Is Evangelion really this big in Japan to warrant all of this

There's a fucking Eva bullet train, on which you can take your picture with a cardboard cutout of kaworu. Shit's huge there, if you asked the average nip what the first thing they think when they hear 'anime,' they'd probably answer with "ebangerion"

>>145380589
>Is Evangelion really this big in Japan
I don't even need to read the rest.

Yes. Yes it's fucking huge. It fucking changed the game with Asuka vs Rei waifu wars alone. Argue about the quality all you want but it did something major to the industry.

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>>145380757
>>145380791
But why? I know japanese society is different, but how does it appeal to the average person?

>>145380589
Japanese market likes spooky stuff.

Also there is no such thing as a cult classic anime, it's either popular or forgotten.

>>145380589
>NGE has some pretty family-unfriendly scenes (you know which) on top of its confusing nature so I find it perplexing how popular it appears to be in its homeland.
>Japan
>Families

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>>145380827
>adding on to this post
In America, if I show Evangelion to someone, 9/10 people are going to find it creepy and weird.
If its because its an anime or just me is another discussion altogether.

>>145381340
Glad to be the top 10%

>>145380589
>spawn multiple spinoff since its start
>manage to fund multiple remake film
>two main girls are iconic waifu who keep spawning merchandise.
Evangelion is very normie-appeal franchise, like, everyone knew it. The family-unfriendly scene can make its fan brag that it is "mature" and "deep".

>>145380791
What is the american equivilent?

>>145380589
Japan is just fucking weird.

>>145381340
You mean 9/11 people

>>145380589
Eva is HUGE in Japan. Everyone knows the name at least

>>145383219
>Everyone
I'm sure 95% of the population doesn't give a shit.

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BUY YOUR ORIGINAL EVA DUMBBELLS, BECOME AS STRONG AS UNIT01

>>145384941
got me good

>>145384076
You're wrong by approximately 95%

Or else you' implying that 95% of japanese are blind people that cant fucking look around them

>>145382779
Star Wars I guess.

I know about Adventure Time but I've never seen an episode.

That's the average Japanese reaction to Evangelion, except everyone knows the song because everyone's sung it in karaoke at least once.

OP's pic is either from the EVA store in Ikebukuro, some pop-up store, or a corner display in a department store around the time of one of the movie's theatrical release.

I can't attest for the 90s, since I wasn't living here then, but last year they showed the first episode on a giant billboard tv outside Shinjuku station (niconico stream), and there were 300 people stopped to watch - not crazy by any means when you figure tens of thousands of people pass through there every day. It's big, but not as big to the average normie as /a/ makes it out to be.

>>145380589
>Is Evangelion really this big in Japan
Yes.