Evangelion Festival Short Anime to Stream March 8 at 12:00 a.m. JST, Staff Struggle to Prevent Spread of Unauthorized Footage and Urge Fans to Watch on Official YouTube

The Evangelion 30th anniversary short anime that premiered at the EVANGELION:30+ festival is now available online. The approximately 15 minute animation began streaming at midnight JST on March 8 on Studio Khara’s official YouTube channel, according to the series’ official website.

The short film was first unveiled during the EVANGELION:30+; 30th ANNIVERSARY OF EVANGELION festival held from February 21 to 23 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Evangelion anime series. At the event, the animation was screened as part of a special program titled “Evangelion 30th Anniversary Special Screening,” and was presented as a limited video that only fans attending the venue could see.

The project was planned, written, and supervised by Hideaki Anno, while Naoyuki Asano, who served as animation director on Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, directed the short.

Short Film Released on the Fifth Anniversary of Shin Evangelion

The official website also thanked fans who attended the commemorative festival. The statement explained that during the stage presentation on the final day of the event, the staff had announced that the short animation would be delivered to audiences in some form.

March 8 marks exactly five years since the theatrical release of Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time. To mark the anniversary, the new short animation has now been released on Studio Khara’s official YouTube channel.

Staff Ask Fans to Watch the Official Release

During the festival period, organizers also faced problems with unauthorized filming. Despite the screening taking place in a no filming area, images and videos were secretly recorded and later uploaded to social media.

The official statement reiterated that the team has been struggling to prevent the spread of these illegally recorded clips online. The staff again asked for fans’ understanding and cooperation, urging viewers to watch the short animation through the official YouTube channel rather than sharing or viewing leaked footage.

Background: Unauthorized Recordings and Leak of Festival Footage

The short animation “Evangelion 30th Anniversary Special Screening,” shown exclusively at the EVANGELION:30+ festival held from February 21 to 23, had been secretly recorded by some attendees and uploaded to social media despite a strict no recording policy.

The company began submitting takedown requests for these posts on platforms including X starting on the night of February 21. However, during the process of proving copyright ownership, access information included in the request was disclosed to the account that had uploaded the unauthorized footage due to the platform’s system specifications.

As a result, official video data that had not been intended for public access temporarily became accessible. On the morning of March 7, the uploader downloaded the data and began spreading the official footage across social media.

Studio Khara said the situation was caused by human error during the takedown process and a misunderstanding of the platform’s deletion request system. The company apologized to fans and event attendees and stated it is investigating the cause while working to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Studio Khara Official

Source : ORICON NEWS