeing the events of the series, triggers the "Human Instrumentality Project", a forced evolution of humanity in which the souls of all mankind are merged for benevolent purposes, believing that if unified, humanity could finally overcome the loneliness and alienation that has eternally plagued mankind. Shinji's soul grapples with the reason for his existence and reaches an epiphany that he needs others to thrive, enabling him to destroy the wall of negative emotions that torment him and reunite with the others, who congratulate him.

Main article: List of Neon Genesis Evangelion characters

The cast of Neon Genesis Evangelion as depicted on the Japanese "Genesis" (volume) laserdisc and VHS cover

Hideaki Anno attempted to create characters that reflected parts of his own personality. The characters of Evangelion struggle with their interpersonal relationships, their personal problems, and traumatic events in their past. The human qualities of the characters have enabled some viewers of the show to identify with the characters on a personal level, while others interpret them as historical, religious, or philosophical symbols.

Shinji Ikari is the series protagonist and the designated pilot of Evangelion Unit-01. After witnessing his mother Yui Ikari's death as a child, Shinji was abandoned by his father, Gendo Ikari. He is emotionally hypersensitive and sometimes does as expected out of fear of rejection, but he has often rebelled and refused to pilot the Eva because of the excruciating harm that has been done to him or to his friends. Throughout the series, he says to himself "I mustn't run away" as a means of encouraging himself to face the threats of the day, and this sometimes actually gives him bravery in battle, but he has a lingering habit of withdrawing in response to traumatic events. Anno has described Shinji as a boy who "shrinks from human contact" and has "convinced himself that he is a completely unnecessary person".

The withdrawn and mysterious pilot of Evangelion Unit-00, Rei Ayanami, is a clone made from the salvaged remains of Yui and is plagued by a sense of negative self-worth stemming from the realization that she is an expendable asset. She at first despises Shinji for his lack of trust in his father Gendo, with whom Rei is very close. However, after Shinji and Rei successfully defeat the Angel Ramiel, she takes a friendly liking to him. Towards the end of the series, it is revealed that she is one of many clones, whose use is to replace the currently existing Rei if she is killed.

Asuka Langley Soryu is a child prodigy who pilots Evangelion Unit-02 and possesses a fiery temper and an overabundance of pride and self-confidence, which often gets her in trouble and difficulty, especially during battles. As a little girl, Asuka discovered the body of her mother shortly after she committed suicide, leading the child to repress her emotions and vow never to cry. Asuka and Shinji develop intense but ambiguous feelings towards each other having difficulty reaching out to others. Their relationship was initially modeled on the one between Jean, Nadia's love interest and eventual husband in the earlier Nadia.[16] Similarly to Shinji, Asuka and Rei are presented with their own flaws and difficulty relating to other people.[17] Misato Katsuragi is the caretaker and commanding officer for Shinji and Asuka.[18] Her professional demeanor at Nerv contrasts dramatically with her carefree and irresponsible behavior at home. Character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto conceived her as an older "girl next door" and promiscuous loser who failed to take life seriously.[16] Hideaki Anno described Shinji and Misato as "afraid of being hurt" and "unsuitable—lacking the positive attitude—for what people call heroes of an adventure."

The teenaged Evangelion pilots are ordered into battle by the steely Gendo Ikari, Shinji's father and the commander of Nerv. He abandoned Shinji and recalled him only to serve as an Evangelion pilot. Gendo salvaged the remains of his dead wife's body to create Rei, whom he viewed as a mere tool at his disposal to defeat the Angels and enact Instrumentality. Similar to Shinji, he is somewhat asocial and is afraid of being insulted by others and often runs away from such, often committing immoralities in the process. This fear is also what drove him to abandon Shinji. He is depicted as relentless in his drive to win, a man who "takes drastic and extreme measures, by fair means or foul, or by hook or by crook, in order to accomplish his own purpose." According to Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, the characters of Gendo and Fuyutsuki are based on Ed Straker and Alec Freeman of the television series UFO.[16] Sadamoto designed the visual appearance of the characters so that their personalities "could be understood more or less at a glance".[20] The distinctive aesthetic appeal of the female lead characters' designs contributed to the high sales of Neon Genesis Evangelion merchandise. The design of Rei, in particular, became so popular that the media referred to the character as "Premium Girl" due to the high sales of books with Rei on the cover.

Director Hideaki Anno fell into a depression following completion of work on Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water[22] and the 1992 failure of the Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise sequel project.[23] According to Yasuhiro Takeda, Anno agreed to a collaboration between King Records and Gainax while drinking with King representative Toshimichi Ōtsuki;[24] King Records guaranteed Anno a time slot for "something, anything".[25] Anno began the development of the new series in 1993 around the notion of not running away, which had been the underlying theme of Aoki Uru, an earlier Anno project that had failed to move into production.[26] Early into the production, Anno stated his intent to have Evangelion increase the number of otaku (anime fans) and attract interest in the medium.[27] According to him, the plot of the series reflects his four-year depression.[14][28] In the early design phase of the Evangelion project, several formats were considered, including a film, a television series and an original video animation (OVA) series. The producers finally opted for the television series as it was the most widely accessible media in Japan at that time.[16] The proposed title Alcion was rejected due to its lack of hard consonant sounds.[16]

Gainax studio in Koganei, Tokyo

Critics noted how Evangelion borrowed certain scenarios and the use of introspection as a narrative device from a previous Anno project entitled Gunbuster,[29] as he incorporated the narrative structure of Nadia and multiple frames of reference, leaving the story open to interpretation.[30] Over the course of the writing process, elements of the Evangelion storyline evolved from the original concept. A female protagonist was initially proposed for the series, but the idea was scrapped.[16] Originally, the first episode presented the battle between an Angel and Rei, while the character of Shinji was only introduced after the Angel had been temporarily defeated.[31] Further changes to the plot were made following the Aum Shinrikyo sect's sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in March. Azuma Hiroki has said that the original Evangelion story was "too close to reality" from Anno's point of view. Basically, Anno thought that the original scenario was not suitable for broadcasting, and he feared censorship. However, he also criticized Aum Shinrikyo, because "they lost any contact with reality". For this reason, Azuma stated that Evangelion "is an intrinsic critique of Aum".[27] The final version of the story reflects inspiration drawn from numerous other anime and fictional works.[32] Chief among these are Space Battleship Yamato,[33] Mobile Suit Gundam,[34][35] Devilman[36][37] and Space Runaway Ideon.[38][39] The series also incorporates tributes to Childhood's End,[40] the novels of Ryū Murakami,[32][41] The Andromeda Strain, The Divine Invasion, the poem Pippa Passes,[42] The Hitcher, and several television series including The Prisoner, Thunderbirds, Ultraman[32][43] and Ultra Seven.[44]

