is a J-pop song performed by Japanese singer Yoko Takahashi and the opening theme of the anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion. The song was composed by Toshiyuki Ōmori and Hidetoshi Satō, with its lyrics written by Neko Oikawa. It was released as a double-A-side single with "Fly Me to the Moon", the show's closing theme, on October 25, 1995. "The Cruel Angel's Thesis" was also included in the series' soundtrack releases and Takahashi's albums.
The song received acclaim from music critics and audiences alike; it later became one of the most famous Japanese anisongs, songs specially created for anime series. Years after the show's first airing, "The Cruel Angel's Thesis" has remained a popular Japanese karaoke song, winning popularity polls and awards. On the Internet, along with its official video, the song gained further fame through covers and parodies, becoming one of the most famous theme songs in the history of anime.
Background and recording
During the production of Neon Genesis Evangelion, the show's director Hideaki Anno suggested using an existing piece of classical music as the series' opening theme. He first chose the Polovtsian Dances from the opera Prince Igor by Russian composer Aleksander Borodin. Neon Genesis Evangelion production studio Gainax then contacted Hidetoshi Satō and Toshiyuki Ōmori to write an original piece in place of the soundtrack's main composer Shiro Sagisu. Although not officially credited, Toshimichi Ōtsuki, a member of King Records and the official producer of the animated series, coordinated production. During the demo stage Ōtsuki requested a melody with a "crispy notching style". Ōmori finished the arrangement, albeit roughly, and Takahashi established a temporary track by singing the melody with only the syllable "la". Once the final lyrics were ready, Takahashi, then almost thirty years old, was asked to adopt a childlike tone of voice. When she received a demo of the base to rehearse with, Takahashi found the song difficult because of both Oikawa's chosen language register and the song's fast tempo. A male backing choir was originally planned but was later deleted by Anno to emphasize the concept of "motherhood" on the recording. She focused on the key concepts of "mother", "boys and girls of fourteen" and "an adult woman". Oikawa, following the directives, completed the song in two hours, after having received few details of the anime and without having met Hidetoshi Satō. The author had in mind the figure of a mother who does not want her son to become an adult, and wrote ambiguous lyrics with an abundance of stylistic devices. The song begins with the voice of a woman who advises a young man to behave like an angel without mercy, encouraging him with the cry of . For the woman, the boy is still innocent and naïve; he looks at her, smiles and says nothing, and she gently invites him to rest. The woman, reassuring him their meeting was chosen by fate, says; "On your back you have feathers that will carry you into the future".
For the title, Oikawa used the German word . Yahoo! Japan has noted the concept of These has been used, among others, by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, philosopher and exponent of German idealism. Oikawa also took inspiration from the manga , An additional religious reference, the verse ("This is the Bible with which you will learn what freedom is"), was added to the lyrics. At first, she thought of ending the song with the motto , which can also be translated as "become crazy" if written with kanji , but the proposal was shelved under the advice of TV Tokyo, which requested a change to "shin wa ni nare" ("become a myth"). The ending with an imperative remained, keeping the idea of an adult addressing a young boy. According to Comic Book Resources's Devin Meenan, the lyrics could refer to Yui Ikari, mother of protagonist Shinji who protects him during the events of the series, or Misato Katsuragi, his superior who encourages him "to come out of his shell". Kotono Mitsuishi, Misato's Japanese voice actress, gave a similar interpretation; in an interview, Mitsuishi stated that the lyric "pierced" her heart, believing "that was Misato’s voice".
An interlude chorus with the words and was also included in the song; the interlude's lyrics are not from an existing language and were created by arranger Toshiyuki Ōmori. The chorus was sung by Ōmori, Takahashi, and her brother Gō Takahashi. When asked about their meaning, Ōmori stated that "the words suddenly came down from the sky" during the writing.
Release
On October 25, 1995, "The Cruel Angel's Thesis" was released as a single in two versions: in the first one, with a cover price of , it was accompanied by a song by Takahashi entitled ; the second version, with a cover price of yen, includes "Fly Me to the Moon" performed by Claire Littley, the show's closing theme song. The second version was reissued on March 26, 2003, for the release of the Renewal Edition of Neon Genesis Evangelion. "The Cruel Angel's Thesis" was also included on albums dedicated to the anime soundtracks, starting with Neon Genesis Evangelion I, released on November 22, 1995; in the following Neon Genesis Evangelion II, released on February 16, 1996, the shorter "TV Size Version", which was used for broadcast by TV Tokyo, was also included.
The song was included in other releases, such as the special box set The Day of Second Impact (September 13, 2000), Neon Genesis Evangelion: S² Works (December 4, 1998), Refrain of Evangelion (May 23, 2003), A. T. EVA01 Reference CD (December 21, 2007), Shin Godzilla vs Evangelion Symphony (December 27, 2017), Evangelion Finally (October 2020), and Neon Genesis Evangelion Soundtrack 25th Anniversary Box, a box containing several versions of the theme song. The track was later included on unrelated compilations, such as the Star Child Selection (28 January 2000), various Super Robot Tamashii anthologies in various mixes, pop'n music 12 Iroha AC CS pop'n music 10 (13 April 2005), Kids Song★Hit Paradise! (26 September 2008), Brass Band Koushien 3 (27 February 2008), and Nekoism 〜 Neko Oikawa Sakuhin-shū (21 February 2018).
In March 2026, a Dolby Atmos spatial audio mix of "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" was released through Apple Music alongside a similar mix for "Soul's Refrain", following a proposal by Takahashi herself.