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College Lecturer Pretending to Be Eva: 2.0's Honda Resigns

Khara, the anime studio founded by Evangelion creator and director Hideaki Anno, announced on Friday that a person had been misappropriating the name of Khara animator Takeshi Honda to teach at two universities. Honda has been a key animator and mechanical animation director on the original Neon Genesis Evangelion series and its theatrical remakes, including the next month's Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance. He was also a character designer on The Animatrix's "Beyond" short, Blue Submarine No. 6, Dennō Coil, Metal Fighter Miku, and Millennium Actress. His skills have been so revered by his colleagues that during the production of Bubblegum Crisis, fellow animation director Takahiro Kishida (Spring and Chaos, Tenchi Muyo! Movie 1) nicknamed him "Shishō" ("Master").

However the real Honda has not been teaching classes in universities or vocation schools. In an investigation that it began last year, Khara has been gathering evidence from students about a part-time lecturer teaching under Honda's name at the Joshibi University of Art and Design's College of Media Arts and Shobi University. The fake Honda had been teaching at Joshibi from April of 2001 to January of 2009.

The fake Honda told people at Joshibi that "Takeshi Honda" is his working name, and that he left the field after having "trouble" with director Satoshi Kon during the production of Millennium Actress. The fake Honda further claimed that the real Honda is a disciple of his who took over his name and production résumé. Khara says all of these claims are false. The fake Honda has since resigned from his teaching positions.

Source: Gigazine