Interest
Scale Maker, Voice Actress of Evangelion's Shinji Have Twitter Fight Over Shin Godzilla Remark
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
The first television broadcast of Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi's 2016 Shin Godzilla film already made waves with fans on Twitter on Sunday. Plenty of companies and individuals joined in the social media buzz over the airing. In what turned into an amusing exchange, health meter maker Tanita chose to engage voice actress Megumi Ogata.
The official Twitter account of Tanita remarked on Sunday that Godzilla was "too strong" and mentioned calling Ogata, who plays protagonist Shinji Ikari in Evangelion (an anime that Shin Godzilla's Hideaki Anno is famous for directing). The company was apparently attempting a reference to Ogata's role as the Eva pilot. Ogata decided to respond and spin the conversation in a different direction.
She tweeted an apparent quote from Shinji when he protested NERV asking him pilot Eva Unit-01 in the story of Evangelion. Ogata then called Tanita "cruel." The quote did not explicitly mention Evangelion, however, and the quoted word apparently referencing piloting an Eva can also mean "ride" or "get on." Astute fans may have already realized the joke, but the conversation between Tanita and Ogata continued.
Tanita apologized to Ogata, but she kept weeping via Twitter. She also hinted the exchange no longer had anything to do with Shin Godzilla. Ogata was protesting Tanita's Tweet that she perceived as a call for her to use one of the company's popular body fat scales.
Tanita later apologized again to Ogata and used a hashtag reference to the Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion film. Ogata was still reluctant to let the matter go and said, either to Tanita or its scales, "Be kind to me!"
Online commenters loved the mini Tweet war. Some people replied with further Evangelion references and mentioned Shinji's memorable "I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away." quote.
Tanita unveiled a special JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable scale in August. The company has also released activity monitors inspired by anime such as Mr. Osomatsu and K-ON!
[Via Nijimen]
