Neon Genesis Evangelion/Awesome Music

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Cruel Angel's Thesis

• All of Neon Genesis Evangelion's soundtrack, but especially its opening, Cruel Angel's Thesis
  • This a cappella version of Cruel Angel's Thesis is absolutely beautiful and haunting; had it played during some of the more emotional moments later on, it could have enhanced the impact, which is saying a lot.
  • When it's played in Hayate the Combat Butler it evokes the same memories it did for the show it was made for, and the visuals helped. Shizuka Itou's singing voice doesn't hurt either.
  • This remix of Cruel Angel's Thesis is as haunting as it is magnificent.
  • Cruel Angel's Thesis N64 mix.
  • For maximum awesome, Cruel Angel's Thesis Director's Edit II. It is sung by Rei, Asuka, and Misato!
  • This troper is inordinately fond of the version of A Cruel Angel's Thesis played in the final scenes of the series proper-- Good, Or Don't Be, if I'm not wrong.
    • How about the string version that precedes it? The Heady Feeling of Freedom. It's beautiful.
  • A fandub for Cruel Angel's Thesis is surprisingly good. Be sure to sync it with the opening's animation. Watching Eva's opening in English is like a whole different experience.
  • "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" takes on new layers of awesome / heartbreaking when you realize just how much foreshadowing it contains. Masayuki's Test-Type Opening music video takes full advantage of this to create an impressive four-minute recap of the entire series (now available completely in English).
  • And then there's the simple yet beautiful version played during Death & Rebirth's intermission.
  • And now as played by the Japanese Coast Guard band.

Original Series

• Komm, süsser Tod dudes. Komm, süsser Tod. Not only is it catchy as hell and surprisingly touching, the dichotomy of the pleasant tune and painful lyrics gives it an ambiguity that makes it a perfect match for the scene it plays in.
  • TUMBLING DOWN TUMBLING DOWN TUMBLING DOOOOOOOWN
  • For you who don't read German, it means "Come, Sweet Death". Knowing this makes the sequence even more heartwrenching.
  • The version found on the VOX album is more melancholic than catchy. And someone mixed them together.
• And let's not forget The Beast 2.
  • Ever heard metal cover of that? It rocks!
• Hell if it is the Suspiciously Similar Song version of a track from another work, Decisive Battle is awesome.
• Nothing can ever top this particular sequence, especially considering the scene it was used in! ...I take that back, from the End: Asuka kills loads of evil mechas while Hideaki Anno plays unfitting music. I think her screams really add to it too.
  • How about this little beauty that plays just before it? It just screams that a glorious asskicking is going to come.
  • From Those Two Episodes, Infantile Dependence, Adult Dependency, the official theme song of apocalyptic mental breakdowns.
  • This so much. Air is one of the most beautiful pieces ever written and it's usage is nothing less than genius.
• A Step Forward Into Terror.
• Heisoku no Kakudai: the perfect music for coming to terms with your depression while a giant naked alien falls apart in gory detail.
  • Also from End: "Escape to the Beginning", the background music for apocalypses. (Yes, more so than Komm Susser Tod.) For bonus points, it doubles as Hell Is That Noise.
• And for crowning music of tear-jerking, we have Thanatos.
  • Screw that, Opening of Dream. Tear Jerker To The Max.
  • In regards to Thanatos, the first time this troper watched End, all he could think while it was playing was: 'Best. Intermission Music. EVER.'
  • The stripped down version of Thanatos, which plays in End of Evangelion while Shinji is catatonically depressed and Misato sends him down the elevator just as she's dying is arguably just as powerful, but not tear-jerking as much as just chilling, in an empty and depressing way.
• Fly me to the moon, the ending, while not as action-oriented, is very beautiful, and if I would have heard it before, I would have never thought it was from an Anime. I'm going to use this for my marriage!
  • Well, it was originally written in 1959! Frank Sinatra sung it long before it was from an anime!
    • And this is what we call Popcultural Osmosis at it's finest.
• The passage of emptiness. Beautiful, depressing, and horrifying if you're familiar with what specific scene this song is used in The End of Evangelion.
• The first "Angel Attack" theme. The menacing riff drones on and on, and the rest of the melody is incredibly dissonant and eerie. A classic evil song that must be heard: ANGEL ATTACK
• The tune that plays during Shinji's and Asuka's scene in the kitchen in End, "Kyomo he no, Izon"/Reliance Leads to Falsehood. The violin solo really hits home the pain and tragedy.
• The Hedgehog's Dilemma. The relaxing, but melancholy jazz really captures the feelings of ambiguity that human relationships can create.
• M-15, an incredibly smooth piece composed for End of Evangelion but never used. It's especially noteworthy because you wouldn't expect something so mellow and optimistic to fit Evangelion so well - and yet it does.
• The use of Ode to Joy in the last Angel battle on Episode 24 automatically makes it a Crowning Moment of Awesome.