The development of the Neon Genesis Evangelion series ran close to deadlines throughout its production run. The initial cuts of the first two episodes were screened at the second Gainax festival in July 1995, only three months before they were aired on television.[45] By episode 13 the series began to deviate significantly from the original story, and the initial project was abandoned. The number of Angels was reduced to 17 instead of the original 28, and the writers changed the story's ending, which had originally described the failure of the Human Instrumentality Project after an Angel attack from the moon.[31][46] Not only did the series suffer from scheduling issues, but according to Anno, despite Gainax being the lead studio for the series, the company itself had inadequate materials and staff for the full production of the series. Only three staff members from Gainax were working on the series at any given time, and the majority of the series' production was outsourced to Tatsunoko Production.[47]

Starting with episode 16, the show changed drastically, discarding the grand narrative concerning salvation for a narrative focusing on the individual characters. This change coincided with Anno's development of an interest in psychology after a friend lent him a book on mental illness. This focus culminated in a psychoanalysis of the characters in the two final episodes.Necessity forced Anno to abandon the script of the twenty-fifth episode to work with a new one.[51] These episodes feature heavy use of abstract animation, flashbacks, simple line drawings, photographs[54] and fixed image scenes with voice-over dialogue.Some critics speculated that these unconventional animation choices resulted from budget cuts, but Toshio Okada stated that while it wasn't only a problem of schedule or budget, Anno "couldn't decide the ending until the time came, that's his style". These two episodes sparked controversy and condemnation among fans and critics of the series. In 1997, Hideaki Anno and Gainax released two animated feature films, providing another ending for the show: Death & Rebirth and The End of Evangelion.

References to mystical traditions in Judaism and Christianity, including Midrashic literature and Kabbalah are threaded liberally through the series.[60] Complicating viewers' attempts to form an unambiguous interpretation,[61] the series reworks Midrash stories, Zohar images and other Kabbalistic ideas developed from the Book of Genesis[62] to create a new Evangelion-specific mythology.[61] Assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki said the religious visual references were intended to make the series more "interesting" and "exotic",[63] denying the existence of a religious meaning for the use of Christian visual symbols in the show.[64] According to Anno, "as the symbols are mixed together, for the first time something like an interrelationship or a meaning emerges".[65] The plot combines elements of esotericism and mysticism of the Jewish Kabbalah,[66][67] including the Angels, which have common and individual features with the Angels of the religious tradition,[68] such as Sachiel, Sandalphon and Ramiel.[69][70]

According to Patrick Drazen, numerous allusions to the Kojiki and the Nihongi have a prominent role in Evangelion, along with the Shinto vision of the primordial cosmos and the mythical lances of the Shinto deities Izanagi and Izanami.[71] Elements of the Judeo-Christian tradition also feature prominently throughout the series, including references to Adam, Lilith, Eve, the Lance of Longinus,[72] the Dead Sea Scrolls,[73] the Kabbalistic concept of Adam Kadmon, and the Tree of Life.[71] The merging of all human souls into one through the Human Instrumentality Project at the end of the series has been compared to the Kabbalistic concept of tikkun olam.[74] The Evangelions have been likened to the golem of Jewish folklore,[44] and their visual design resembles the traditional depictions of oni (Japanese demons or ogres).[75]

Neon Genesis Evangelion has been interpreted as a deeply personal expression of Hideaki Anno's own emotional struggles with depression.[44] During the production of the series, he became interested in mental illness and psychology.[50] According to him, Rei is a schizophrenic character[76] and a representation of Shinji's unconscious.[65] Shinji has an Oedipus complex,[77][78] and is characterized by a libido-destrudo conflict.[79] Similarly, Ritsuko has an Electra complex, in which she loves Gendo, a sort of substitute for her father figure. Anno himself stated that he identifies with Shinji in both a conscious and unconscious manner,[80] and he, Asuka and Misato are close to himself, while Rei is Anno's "deepest part" and Kaworu his Jungian shadow.[81] It has even been suggested that Shinji's entering into Unit-01 is a Freudian "return to the womb", and that his struggle to be free of the Eva is his "rite of passage" into manhood.[82] The series contains references to philosophical and psychoanalytic concepts, such as the oral stage, introjection, oral personality, ambivalence,[83] and the death drive,[84] including elements of the works of Sigmund Freud,[85][86] Arthur Schopenhauer,[87][88] and Søren Kierkegaard.[89]

In May 1996, Gainax announced an Evangelion film[90] in response to fan dissatisfaction with the series finale.[59] On March 15, 1997, Gainax released Evangelion: Death & Rebirth, consisting of 60 minutes of clips taken from the first 24 episodes of the series and the first 30 minutes of the new ending due to production issues.[91] The second film, The End of Evangelion, which premiered on July 19, 1997, provided the complete new ending as a retelling of the final two episodes of the television series. Rather than depicting the series' climax within the characters' minds, the film provides a more conventional, action-based resolution to the series' plot lines. The film won numerous awards[92][93] and grossed 1.45 billion yen within six months of its release.[94] Ex.org ranked the film in 1999 as the fifth best 'All-Time Show', with the television series at #2.[95] In 2009 CUT Magazine ranked it the third greatest anime film of all time.[96] In July 1998 the films were re-released as Revival of Evangelion which combined Death(true)² (the director's cut of Death) with The End of Evangelion.

A new animated film series called Rebuild of Evangelion by Gainax was made,[97] consisting of four movies. The first film retells the first six episodes from the series but from the second film onward the story is different, including new characters, Evas and Angels. The first film, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, was released in Japan on September 1, 2007, with Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance released on June 27, 2009 and Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo released on November 17, 2012. The final film, titled Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, was released on March 8, 2021 after two delays.[98] In 2015, Evangelion:Another Impact, a 3D-rendered short film collaboration between the Khara studio and the media company Dwango was directed by Shinji Aramaki, released and streamed as number 12 anime short from the Japan Animator Expo on February 8. It depicts "the story of an Evangelion's activation, rampage and howling in another world".

Neon Genesis Evangelion has scored highly in popularity polls. In 1996, the series won first place in the "Best Loved Series" category of the Anime Grand Prix, a reader-polled award series published in Animage magazine.[177] The show was again awarded this prize in 1997 by a large margin.[178] The End of Evangelion won first place in 1998,[179] making Neon Genesis Evangelion the first anime franchise to win three consecutive first place awards.[180] The website IGN ranked Evangelion as the 10th best animated series in its "Top 100 Animated TV Series" list.[181] The series placed third in Animage's "anime that should be remembered in the 21st Century".[182] In 1998, EX.org's readers voted Neon Genesis Evangelion the #1 US anime release[180] and in 1999, the #2 show of all time.[183] In 2007, a large-scale poll by TV Asahi found Evangelion was the second most appreciated anime in Japan.[184] The series was ranked as the most popular of all time in a 2006 survey of 80,000 attendees at the Japan Media Arts Festival.[185]

Evangelion won the Animation Kobe award in 1996,[186] and 1997.[187] The series was awarded the Nihon SF Taisho Award and the Excellence Award Japan Media Arts Festival in 1997.[188][189] The film ranked #6 on Wizard's Anime Magazine on their "Top 50 Anime released in North America".[190] In the August 1996 issue of Animage, Evangelion characters placed high in the rankings of best characters with Rei ranked first, Asuka third, Kaworu fourth and Shinji sixth. Rei Ayanami won in the Female Character category in 1995 and 1996 and Shinji Ikari won the Male Character category in 1996 and 1997.[191] In 2010, Newtype magazine recognized Rei Ayanami as the most popular character of the 1990s in the female category, and Shinji Ikari in the male category.[192] TV Asahi recognized the "suicide of Ayanami Rei" as the ninth most touching anime scene ever.[193] "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" won the Animage award in the Best Song category in 1996,[177] and TV Asahi recognized it as the 18th best anime song since 1990.

