The Neon Genesis Evangelion (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン, Shin Seiki Evangerion) franchise has had various soundtracks, remix albums and compilations released around it. The franchise has sold more than 9 million albums and singles.
Shirō Sagisu composed most of the music for Neon Genesis Evangelion and for the original TV show's three OST albums. He received the 1997 Kobe Animation award for "Best Music Score".[1] King Records and their label Starchild (specializing in music, animation and film) distributed most of the albums, singles and box sets. For the anime series, Yoko Takahashi performed the song "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" which was used as the opening theme song for the series. The song "Fly Me to the Moon" originally by Bart Howard was performed by various voice actors from the anime series and these versions of the song were used as the ending theme song for the series. Theme songs were also granted for the films in the franchise Evangelion: Death and Rebirth, its follow-up The End of Evangelion and four installments of the Rebuild of Evangelion film series.
"A Cruel Angel's Thesis" (残酷な天使のテーゼ, Zankoku na Tenshi no Tēze, "Zankoku na Tenshi no These" in Japan) is the theme song used in the anime performed by Yoko Takahashi. It was used as the opening to the series, and two instrumental versions of it were played in the finale episode titled "Take care of yourself." These versions are named "The Heady Feeling of Freedom" and "Good, or Don't Be", scored for violin, piano, and guitar. The single was released on October 25, 1995 with the part number KIDA-116.[2] It also reached a peak rank 17 in the Oricon album database, in which it appeared 61 times in total.[3]
"Fly Me to the Moon" is one of the theme songs in the Neon Genesis Evangelion series. In the anime it was used as the ending theme. Various artists including voice actors from the franchise have performed the song. It has mainly been performed by Claire Littley, Yoko Takahashi, Megumi Hayashibara, Yuko Miyamura, Aki, and Aya. Hikaru Utada also performed their version of "Fly Me to the Moon" for the film Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone.
"Tamashii no Refrain" (魂のルフラン, Tamashī no Rufuran, "Soul's Refrain") was the theme song used for the first film in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, Evangelion: Death and Rebirth. It was performed by Yoko Takahashi and released as a single on February 21, 1997. Takahashi later remixed the song as "Soul's Refrain (Erato Version)" for her 1997 album Li-La.
"Thanatos -If I Can't Be Yours-" (stylized "THANATOS-IF I CAN'T BE YOURS-" in Japan) was the theme song used in the continuation and completion of the previous films Death and Rebirth, The End of Evangelion. LOREN & MASH performed the song in the original and the 9 Years After mix version, which was composed by Shirō Sagisu and played in the credits that appear between episodes 25' and 26'. Loren and Mash also sang various songs in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Other songs by Loren include the "Komm, süsser Tod" Tumbling Down Remix among other songs on Evangelion: Vox. Other songs by Mash include various songs on Evangelion: Vox, including "X-plicit" and "Armageddon", a rap version of Pachelbel's Canon in D, complete with string quartet.