The first English-language trailer for Yoko Taro's upcoming Evangelion anime series dropped at CloverWorks's Anime Expo 2026 panel, giving Western audiences their first proper look at a project that was originally announced back in February with a Japanese-only trailer.
The series — simply titled Evangelion — is being co-directed by Tôko Yatabe, whose credits include key animation work on Mob Psycho 100, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, and Weathering with You, and Kazuya Tsurumaki, who worked as key animator on Evangelion: 1.0, Evangelion: 2.0, and Evangelion: 3.0+1.01. Yoko Taro is handling the screenplay, and the soundtrack is being composed by Keiichi Okabe, his longtime NieR collaborator. Animation is split between CloverWorks and Studio Khara — the studio behind the last three Evangelion films.
Yoko Taro is best known for NieR: Automata and the Drakengard series, games defined by bleak themes, unreliable narratives, and a habit of pulling the rug out from under the player. He's also a long-declared Evangelion fan, which makes the fit feel less like a corporate crossover and more like a passion project. Studio Khara's involvement is significant too — Hideaki Anno's studio animating a new Evangelion series it didn't originate is an unusual arrangement, and it signals that this isn't being treated as a cheap spin-off.
Fans are excited but openly puzzled about where this series fits in the franchise's timeline, especially since Evangelion: 3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon a Time was positioned as a definitive ending to the Rebuild of Evangelion saga. No release window has been announced yet, and story details remain scarce beyond what the trailer shows.
Sources (1)
AI-assisted summary, reviewed by our editors — how we work.
Get the daily digest
Top gaming news in Lithuanian — every day at 9:00.