Wit Studio, Inc. (Japanese: 株式会社ウィットスタジオ, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Witto Sutajio) is a Japanese animation studio founded on June 1, 2012, by producers at Production I.G as a subsidiary of IG Port. It is headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, with Production I.G producer George Wada as president and Tetsuya Nakatake, also a producer at Production I.G., as a director of the studio. The studio gained notability for producing the first three seasons of Attack on Titan.

The studio was founded by George Wada, a former employee of Production I.G, in 2012, but it'd take another year before the studio's first main productions, Hal and Attack on Titan, were released. After its founding, Tetsuya Nakatake was placed as the representative director of the studio. Several other former Production I.G staff members joined Wit after its founding, including animation directors Kyōji Asano and Satoshi Kadowaki, and director Tetsurō Araki, all of whom worked together on Attack on Titan.

Wit Studio was funded with an initial investment of ¥30,000,000 in capital from IG Port, Wada and Nakatake, who are reported to own 66.6%, 21.6% and 10.0% equity in the studio respectively.

2013–2019 Attack on Titan 59 + 3 OVA Based on a manga written by Hajime Isayama.

2014–2015 Hozuki's Coolheadedness Hiro Kaburaki 13 + 3 OVA Based on a manga written by Natsumi Eguchi.

2015 The Rolling Girls Kotomi Deai 12 Original work.

2015 Seraph of the End Daisuke Tokudo 24 + 1 OVA Based on a manga written by Takaya Kagami.

2016 Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress Tetsurō Araki 12 Original work.

2017–2018 The Ancient Magus' Bride Norihiro Naganuma 24 Based on a manga written by Kore Yamazaki.

2018 After the Rain Ayumu Watanabe 12 Based on a manga written by Jun Mayuzuki.

2019–2020 Kedama no Gonjirō Kenshirō Morii 52 Co-animated with OLM and Signal.MD (latter joined halfway).

2019 Vinland Saga Shuhei Yabuta 24 Based on a manga written by Makoto Yukimura.

2020–2021 GaruGaku: Saint Girls Square Academy Hiroaki Akagi Norihito Takahashi 50 Co-animated with OLM.

2020 Great Pretender Hiro Kaburagi 23 Original work.

2021 Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song Shinpei Ezaki 13 Original work. Written by Tappei Nagatsuki and Eiji Umehara.

2021–2022 Ranking of Kings

2022 Spy × Family Kazuhiro Furuhashi TBA Based on a manga written by Tatsuya Endo.

Co-animated with CloverWorks.

Death Note (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The story follows Light Yagami, a teen genius who discovers a mysterious notebook: the "Death Note", which belonged to the Shinigami Ryuk, and grants the user the supernatural ability to kill anyone whose name is written in its pages. The series centers around Light's subsequent attempts to use the Death Note to carry out a worldwide massacre of individuals whom he deems immoral and to create a crime-free society, using the alias of a god-like vigilante named "Kira", and the subsequent efforts of an elite Japanese police task force, led by enigmatic detective L, to apprehend him. Death Note ran in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2003 to May 2006. Its 108 chapters were collected in 12 tankōbon volumes.

A 37-episode anime television series adaptation, produced by Madhouse and directed by Tetsurō Araki, was broadcast in Japan on Nippon Television from October 2006 to June 2007. A light novel based on the series, written by Nisio Isin, was also released in 2006. Additionally, various video games have been published by Konami for the Nintendo DS. The series was adapted into three live action films released in Japan in June 2006, November 2006, and February 2008, and a television drama in 2015. A miniseries titled Death Note: New Generation and a fourth film were released in 2016. An American film adaptation was released exclusively on Netflix in August 2017 and a sequel is reportedly in the works.

Death Note media, except for video games and soundtracks, is licensed and released in North America by Viz Media. The episodes from the anime first appeared in North America as downloadable from IGN before Viz Media licensed it. The series was aired on YTV's Bionix anime block in Canada and on Adult Swim in the United States with a DVD release following. The live-action films briefly played in certain North American theaters, in 2008, before receiving home video releases. As of April 2015, the Death Note manga had over 30 million copies in circulation.

In Tokyo, a disaffected high-school student named Light Yagami finds the "Death Note", a mysterious black notebook that can kill anyone as long as the user knows both the target's name and face. Initially terrified of its god-like power, Light considers the possibilities of the Death Note's abilities and kills high-profile Japanese criminals, then targets international criminals. Five days after discovering the notebook, Light is visited by Ryuk, a "Shinigami" and the Death Note's previous owner. Ryuk, invisible to anyone who has not touched the notebook, reveals that he dropped the notebook into the human world out of boredom and is amused by Light's actions.[5]

As criminals around the world die from inexplicable accidents and heart attacks, the global media suggest that a single mastermind is responsible for the mysterious murders and name him "Kira" (キラ, the Japanese transliteration of the English word "killer"). Hoping to apprehend Kira, Interpol requests the assistance of an enigmatic consulting detective, known as L, to assist their investigation. Deducing that Kira is based in Japan, L tricks Light into revealing that he is in the Kanto region of Japan by manipulating him to kill a decoy. Furious, Light vows to kill L, whom he views as obstructing his plans. L deduces that Kira has inside knowledge of the Japanese police investigation, being led by Light's father, Soichiro Yagami. Under the suspicion that "Kira" could have family ties with members of the "Kira" investigation, L assigns a team of FBI agents to monitor the families of those connected with the investigation and L learns enough to designate Light as the prime suspect. Around this time, Light graduates from high school to college. L recruits Light into the Kira Task Force, with each trying to get the other to reveal crucial information.

