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Fly Me to the Moon Ending Theme Song

"Fly Me to the Moon" is a song originally written by Bart Howard in 1954 that was chosen to be the ending theme for the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion . One particularly notable feature of this ending theme is that each episode used a different variation of the song's arrangement and/or singer to create a unique piece for the end of each episode. In the 2019 Netflix re-release of the series, "Fly Me to the Moon" was replaced with a section of "Rei I", a track from the Evangelion soundtrack .

Original version

"Fly Me to the Moon" was originally written and composed by American jazz musician Bart Howard. The original title of this cabaret ballad was "In Other Words" and was written in a 3/4 time signature, but later changed to 4/4 when rearranged by Quincy Jones in 1964. Felicia Sanders was the first person to sing the song in public and did so at a famous New York City club called the "Blue Angel." The first commercially recorded performance of "In Other Words" was by Kate Ballard and was released on the Decca label in April 1954 as the B-side to another song called "Lazy Afternoon." Many jazz and cabaret singers covered the song in the following years, and its title was eventually changed to "Fly Me to the Moon." The song's popularity likely peaked after Peggy Lee sang it on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1960. Other famous names have also covered the song, such as Frank Sinatra, who released an album titled This Might As Well Be Swing. In 1964, the song was included in the original version. This version was closely associated with NASA's Apollo space program and was even played on portable cassette players during the Apollo 10 and Apollo 11 missions. "Fly Me to the Moon" also features an opening verse that is often omitted by performers when singing the song. This opening verse reads: "Poets often use many words / To say a simple thing / It takes thought, time, and rhyme / To make a poem sing / With music and words, I flew." / For you, I wrote a song / To make sure you know what I'm saying / I'll translate as I go along."

In the animated series Evangelion

Throughout the release of Neon Genesis Evangelion, many versions of "Fly Me to the Moon" can be heard. These differences can range from the instrumentation and style of music used, to the singer singing the song. In the "Renewal" version of the series' previously announced home release, even more variations of the ending were added. Most "normal" versions of the ending theme are sung by either British singer Claire Littley or Yoko Takahashi, the singer of the opening theme for the anime "A Cruel Angel's Thesis ." Several voice actresses also sing versions of the song, including Megumi Hayashibara (None Rei Ayanami, None Yuko Miyamura, None Asuka Langley, Soryu ), and Kotono Mitsuishi (None Misato Katsuragi ). In some cases, all three voice actresses sing as a trio. Genres like bossa nova, acid bossa, and bossa techno were also used to help create variations with noticeably different tones. Many of these variations were released on the three soundtrack albums , although spread across the three.

In 2000, Hikaru Utada, a popular Japanese-American singer-songwriter, recorded a J-Pop cover of "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)" that was released as the B-side of her single "Wait & See (Risk)." This cover was later remixed in 2007 and released on her single "Beautiful World." Both songs were used as promotional material to announce the release of Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone . An interesting note to note is that Utada included the often omitted introduction to "Fly Me to the Moon" mentioned above.

Netflix Controversy

The Evangelion anime series was released and made available for streaming in 2019. Many American (and other English-speaking) fans of the Evangelion series were already displeased with the streaming platform Netflix's decision to re-dub the series instead of using the original ADV Films dub or contacting the original cast. However, another change made with the release caused further disappointment among those already familiar with the series: the replacement of the ending theme. Rather than having a unique variation of "Fly Me to the Moon" play at the end of each episode, a section of "Rei I" from the original soundtrack is heard instead, as long as you are watching it in the United States (regardless of the language you are watching it in). Viewers in Japan, however, can still listen to the different endings. Since there was no change in Japan, many believed that obtaining the legal rights to "Fly Me to the Moon" was the reason for the change outside of Japan.