300-plus pages of Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time artwork.

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time is one of those rare movie projects that had both the time and the budget to eventually look exactly how the creators wanted it to. That’s a rare thing in the resource-strapped anime world, but it’s the sort of luxury you can afford when you’re putting the finishing touch on a 26-year franchise so influential that it reshaped the industry.

So now, to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Thrice Upon a Time’s theatrical premiere in Japan, an amazing collection of production art for the movie is being released.

Titled Rebuild of Evangelion Genga Collection First Volume (Shin Evangelion Gengashu Jokan in Japanese), the 352-page book’s biggest appeal is its collection of genga, or key animation frame artwork, the illustrations done by an anime’s top artists depicting the most crucial moments and poses in an animation sequence.

The book, which reproduces the genga in A4 (29.7 by 21 centimeters [11.7 by 8.3 inches]) size, gives a peek behind the scenes in the making of the scenes in Thrice Upon a Time, as it also includes layout diagrams, pre and post-revision artwork, and even a partial time sheet for the animation production.

The density of the art examination means that the book only has space for the first portion of the film (the Jokan part of the title means the “upper” or first volume in a series), but it looks like there’s plenty to hold illustration and anime fans’ interest here until the next book comes out.

Pre-orders for Rebuild of Evangelion Genga Collection First Volume are open now through the Evangelion Store storefront on Yahoo! Japan for 4,070 yen (US$35) here, with shipping scheduled for late May. And if you need something to tide yourself over with until then, Eva creator Hideaki Anno recently answered fans’ questions about the series, including whether or not he’d ever be willing to climb into an Eva unit’s cockpit.

Source: Evangelion Store/Yahoo! Japan via IT Media
Images: Evangelion Store
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