Actress-model Misa Amane, having obtained a second Death Note from a Shinigami named Rem, makes a deal with Rem for Shinigami eyes, which allow her to kill knowing only the face, at the cost of half her lifespan. Seeking to have Light become her boyfriend, Misa uncovers Light's identity as the original Kira, but Light has another motive: he intends to use Misa's Shinigami eyes to discern L's true name. L deduces that Misa is likely the second Kira and detains her. Rem threatens to kill Light if he does not find a way to save Misa. Light arranges a scheme in which he and Misa temporarily lose their memories of the Death Note, and has Rem pass the Death Note to a less morally driven individual, Kyosuke Higuchi of the Yotsuba Group. With memories of the Death Note erased, Light joins the investigation and, together with L, deduce Higuchi's identity and arrest him. Light regains his memories and uses the Death Note to kill Higuchi, regaining possession of the book. After restoring Misa's memories, Light instructs her to begin killing as Kira, causing L to cast suspicion on Misa. With Light insinuating the investigation would lead to Misa's capture and execution, Rem realizes Light's plan all along was to have her sacrifice herself to kill L, as a Shinigami may not kill others to prevent a human's death. After Rem kills L, she disintegrates and Light obtains her Death Note. The task force does not announce L's death and agrees to have Light operate as the new L. With Light working as both L and Kira, the investigation stalls but crime rates continue to drop as he no longer has a threat of capture.

Four years later, cults have arisen which adore Kira. Two young men, raised as potential successors to L, are revealed: Near and Mello. Aware that L is dead, they consider Light, the current L, as a prime suspect. Mello, with Mafia assistance, kidnaps Light's sister, resulting in his father's death during a rescue mission. As suspicion falls again on Misa, Light passes Misa's Death Note to a fervent supporter of Kira, Teru Mikami. He also appoints newscaster Kiyomi Takada as Kira's public spokesperson. Realizing that Takada is connected to Kira, Mello kidnaps her. Takada kills Mello but is killed by Light. Near deduces Mikami's connection to Kira and arranges a meeting between Light and the current Kira Task Force members. Light tries to have Mikami kill Near as well as all the task force members, but Mikami's Death Note fails to work, having been replaced with a decoy. Perusing the names Mikami had written down, only Light's is missing, which proves Light is Kira. Light is grievously wounded in a scuffle and begs Ryuk to write the names of everyone present. Ryuk instead writes down Light's name in his Death Note, as Light declares himself as the god of the new world before dying.

Three years later, Near, now functioning as the new L, receives word that a new Kira has appeared. Hearing that the new Kira is randomly killing people, Near concludes that the new Kira is an attention-seeker and denounces the new Kira as "boring" and not worth catching. A Shinigami named Midora approaches Ryuk and gives him an apple from the human realm, in a bet to see if a random human could become the new Kira, but Midora loses the bet when the human writes his own name in the Death Note after hearing Near's announcement. Ryuk tells Midora that no human would ever surpass Light as the new Kira.

Death Note is written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The series ran in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 1, 2003 to May 15, 2006.[19][20][21] The series' 108 chapters were collected into twelve tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, released from April 2, 2004 to July 4, 2006.[22][23] A one-shot chapter, titled "C-Kira Story" (Cキラ編, C-Kira-hen), was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump on February 9, 2008. Set two years after the manga's epilogue, it sees the introduction of a new Kira and the reactions of the main characters in response to the copycat's appearance.[24] Several Death Note yonkoma (four-panel comics) appeared in Akamaru Jump. The yonkoma were written to be humorous. The Akamaru Jump issues that printed the comics include 2004 Spring, 2004 Summer, 2005 Winter, and 2005 Spring. In addition Weekly Shōnen Jump Gag Special 2005 included some Death Note yonkoma in a Jump Heroes Super 4-Panel Competition.[17] Shueisha re-released the series in seven bunkoban volumes from March 18 to August 19, 2014.[25][26] On October 4, 2016, all 12 original manga volumes and the February 2008 one-shot were released in a single All-in-One Edition, consisting of 2,400 pages in a single book.[27][28]

In April 2005, Viz Media announced that they had licensed the series for English release in North America.[29] The twelve volumes were released from October 10, 2005 to July 3, 2007.[30][31] The manga was re-released in a six-volume omnibus edition, dubbed "Black Edition".[32][33] The volumes were released from December 28, 2010 to November 1, 2011.[34][35] The All-in-One Edition was released in English on September 6, 2017, resulting in the February 2008 one-shot being released in English for the first time.[36]

In addition, a guidebook for the manga was also released on October 13, 2006. It was named Death Note 13: How to Read and contained data relating to the series, including character profiles of almost every character that is named, creator interviews, behind the scenes info for the series and the pilot chapter that preceded Death Note. It also reprinted all of the yonkoma serialized in Akamaru Jump and the Weekly Shōnen Jump Gag Special 2005.[37][38] Its first edition could be purchased with a Death Note-themed diorama which includes five finger puppets inspired by Near's toys. The five finger puppets are Kira, L, Misa, Mello, and Near. In North America, 13: How to Read was released on February 19, 2008.[39]

In the June 2019 issue of Shueisha's Jump Square it was announced that a new one-shot chapter of Death Note would be published. Part of the complete manuscript debuted at the "30th Work Anniversary Takeshi Obata Exhibition: Never Complete" event which ran in Tokyo from July 13 to August 12, 2019.[40] Titled "Death Note: Special One-Shot", the entire 87-page chapter was published in the March issue of Jump Square on February 4, 2020 and on Viz's website.[41][42] A collected volume titled Death Note: Short Stories (DEATH NOTE短編集, Desu Nōto Tanpenshū), which includes the February 2008 one-shot chapter, the "Special One-Shot" (re-titled "a-Kira Story" (aキラ編, a-Kira-hen), the series' pilot chapter and the "L: The Wammy's House"/"L: One Day" one-shot chapters and more, was released on February 4, 2021.

An anime series based on the manga is currently being aired in Japan. Produced by Wit Studio and directed by Tetsurō Araki, a first season aired between April 7, 2013, and September 29, 2013, originally on Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS).[46] The second and the third season, directed by Masashi Koizuka, first aired from April 1, 2017, to June 17, 2017, and between July 23, 2018, and July 1, 2019, respectively on MBS and NHK General TV.[47][48] Upon the airing of the final episode of the third season on July 1, 2019, it was announced that the fourth and final season of the anime series is scheduled for release in Fall 2020 on NHK General.[49] On September 23, 2020, NHK listed the final season on their broadcasting schedule and began on December 7, 2020.[50] The final season was announced to have changed studios, with production being taken over by MAPPA.[51][50] Producer Toshihiro Maeda said that Wit Studio "refused" to produce the final season "due to scheduling” issues.[52] The final season's main staff includes directors Yuichiro Hayashi and Jun Shishido (chief), character designer Tomohiro Kishi, art director Kazuo Ogura, 3D CG Director Takahiro Uezono, scriptwriter Hiroshi Seko, and music composers Hiroyuki Sawano and Kohta Yamamoto.[50] For the final season, former 3DCG Director Shuuhei Yabuta was the only returning staff member from Wit Studio.[52] The first 16 episodes of season 4 aired until March 29, 2021, and the second half began airing on January 10, 2022.[53][54]

Other Attack on Titan-related manga or light novels were also adapted into anime. Two OVA episodes, based on the Attack on Titan: No Regrets prequel manga, were bundled with the 15th and 16th volumes of the main series, released on December 9, 2014, and April 9, 2015, respectively.[55] An anime television adaptation of Attack on Titan: Junior High began airing in October 2015. The series was directed by Yoshihide Ibata at Production I.G.[56] A three part OVA of Attack on Titan: Lost Girls was released in 2017 and 2018 with the limited editions of volumes 24, 25, and 26.

