"Fly Me to the Moon" is the ending theme of the 1995 anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Written by Bart Howard, the original song was adapted for the series through original arrangements and vocal interpretations. Director Hideaki Anno had considered using it as an ending theme since his work on Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. Toshiyuki Ōmori arranged the main version, performed by British singer Claire Littley and recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. The original television series featured fourteen versions, performed by Yōko Takahashi, Megumi Hayashibara, and other vocalists; additional renditions were introduced in subsequent editions of the series. King Records' Starchild label released Claire's main rendition as a single on October 25, 1995, paired with Takahashi's "4 Beat Version"; the same day, it also appeared with the show's opening theme, "A Cruel Angel's Thesis", on a separate split single.

Critics praised the song's contrast with the series' darker subject matter and the variety of its renditions, although some criticized the large number of arrangements released across the series' soundtracks. The various renditions were subsequently released across numerous Evangelion albums. In 2007, Hikaru Utada's "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words) -2007 Mix-" accompanied the first trailer for Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone. The 1995 "A Cruel Angel's Thesis / Fly Me to the Moon" single peaked at number 17 on the Oricon Singles Chart and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), while its 2003 reissue reached number 41. When Netflix began streaming Neon Genesis Evangelion internationally in 2019, licensing issues led to the song's removal from releases outside Japan, prompting criticism from fans; subsequent Western Blu-ray editions also omitted it.

Background and composition

Hideaki Anno, who directed the anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion, had considered using "Fly Me to the Moon" as an ending theme for one of his works since working on Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. He eventually realized the idea with Neon Genesis Evangelion, whose original plans envisioned the Moon as the setting for the story's climax. The initial concept for the finale involved a great lunar battle against twelve enemies known as Apostolos and the discovery of a message written on the Moon's surface, resembling the ending of Gunbuster. An earlier proposal had instead called for the opening theme to change with each episode, an idea Anno compared to the opening theme of Silver Kamen. The production recorded original arrangements and vocal interpretations of "Fly Me to the Moon" for the series. The original episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion featured fourteen versions of the track in total. At the request of producer Toshimichi Ōtsuki, Toshiyuki Ōmori traveled to London in July 1995 to record the song and find a vocalist. There he met Claire Littley, known as Claire, who subsequently performed the vocals for the main version. Ōmori arranged the main version, which Littley recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. Its arrangement drew on bossa nova, following the approach of Joe Harnell's rendition of the song. Ōmori also created additional versions in different musical styles.

Japanese singer Yōko Takahashi became involved with Neon Genesis Evangelion after returning from six months of vocal training in Los Angeles. She had known Ōmori since before her professional debut and regarded him as a longtime mentor. Through Ōmori's connections, she was approached to participate in the "Fly Me to the Moon" project. Ōmori enlisted jazz pianist Makoto Kuriya, who had recently returned to Japan, to perform the piano part. Megumi Hayashibara, the voice of Rei Ayanami, performed the "Rei #5 Version" and "Rei #6 Version" for the fifth and sixth episodes, respectively. The two versions use essentially the same arrangement, with minor differences in their mixing. She also sang three other versions for "Rei III" and the final two episodes. Hayashibara recalled that during one recording session, Anno instructed her to portray the "third" Rei with an even colder vocal performance than the second. Takahashi performed the jazz-influenced "4 Beat Version" for the seventh and twelfth episodes, both of which focus on Misato Katsuragi. Aya performed the "Aya Bossa Techno Version" for "Asuka Strikes!", combining bossa nova and techno with a playful, childlike vocal performance and French pop influences. Other arrangements drew on acid house. Takahashi also sang the "Yoko Takahashi Version", which retained the orchestral component of Littley's rendition with a slightly different mix, and the bossa nova-based "Yoko Takahashi Acid Bossa Version", which created a more mature atmosphere than Aya's childlike rendition. For the "Aki Jungle TV Size Version", staff incorporated jungle beats, a club sound popular at the time. The production initially created the longer "Aki Jungle Version" for an album. At Anno's request, the staff adapted it into the 65-second television ending format for the seventeenth episode and created an alternate edit without the introduction and with a different ending.