Rebuild

• Of particular note is Angel of Doom from the first movie.
  • Also from Rebuild: Showdown.
• Rebuild takes Eva-00's theme, and makes perhaps even more horrifying. Here it is Rebuild style. RUN. LIKE. HELL.
  • The track of which it is an alternate version, from Rebuild 2.0: so awesome they pluralised it and made it French: Les Bêtes. Run harder.
• The Red Ambassadress, played during Asuka's Dynamic Entry into Rebuild 2.0.
• From Rebuild 2.0, I give you The Final Decision We All Must Take, perfect for when girls wearing pink plugsuits go apeshit.
  • Aptly described by one youtuber as a song so awesome that it would "make cows chewing their own shit epic."
• Rebuild 2.0 is chock-full of awesome songs: from the melancholic At The Very Beginning to the apocalyptic Carnage.
• There are three little words that drive Give Me Wings from a great song into a full blown Tearjerker of Awesome; "Give Ayanami back!"
  • I'll be listening to that when the World Ends.
• Decisive Battle Alternative
  • This is a beta version but still awesome.
• Remember "The Beast II" from the original? Sin From Genesis ups the ante.
• Four more to add to the pile. "Beautiful World", the new single by Utada Hikaru for the movies, available in both Standard (Movie 1) and remixed ^{[dead link]} (Movie 2), Destiny, which is played during the race to catch Sahaquiel, and Fate, which plays during the battle against Sahaquiel.
• Also from Rebuild 2.0, there's In My Spirit. If there's any song that says that the entire human race is completely, utterly, and absolutely screwed, it is this song.
• This troper would like to submit "The Longest Day" from 1.0. Sagisu managed to take the much-overused "Spending Time in Preparation" from the original series and turn it from "'DECISIVE BATTLE' with the melody removed" into a solid piece in its own right.
• Also of note is, 'Today is the time for Goodbye' @[1]". It's from the scene where the dummy plug is activated against Bardiel. YMMV, but imo it fits the new feel of the scene much better than 'The Beast', which is what was used in the series.
• Keep Your Head Above The Mayhem is very, very awesome. Almost a sister piece to "At the Very Beginning" (see above), it contains a choir who appear to be singing in Ominous Latin Chanting, but are, in fact, singing in Gratuitous English. And it is awesomeness at its finest. One of the best battle themes seen for a long time.

In the battle of the bravest souls, over evil shall the good prevail, If the universe is crashing down, heed the chaos and then drown it out, Showing flashes of bravado, in a torrent of destruction, keep your head above the mayhem; clarity will be your weapon as the blinded falter and die.

• Fate, which just really captures the feel of the whole series, when you think about it.
• The soundtrack for 2.0 basically comes in two flavours: Super Robot and World Ending. All of it is awesome.

Other

• There are several unused tracks on the various OSTs. This troper can't imagine the audience's faces when during the orchestral recording of Evangelion Symphony, the string quintet playing Canon suddenly cuts into a rap version of the same song without warning. Even better, it was actually put into the Evangelion VOX album. Shiro Sagisu has a strange sense of humor.
  • And if someone actually bothers to listen to the lyrics, they go very well with Evangelion. "Too much hatred, too much grief" indeed.
• The Rebuild 1.0 OST has three bonus tracks sung by Misato's seiyuu, Kotono Mitsuishi. Talk about Breaking the Fourth Wall...

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. . . So basically all of it?