Attack on Titan (Japanese: 進撃の巨人, Hepburn: Shingeki no Kyojin, lit. "The Advancing Giants") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. It is set in a world where humanity lives inside cities surrounded by three enormous walls that protect them from the gigantic man-eating humanoids referred to as Titans; the story follows Eren Yeager, who vows to exterminate the Titans after a Titan brings about the destruction of his hometown and the death of his mother. Attack on Titan was serialized in Kodansha's monthly shōnen manga magazine Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine from September 2009 to April 2021, with its chapters collected in 34 tankōbon volumes.

An anime television series was produced by Wit Studio (seasons 1–3) and MAPPA (season 4). A 25-episode first season was broadcast from April to September 2013, followed by a 12-episode second season broadcast from April to June 2017. A 22-episode third season was broadcast in two parts, with the first 12 episodes airing from July to October 2018 and the last 10 episodes airing from April to July 2019. A fourth and final season premiered in December 2020, airing 16 episodes in its first part, with the second part premiering in January 2022.

Attack on Titan has become a critical and commercial success. As of December 2019, the manga has over 100 million tankōbon copies in print worldwide, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. It has won several awards, including the Kodansha Manga Award, the Attilio Micheluzzi Award, and the Harvey Award.

Setting

The plot of Attack on Titan centers on a civilization inside three walls. According to the knowledge propagated locally, it is the last location where humans still live. It's inhabitants have been led to believe that over one hundred years ago, humanity was driven to the brink of extinction after the emergence of humanoid giants called Titans, who attack and eat humans on sight. The last remnants of humanity retreated behind three concentric walls and enjoyed nearly a century of peace and the thought of venturing outside is frowned upon and discouraged. To combat Titans, the country's military employs Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, a set of waist-mounted grappling hooks and gas-powered propulsion enabling immense mobility in three dimensions.

As the series progress, the true history the Titans and the fact that there are humans outside of the island of Paradis were revealed.

Eren Yeager is a boy who lives in the town of Shiganshina, located on the outermost of three circular walls protecting the inhabitants of Paradis island from Titans. In the year 845, the first wall is breached by two new types of Titans, the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan. During the incident, Eren's mother is eaten by a Titan while Eren escapes. He swears revenge on all Titans and enlists in the military along with his childhood friends, Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert. He intends to join the Survey Corps, the expeditionary force that seeks to eradicate the Titans.

Five years after Shiganshina's fall, Trost a town of the second wall is attacked once more by the Colossal Titan. Eren learns that he has the mysterious ability to turn himself into a sentient Attack Titan. This draws the attention of the Survey Corps, who intends to use his power to reclaim Wall Maria. The Military Police and government all hope at taking ownership over Eren and using his powers for their good. Eren is handed over to Captain Levi and Hange Zoe of the Special Operations Squad, where they test his limits and loyalty. Eren realizes that that he has to give himself pain if he is to use his Titan form properly. Survey Corps commander Erwin Smith leads their troops into an expedition into the forest between the walls, where they encounter a sentient Female Titan. Levi's squad is killed in the battle, and Eren fails to use his Titan form properly in his rage. After distancing themselves from the Military Police's corruption, Eren and his companions deduce that their fellow military reg Annie Leonhart is the Female Titan. Eren and Annie fight, killing many townsfolk before Annie crystallizes herself. Eren is jailed, being deemed too unstable but Levi and Erwin secure his protection.

Titans mysteriously appear within the walls with no evidence of how they got in. The Survey Corps is sent to investigate, but one of their top squad leaders is killed when he encounters the sentient Beast Titan, an ape-like titan who can speak. Ymir, one of the new Survey Corps graduates, reveals that she can transform into a Titan after being exiled from a distant land. Christa Lenz tells them that her true name is Historia Reiss and that she is a member of the island's royal bloodline. Reiner Braun and Bertholt Hoover betray their team by transforming into the Armored Titan and Colossal Titan after they are unable to convince Eren to return to their homeland with them. They proceed to take Eren hostage. Erwin leads a successful charge to rescue Eren, wherein Eren uses a mysterious power called 'the coordinate' to control Titans; Reiner, Bertholt, and Ymir escape to their homeland Marley across the ocean. The Titans are revealed to be transformed humans from Ragako Village, which included graduate Connie Springer's family.

Eren and his friends join Levi Squad while the Survey Corps is targeted by the Military Police. Levi Squad and Hange are pursued by corrupt police led by Levi's uncle, Kenny Ackerman. They discover that by transforming into a Pure Titan and eating another Titan shifter, a person can gain its abilities. The island's ruler, King Fritz, is shown to be a puppet controlled by government officials. Historia and her father, Rod Reiss, are the only surviving members of the royal bloodline. Reiss takes Eren hostage because Eren is in possession of the Founding Titan after his father Grisha ate Frieda Reiss, the Titan's previous owner. Reiss transforms into a monstrous Pure Titan and heads to Orvud District; Historia kills her father, declaring herself Queen. The combined powers of the Beast, Colossal, and Armored lead to much of the Survey Corps being killed in the ensuing war; Armin gains ownership of the Colossal Titan by eating Bertolt, and Erwin dies in a suicide run against the Beast Titan. Eren and his companions return to his home, where they discover the truth of their world: they are actually Eldians, sworn enemies of the conquering Marleyans who were enclosed within the walls after King Fritz fled from the war. They are not the last humans as they were told, but rather an enclosed sect of Eldians on an isolated island called Paradis. Because they are 'Subjects of Ymir' who can be turned into Titans by being injected with spinal fluid, the Eldians continue to be oppressed by Marley. The Survey Corps kill all the remaining Titans in the walls.

Three years later, Marley struggles to keep their dominance when other nations invent anti-Titan weaponry. Warriors-in-training Gabi Braun and Falco Grice are thrown into the war when the Survey Corps attack Marley's capital, Liberio. Eren kills Willy Tybur, who had been controlling Marley from the shadows and gains ownership of the Warhammer Titan after eating its previous owner, Tybur's sister. Armin's Colossal Titan transforms, destroying their naval fleet and preventing an immediate counterattack. They escape and head back to Paradis after their victory, though Gabi and Falco board the airship and kill Sasha. It's revealed that followers of Eren's half-brother Zeke, owner of the Beast Titan, led by Yelena were working with Paradis to plan the attack; Zeke claims to be a true Eldian restorationist. Eren is imprisoned for treachery against the Survey Corps, but escapes along with a faction of extremist Paradis followers called the Yeagerists. In doing so, Eren betrays his friends and loses Armin and Mikasa's trust, though Eren declares his immense hatred and distaste for the two. Yelena and her followers take control over Paradis' government, attempting to reunite Eren with Zeke, who is being held by Levi. Zeke escape's Levi, severely injuring him, and his true plan is revealed to be to use Eren's Founding Titan to euthanize the Subjects of Ymir. Marley's air fleet arrives, led by Reiner, and war breaks out. Eren is seemingly killed when Gabi shoots and decapitates him.

