@_danielearcangeli_: THE NERV TRANSMISSION — RECOVERED REEL 023 [ NEON GENESIS EVANGELION — UNAIRED LIVE-ACTION PILOT 1988 ] The angel arrived before the cameras were ready. In 1988, a production unit of seven people operating under the name Seele Frame — registered in Osaka, no prior credits, dissolved within the year — completed 29 minutes of 16mm footage in an industrial complex outside Kobe that had been decommissioned the previous spring. No permits. No studio affiliation. The location agreement was signed by a representative whose name appears in the contract as a single kanji character the notary later said he didn't recognize. The Neon Genesis Evangelion pilot had no dialogue for the first thirteen minutes. A boy in a corridor. Fluorescent lights. The sound of something breathing through the walls that the sound recordist later swore was not on the location audio but appeared in every single playback. It aired once on a UHF channel in Hyogo prefecture, November 12th 1988. Runtime: 29 minutes. The slot was listed in the broadcaster's log as "technical test — no content registered." No advertiser code. No production credit. A cameraman who worked the shoot gave one interview in 1994 to a film journal in Kyoto. He said the actor playing Shinji refused to enter the set on the final day. Not out of fear. He said the boy told him he had already been there before. Seele Frame's registration lapsed in December 1988. The industrial complex was demolished in 1991. No demolition permit was ever filed. #lostmedia #1980saesthetic #evangelion #retroanime #evangelionedit