[EVA] EVA: Space Runaway Ideon

[Immano]

> SDF Macross, which I believe Anno worked on, may have had an influence as well.
> 
> IF you remember, (& also in DYRL) the inhabitants on Earth were destroyed. Only the SDF inhabitants escaped, through their absence, & even when they moved back, they expected hostile Zentradi to find & finish them off, hence the Mega Road 1's mission to find & found another human colony elsewhere in space.

This has me far less inclined to agree. Macross is, at its core, a romantic story, a triangle, with a Sci-Fi backdrop. Sure, they put a lot of effort in fleshing out the universe throughout the series, but most of the original series revolves around the trip back to Earth in the first half, and the last stand against the main Zentradi army in the second. The destruction of most of Earth close by the end is seen less as an extinction event and more as a showdown between the two realities (one hostile towards interpersonal relationships and one - us - based on them), as well as an occasion to show that love and emotion can be embraced by all, using the symbolism of music as a common language (and, in its real-life merchandising incarnation, an excellent source of revenue for Tatsunoko). The exodus part is barely mentioned in the original series, and the subsequent forays in animation and print probably were unlikely to be as influential on Gainax members as the original, considering by then they were competition and Gainax had already formed an identity as a studio.

Ebj