Eren survives and meets Zeke in the Paths, an interconnecting series of gateways connecting all Subjects of Ymir through time and space. He also meets the consciousness of Ymir Fritz, the original Titan, whose tortured past has led to her imprisonment within the Paths for thousands of years. Zeke takes control of the Founding Titan and reveals his intent to convert Eren to his ideology. However, Eren is able to manipulate the past using his Attack Titan and convince Grisha in the past to kill the Reiss family. Eren convinces Ymir to use her power to unleash the Rumbling, unshackling thousands of Colossal Titans kept within Paradis' walls and leading them on a genocidal march of killing everyone outside of the walls. The Survey Corps ally with remaining Marley forces, including Reiner and a now-freed Annie, battling the Paradis military to board an aircraft in order to stop 'The Rumbling'. Upon reaching Eren, Armin convinces a nihilistic Zeke that life has meaning beyond multiplication, after which Levi beheads Zeke and stops the Rumbling. An unknown organism that granted Ymir the power of the titans alongside Eren bring the Survey Corps and their allies to the brink of defeat, but Mikasa manages to kill Eren while having a vision of an alternate world where she ran away with Eren. Armin recalls when Eren visited him in the Paths, where Eren revealed that he became humanity's enemy to follow a vision of the future he had. Eren also reveals that Mikasa killing him made the power of the Titans, including Ymir, vanish. Three years later, Levi lives retired in another country with Gabi and Falco while the island's inhabitants build their military in preparation for potential future retaliation from the world, but Armin and his allies, the surviving Survey Corps and Warriors, have hope that peace negotiations led by Queen Historia will be successful. Mikasa buries Eren underneath a tree on a hill near Shiganshina District. An unknown amount of time after Mikasa's death, an advanced Shiganshina District is bombed from above by an unknown nation and is destroyed. When the ruins have been overtaken by a forest, a boy who survived the war approaches the same tree Eren was buried under; which has continued to grow and now resembles the tree where the organism that granted Ymir her Titan power lived.

Manga

Main article: List of Attack on Titan chapters

Attack on Titan is written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. The series began in the first-ever issue of Kodansha's monthly publication Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine, released on September 9, 2009.[23] The manga was finished after an eleven-year publication run with the release of its 139th chapter on April 9, 2021.[21] On November 8, 2020, it was announced that the manga would get a full color serialization.[24] Kodansha collected its chapters in thirty-four volumes, released from March 17, 2010 to June 9, 2021.[25][21]

In North America, the series was published in English by Kodansha USA. The first volume was published on June 19, 2012 and the last on October 19, 2021.[26][27]

Anime

Main article: Attack on Titan (TV series)

See also: Attack on Titan: Junior High § Anime, Attack on Titan: Lost Girls § Anime, and Attack on Titan: No Regrets § Anime

An anime series based on the manga is currently being aired in Japan. Produced by Wit Studio and directed by Tetsurō Araki, a first season aired between April 7, 2013, and September 29, 2013, originally on Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS).[46] The second and the third season, directed by Masashi Koizuka, first aired from April 1, 2017, to June 17, 2017, and between July 23, 2018, and July 1, 2019, respectively on MBS and NHK General TV.[47][48] Upon the airing of the final episode of the third season on July 1, 2019, it was announced that the fourth and final season of the anime series is scheduled for release in Fall 2020 on NHK General.[49] On September 23, 2020, NHK listed the final season on their broadcasting schedule and began on December 7, 2020.[50] The final season was announced to have changed studios, with production being taken over by MAPPA.[51][50] Producer Toshihiro Maeda said that Wit Studio "refused" to produce the final season "due to scheduling” issues.[52] The final season's main staff includes directors Yuichiro Hayashi and Jun Shishido (chief), character designer Tomohiro Kishi, art director Kazuo Ogura, 3D CG Director Takahiro Uezono, scriptwriter Hiroshi Seko, and music composers Hiroyuki Sawano and Kohta Yamamoto.[50] For the final season, former 3DCG Director Shuuhei Yabuta was the only returning staff member from Wit Studio.[52] The first 16 episodes of season 4 aired until March 29, 2021, and the second half began airing on January 10, 2022.[53][54]

Other Attack on Titan-related manga or light novels were also adapted into anime. Two OVA episodes, based on the Attack on Titan: No Regrets prequel manga, were bundled with the 15th and 16th volumes of the main series, released on December 9, 2014, and April 9, 2015, respectively.[55] An anime television adaptation of Attack on Titan: Junior High began airing in October 2015. The series was directed by Yoshihide Ibata at Production I.G.[56] A three part OVA of Attack on Titan: Lost Girls was released in 2017 and 2018 with the limited editions of volumes 24, 25, and 26.[57]

Mercedes-Benz (German),commonly referred to as just Mercedes, is a German luxury automotive marque. Mercedes-Benz and subsidiary Mercedes-Benz AG – of Daimler AG – are headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.Mercedes-Benz produces consumer luxury vehicles and commercial vehicles.Its first Mercedes-Benz-badged vehicles were produced in 1926. In 2018, Mercedes-Benz was the largest seller of premium vehicles in the world, having sold 2.31 million passenger cars.

The company's origins lie in Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft's 1901 Mercedes and Karl Benz's 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen, which is widely regarded as the first internal combustion engine in a self-propelled automobile. The slogan for the brand is "the best or nothing".[9]

Karl Benz made the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, which is widely regarded as the first automobile.

Gottlieb Daimler, founder of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft.

Mercedes-Benz traces its origins to Karl Benz's creation of the first internal combustion engine in a car, seen in the Benz Patent Motorwagen – financed by Bertha Benz's dowry[10] and patented in January 1886[11] – and Gottlieb Daimler and their engineer Wilhelm Maybach's conversion of a stagecoach, with the addition of a petrol engine, introduced later that year. The Mercedes automobile was first marketed in 1901 by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG).