In 2003, Gainax released a new edition of the series titled Renewal of Evangelion, which included a bonus disc containing various extras. The extras included a remastered, creditless version of "Fly Me to the Moon". Later Japanese releases also included the remastered version, including the series' 2015 Blu-ray box set. The Renewal Edition introduced new versions of the piece. For example, the sixteenth episode, "Splitting of the Breast", uses the "Main Version II/TV Size for Renewal #16" version, an edit of a recording included on the limited edition of Neon Genesis Evangelion Addition. Noel Kirkpatrick of TV Guide considered the various renditions of the track a respite from the intensity of the series' later episodes and felt that the song captured the desire for connection that permeates Neon Genesis Evangelion. Kambole Campbell of the British Film Institute described the different renditions as ranging from "haunting" to "bizarre" and observed that their hopefulness became increasingly apparent as the series grew bleaker. Michael McWhertor of Polygon noted a similar contrast between the song's upbeat rhythms and the dark cliffhangers that precede the series' ending credits. The various versions of "Fly Me to the Moon" are: Episode Vocal VersionOriginalRenewalOriginalRenewal #1 Claire Littley Normal #2 Normal Normal (without Strings) #3 Claire Littley Yōko Takahashi Normal #4 Normal Normal (without strings) #5 Megumi Hayashibara Rei #5 #6 Megumi Hayashibara Rei #6 #7 Yōko Takahashi 4 Beat #8 Aya Bossa Techno #9 Yōko Takahashi Yūko Miyamura Acid Bossa Bossa Techno #10 Normal Normal Orchestra (with chorus) #11 Claire Littley Kotono Mitsuishi, Megumi Hayashibara and Yūko Miyamura Normal Normal Orchestra (#1) #12 Yōko Takahashi Kotono Mitsuishi 4 Beat Normal Orchestra (with chorus) #13 Yōko Takahashi Acid Bossa #14 Yōko Takahashi Megumi Hayashibara Normal Normal Orchestra (solo) #15 Off Vocal Kotono Mitsuishi 4 Beat #16 Off Vocal Kotono Mitsuishi, Megumi Hayashibara and Yūko Miyamura Normal Normal Orchestra (Interlude Start ~ #1 Second Half) #17 Aki Jungle #18 Claire Littley Off Vocal Normal B-4 guitar & piano #19 Claire Littley Kotono Mitsuishi, Megumi Hayashibara and Yūko Miyamura Normal Normal Orchestra (#2) #20 (Off Vocal) B-22 A-Type B-4 piano #21On-Air Yōko Takahashi Off-Vocal Normal4 BeatDirector's Cut (#21’) (Off Vocal) 4 Beat (90 seconds) #22On-Air Aya Bossa TechnoDirector's Cut (#22’) (Off Vocal) Bossa Techno (80 seconds) #23On-Air Megumi Hayashibara Rei #23Director's Cut (#23’) Rei #23 (90 seconds) #24On-Air (Off Vocal) NormalDirector's Cut (#24’) Normal (90 seconds) #25 Megumi Hayashibara Rei #25 #26 Megumi Hayashibara Rei #26

Release and music video

Masayuki, who served as an assistant director on Neon Genesis Evangelion, directed the series' ending sequence set to "Fly Me to the Moon". The sequence depicts the Moon reflected on the surface of the water and the silhouette of Rei Ayanami. For the eighth and ninth episodes, which introduce and focus on Asuka Langley Soryu, the sequence shifts to red, a color associated with Asuka; the other episodes use a blue background instead. When Netflix began streaming Neon Genesis Evangelion internationally in 2019, it omitted "Fly Me to the Moon" from the ending sequence outside Japan because of licensing issues and replaced it with a piano piece from Shirō Sagisu's score associated with Rei Ayanami. Subsequent Western Blu-ray releases likewise omitted the song and used the same instrumental piano music over the ending credits.

King Records' Starchild label first released "Fly Me to the Moon" commercially in Japan on October 25, 1995. The single (KIDA-115) paired Claire Littley's main rendition with Yōko Takahashi's "4 Beat Version" and off-vocal versions of both recordings. That same day, Claire's rendition appeared alongside Takahashi's opening theme "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" on a separate split single (KIDA-116), marketed as a release containing the opening and ending themes of Neon Genesis Evangelion. King Records reissued the pairing as a CD single on March 26, 2003, adding off-vocal versions of both songs and the "Director's Edit Version" of "A Cruel Angel's Thesis".

The song and its arrangements also appeared throughout the Neon Genesis Evangelion soundtrack series. The first soundtrack album, released on December 6, 1995, included Claire Littley's main rendition, an instrumental arrangement, and Yōko Takahashi's "Acid Bossa Version"; Neon Genesis Evangelion II, released on February 16, 1996, added further television-size and character versions. Neon Genesis Evangelion III, released on May 22, 1996, contained several instrumental derivatives of the song. Neon Genesis Evangelion Addition, released on December 21, 1996, featured the "Misato 4 Beat TV. Size Version", "Asuka Bossa Techno TV. Size Version", and "Main Version II". The box set Neon Genesis Evangelion: S² Works, issued on December 4, 1998, contained further arrangements. Claire's recording subsequently appeared on the September 13, 2000 compilation Evangelion: The Day of Second Impact, on the 2000 compilation Star Child Selection Music Edition: TV Works and, five years later, on Neon Genesis Evangelion Decade, released on October 26, 2005. Between them, the July 24, 2003 compilation Refrain of Evangelion collected the television-size "Aya Bossa Techno" and "Aki Jungle" versions and "Main Version II/Renewal #16". The A.T. EVA01 Reference CD included a remaster of Claire's rendition in 2007. The Neon Genesis Evangelion Soundtrack 25th Anniversary Box, released on October 7, 2020, also reissued many of the original vocal and instrumental arrangements, with the exception of Claire's recording.

Critical reception and legacy