Even decades after its initial release, Sailor Moon remains one of the most beloved anime of all time, having served as many people's introduction to the medium. A major part of that success was series director Kunihiko Ikuhara, who brought his own style to the series and help make it both appealing and interesting. While Ikuhara has also proved influential with such projects as Revolutionary Girl Utena, he also might have had -- at least according to rumors -- an effect on a surprising series: Neon Genesis Evangelion.
On the surface, Sailor Moon and Evangelion are vastly different shows. Sailor Moon is primarily a Magical Girl anime and sees protagonist Usagi Tsukino -- the titular Sailor Moon -- hunting the magical "Legendary Silver Crystal" alongside her friends. The show is quite idealistic and mostly has a target audience of young girls. However, Evangelion, instead, deals with mecha pilots in a post-apocalyptic future fighting against "Angels" so as to protect the world. That series is filled with a sort of deconstructionist existential terror. Despite those differences in focus and style, though, Ikuhara is rumored to have influenced Kaworu Nagisa, one of Evangelion's villains.
The fan-favorite Kaworu initially befriended Shinji, with there being something of a romantic relationship between the two in some translations, though his ultimate goal was to find Adam, the first Angel to land on Earth. The rumor in question claims Hideaki Anno, Evangelion's creator, based Kaworu -- and key scenes in his relationship with Shinji -- on Ikuhara. And, as Anno and Ikuhara are good friends in real-life, there is actually some real-life basis for this, even if the rumor sometimes exaggerates the extent to which Ikuhara influenced Kaworu.
In an interview, Ikuhara explained that he had a lot of discussions with Anno when the future Evangelion director worked as a storyboard artist on Sailor Moon. The two ended up going on a company trip to an onsen with the rest of the show's staff when Evangelion was still in its early stages.
During the trip, both directors spent a lot of time together. One night, after their colleagues fell asleep, the two kept drinking and chatting. They eventually sat next to each other in an open air bath, something most definitely reminiscent of an iconic scene from Evangelion with Shinji and Kaworu. The two men held an exchange that felt deeply personal -- something Ikuhara says he definitely saw reflected in a conversation between Shinji and Kaworu in Episode 24 of Evangelion. While in one of the baths, Ikuhara shared a story with Anno about how, as a teenager, he felt despair about the pressure to do well and not make any mistakes.
However, despite rumors to the contrary, Ikuhara denies Kaworu telling Shinji "You are worthy of love" was a direct quote from their conversation. Ikuhara also doesn't believe the relationship between Kaworu and Shinji reflects his own with Anno. Instead, he believes that, if anybody mirrored Kaworu's cynicism, it was much more likely to be Anno.
Although the rumor of Kaworu being based on Ikuhara was greatly exaggerated, there is definitely some truth to the idea the Evangelion creator drew from one specific moment with the Sailor Moon director. Imbuing even that small part of his relationship with Ikuhara into Shinji and Kaworu's dynamic might even just be one of the reasons that relationship in Evangelion remains so beloved by fans.