Emil Jellinek, a European automobile entrepreneur who worked with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG), registered the trademark in 1902, naming the 1901 Mercedes 35 hp after his daughter Mercedes Jellinek. Jellinek was a businessman and marketing strategist who promoted "horseless" Daimler automobiles among the highest circles of society in his adopted home. At the time, it was a meeting place for the "Haute Volée" of France and Europe, especially in winter. His customers included the Rothschild family and other well-known people. But Jellinek's plans went further, and in as early as 1901, he was selling Mercedes cars in the "New World" as well, including United States billionaires Rockefeller, Astor, Morgan, and Taylor. At the Nice race he attended in 1899, Jellinek drove under the pseudonym "Monsieur Mercédès" as a way of concealing his less fancy real name. Many consider that race the time of birth for Mercedes-Benz as a brand. Later, in 1901, the name "Mercedes" was re-registered by DMG worldwide as a protected trademark.[12] The first Mercedes-Benz branded vehicles were produced in 1926, following the merger of Karl Benz's and Gottlieb Daimler's companies into the Daimler-Benz company on 28 June of the same year.[11][13]

Gottlieb Daimler was born on 17 March 1834 in Schorndorf. After training as a gunsmith and working in France, he attended the Polytechnic School in Stuttgart from 1857 to 1859. After completing various technical activities in France as well as England, he later started working as a draftsman in Geislingen in 1862. At the end of 1863 he was appointed workshop inspector at a machine tool factory in Reutlingen, where he met Wilhelm Maybach in 1865.[14]

Throughout the 1930s, Mercedes-Benz produced the 770 model, a car that was notably popular throughout the Germany's Nazi period. Adolf Hitler was known to have driven in a model of this car during his time in power, with modified custom bulletproof windshields.[15] Most of the currently surviving 770 models were sold at auctions to private buyers. One of the cars is currently on display at the War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario. The pontiff's Popemobile has often been sourced from Mercedes-Benz.[16]

From 1937 onward, Daimler Benz focused increasingly on military products such as the LG3000 lorry and the DB600 and the DB601 aero engines. To build the latter, in 1936 it built a factory hidden in the forest at Genshagen around 10 kilometres south of Berlin. By 1942 the company had mostly stopped producing cars, and was now devoted to war production. According to its statement, in 1944 almost half of its 63,610 employees were forced labourers, prisoners of war or concentration camp detainees.[17] Another source quotes this figure at 46,000. The company later paid $12 million in reparations to the labourers' families.[18]

In 1958, the two companies began a partnership to sell their cars in the United States with Studebaker. A few American-based Daimler-Benz dealerships were converted into Mercedes-Benz dealerships when Daimler's non-Mercedes-partnered company closed in 1966.

Over the decades, Mercedes-Benz has introduced many electronic and mechanical innovations and safety features that later became common.[19] Currently, Mercedes-Benz is one of the best-known and long-standing automotive brands in the world.

In November 2019, Daimler AG announced that Mercedes-Benz, up until that point a company marque, would be spun off into a separate wholly-owned subsidiary called Mercedes-Benz AG. The new subsidiary would manage the Mercedes-Benz car and van business. Mercedes-Benz-badged trucks and buses would be part of the Daimler Truck AG subsidiary.[1]

For information relating to the three-pointed star symbol of the brand, see under the title Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, including the merger into Daimler-Benz.

Subsidiaries and alliances

As of the Daimler AG company split, the Mercedes-Benz Cars division now handled the Mercedes-Benz car's and the Smart branded car's production.[20]

Mercedes-AMG

Mercedes-AMG became a majority owned division of Mercedes-Benz in 1999.[21] The company was integrated into DaimlerChrysler in 1999,[22] and became Mercedes-Benz AMG on 1 January 1999.[23]

Mercedes-Maybach

Daimler's ultra-luxury Maybach brand was under the Mercedes-Benz Cars division until December 2012, when production was stopped due to decreased sales.[24] It now exists under the Mercedes-Maybach name, with the models being luxury-focused enhanced models of Mercedes-Benz cars, such as the 2016 Mercedes-Maybach S600.[25] The Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 SUV debuted in November 2019.[26]

China

Daimler partnered with BYD Auto to make and sell a battery-electric car called Denza in China.[27] In 2016, Daimler announced plans to sell Mercedes-Benz-badged fully-electric battery cars in China.[28] Beijing Benz is a joint venture with the BAIC Group to produce the Mercedes-Benz branded cars in China.[29] In 2018, Mercedes-Benz voluntarily apologized for sparking controversy within China by quoting the Dalai Lama on one of their promotional Instagram post.[30]

Production

Factories

Other than in its native birth-place, Germany, Mercedes-Benz vehicles are or have been partly manufactured or assembled in:

Sovereign state Continent Note

Algeria Africa Manufactures buses and trucks in cooperation with SNVI (Actros, Zetros, Unimog, and G-Class, Sprinter).

Argentina South America Manufactures buses, trucks, the Vito and the Sprinter van. This is the first Mercedes-Benz factory outside of Germany. Built in 1951.[31]

Australia Australia Various models were assembled at the Australian Motor Industries facility in Port Melbourne from 1959 to 1965.[32]

Austria Europe G-Class[33]

Bosnia and Herzegovina Europe

Brazil South America Manufactures trucks and buses. Established in 1956. The A-Class (W168) was produced from 1999 to 2005 and the C-Class was produced until 2010 as well.[34]

Canada North America Fuel cell plant in Burnaby, British Columbia, opened 2012.

Colombia South America Assembly of buses, Established in Soacha 2012 and Funza 2015

China Asia Beijing Benz, manufactures A-Class, C-Class, E-Class, GLA-Class, GLB-Class, GLC-Class and EQC-Class for mainland China market.

Denmark Europe Bohnstedt-Petersen A/S assembled the models 130 and W136 between 1935 and 1955, although no production took place during the Second World War. Between 1955 and 1966 the models W120, W121 and W110, together with the van L319 and a number of trucks and buses, were assembled by the company in Hillerød. Assembly of special variants of Mercedes-Benz trucks continued until 1984.[35]

Egypt Africa Via Egyptian German Automotive Company E-Class, C-Class and GLK

Finland Europe Valmet Automotive, New A-series (W176) is manufactured in Uusikaupunki since late 2013, being the first M-B passenger car ever built in that country.

Hungary[36] Europe Manufacturing plant in Kecskemét, making B-class and CLA.

Jordan Asia Bus company factory, Elba House, Amman.

India Asia Pune (C-Class, E-Class, S-Class/Maybach, GLA/GLE Class/AMG).[37] Chennai (Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt. Ltd.) Buses, Trucks & Engine Manufacturing unit, Bangalore (R&D), Jamshedpur with Tata Motors at Tata Motors.[38]

Indonesia[39] Asia Manufactures Axor trucks, coach buses, C, GLC, E, GLE, S, GLS and V vehicles.

Iran[40] Asia

Malaysia Asia Assembly of C, E and S class vehicles by DRB-HICOM.

Mexico North America Mercedes-Benz Mexico fully manufactures some Mercedes and Daimler vehicles completely from locally built parts (C-Class, E-Class, M-Class, International trucks, Axor, Atego, and Mercedes Buses), manufactures other models in complete knock down kits (CL-Class, CLK-Class, SL-Class, SLK-Class) and manufactures a select number of models in semi knockdown kits which use both imported components and locally sourced Mexican components (S-Class, CLS-Class, R-Class, GL-Class, Sprinter).

