oikawaneko

Neko Oikawa, who wrote the lyrics for Neon Genesis Evangelion’s theme song “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis,” recently revealed some details regarding the staggering amount of money that she makes in annual royalties off of the enduringly popular song–along with where 300 million yen (US$2.4 million)-worth of her savings has recently gone to.

Oikawa appeared on the September 10 episode of Fuji TV’s variety show Out x Deluxe. She revealed that to this day she has never watched the 1995 anime series, despite the fact that the theme song she penned for it has largely contributed to her annual income of no less than 30 million yen (approximately $250,000) for the past 20 years. When the show’s MC asked her, “So are you just not interested in Evangelion?”, she replied, “It’s a completed job, so not really.”

Even now, “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” frequently tops lists of the most popular (and oversung) songs in Japanese karaoke rankings. Oikawa stated that she earns between one to two yen (approximately US$0.01-0.02) in royalties each time the song is sung at karaoke, and even more when it’s played at pachinko parlors, for a grand total of roughly 100 million yen ($829,635) per year.

▼ If series protagonist Shinji made that kinf of money (instead of the modest salary his job actually commands), he could jet out of Tokyo-3 and go live in some secluded area of the world where even the folks at NERV couldn’t bother him…or at least upgrade from a cassette player.

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As previously revealed earlier this year, Oikawa also stated that she wrote the now iconic lyrics in a mere two hours after seeing only the anime’s project proposal and two minutes’ worth of footage, which hadn’t even been colored at the time.     

When the MC asked her what she does with all of her money, viewers who thought the famous lyricist would be living extravagantly were taken aback to learn that Oikawa’s bank account balance last month was only 100,000 yen (US$830). Apparently, her former husband recently spent approximately 300 million yen buying a cave in Cappadocia, a historical region in Turkey known for its abundance of geological “fairy chimneys” and ancient rock dwellings. A cruel angel’s thesis, indeed!

Sources: Daily Sports Online via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Neko Oikawa Official Site
Insert image: Evangelion Armageddon