Nigeria Africa Assembly of buses, trucks, utility motors and the Sprinter van[41]

Russia Eurasia Joint venture Mercedes-Benz Car Trucks Vostok in Naberezhnye Chelny (jointly Kamaz). Available in trucks Actros, Axor, multi-purpose auto four wheel drive medium trucks Unimog. Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Classic is also produced in Russia.

Serbia Europe FAP produces Mercedes-Benz trucks under license.

Spain Europe Factory at Vitoria-Gasteiz Mercedes-Benz Vito, Viano and V-Class have been built there.

South Africa[42] Africa The assembly plant is located in East London, in the Eastern Cape province, where both right and left hand versions of the C-class are built.

South Korea Asia Mercedes-Benz Musso and MB100; Ssangyong Rexton Mercedes-Benz models manufactured by SsangYong Motor Company.

Taiwan Asia Assembly of Actros by the Shung Ye Group[43]

Thailand Asia Completely Knocked Down (CKD) production of A, GLA, C, E, S Classes and Semi-Knocked Down (SKD) production of C-coupe, GLC, GLC-coupe, GLE and CLS.[44] Additionally, local production of Mercedes-AMG such as C43, E53 and CLS53 have been integrated to the existing production lines[45] making it unofficially regarded as the largest Mercedes-Benz factory by number of classes produced under a single roof. The factory is operated by contract manufacture the Thonburi Group under supervision of Mercedes-Benz Manufacturing (Thailand).[46]

Turkey Eurasia Mercedes-Benz Türk A.Ş.[47]

United Kingdom Europe The SLR sports car was built at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking. Brackley, Northamptonshire, is home to the Mercedes Grand Prix factory, and Brixworth, Northamptonshire is the location of Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines

United States North America The Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class Sport Utility, the full-sized GL-Class Luxury Sport Utility and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class vehicles are all built at the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International production facility near Tuscaloosa, Alabama.[48] Trucks (6,000 per year in the early eighties) were once assembled in Hampton, Virginia.[49]

Vietnam Asia Assembly of E-Class, C-Class, S-Class, GLK-Class and Sprinter. Established in 1995.[50]

Quality rankings

Mercedes-Benz dealer in Munich, Germany

Mercedes-Benz normally has a strong reputation for quality and durability. Their objective measures looking at passenger vehicles, such as J. D. Power surveys, demonstrated a downturn in reputation in these criteria in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By mid-2005, Mercedes temporarily returned to the industry average for initial quality, a measure of problems after the first 90 days of ownership, according to J. D. Power.[51] In J. D. Power's Initial Quality Study for the first quarter of 2007, Mercedes showed dramatic improvement by climbing from 25th to 5th place and earning several awards for its newer models.[52] For 2008, Mercedes-Benz's initial quality rating improved by yet another mark, to 4th place.[53] On top of this accolade, it also received the Platinum Plant Quality Award for their Mercedes branded Sindelfingen, Germany body assembly plant.[53] J. D. Power's 2011 US Initial Quality and Vehicle Dependability Studies both ranked Mercedes-Benz vehicles above average in build quality and reliability.[54][55] In J. D. Power's United Kingdom Survey in 2011, Mercedes cars were rated above average.[56] Additionally, iSeeCars.com study for Reuters in 2014 found Mercedes to have the lowest vehicle recall rate out of competitors.[57]

Models

See also: List of Mercedes-Benz vehicles

Mercedes-Benz A-Class (Subcompact executive hatchbacks and sedans)

Mercedes-Benz B-Class (Subcompact executive Tourers)

Mercedes-Benz C-Class (Compact executive car)

Mercedes-Benz E-Class (Executive car)

Mercedes-Benz S-Class (full-size luxury sedan)

Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class (Subcompact luxury SUV)

Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class (Compact luxury SUV)

Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class (Mid-size luxury SUV)

Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class (full-size luxury SUV)

Current model range

Mercedes-Benz offers a versatile range of consumer-passenger, light commercial and heavy commercial equipment. These vehicles are manufactured in multiple countries worldwide. The Smart marque of city cars are also produced by Daimler AG.

Models

A-Class – Subcompact luxury Hatchback and Sedan

B-Class – Subcompact luxury Multi Purpose Vehicle

C-Class – Compact executive luxury Sedan/Saloon, Estate, Coupé and Cabriolet

CLA – Subcompact luxury 4-Door Coupé and Estate

CLS – Mid-size luxury 4-Door Coupé

E-Class – Mid-size executive luxury Sedan/Saloon, Estate, Coupé and Cabriolet

G-Class – Luxury off-road vehicle

GLA – Subcompact luxury Crossover

GLB – Compact luxury Crossover

GLC – Compact luxury Sport utility vehicle

GLE – Mid-size luxury Sport utility vehicle

GLS – Full-size luxury Sport utility vehicle

S-Class – Full-Size luxury Sedan/Saloon, Coupé and Cabriolet

V-Class – Luxury Multi Purpose Vehicle

AMG GT – Luxury sports car

AMG GT 4-Door – Luxury sports 4-Door Coupé

AMG SL – Luxury grand tourer roadster

AMG ONE – Super sports car

EQA - Luxury electric Crossover

EQB - Luxury electric Crossover

EQC - Luxury electric Crossover

EQE - Luxury electric Sedan/Saloon

EQS - Luxury electric Sedan/Saloon

EQV - Luxury electric Multi Purpose Vehicle

Vans

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter

Mercedes-Benz currently offers three types of vans; Citan, Vito, and Sprinter. They are all produced by Daimler AG.

Trucks

See also: List of Mercedes-Benz trucks

Mercedes-Benz Zetros used for snowplowing

Unimog, a famous allround vehicle by Mercedes-Benz

Since December 2021, the Mercedes-Benz Trucks division is part of the Daimler Truck company and includes other sub-companies that were part of the DaimlerChrysler merger. Gottlieb Daimler sold the world's first truck in 1886.[58] Their first factory to be built outside Germany after World War II was in Argentina. They originally built trucks, many of which were modified by third parties to be used as buses, popularly named Colectivo.

Buses

Main article: Mercedes-Benz buses

Mercedes-Benz has been producing buses since 1895 in Mannheim, Germany. Since 1995, the brands of Mercedes-Benz's buses and coaches are under the umbrella of EvoBus GmbH, since December 2021 belonging to Daimler Truck AG. EvoBus, through its regional subsidiaries, markets them in European countries, while in other regions of the world marketing and sales duties are passed to regional subsidiaries of Daimler Truck. Mercedes-Benz produces a wide range of buses and coaches, mainly for Europe and Asia. The first model was produced by Karl Benz in 1895.[59]

ХУЕТА

A STRAN Citaro (second generation) in June 2014

Significant models produced

1928: SSK racing car

1930: 770 "Großer Mercedes" state and ceremonial car