After a long wait, Neon Genesis Evangelion is available on Netflix. Fans were initially excited to binge the acclaimed anime series, but it wasn't long until a few popped on the web to air a grievance about a beloved part of the show that was missing. The series' outro, which played a version of Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me To The Moon," is missing. A representative of Netflix has spoken on the issue, and said it came down to licensing issues.
Specifically, the famed outro's licensing fee was reportedly deemed too expensive to include in the American release due to the song's pricing for global rights, although Netflix itself has not released an official statement on the matter. To clarify, the song remains in other regions' versions, as Netflix users in Japan still have the "Fly Me To The Moon" outro as it appeared in the original run of Neon Genesis Evangelion. This was confirmed by some Netflix users on the Japanese server, who played it for all to hear on Twitter.
Because this is 2019, fans have created an online petition to incorporate the original outro back in the recently released dub. At the time of writing it sits at around 1,100 signatures, which may not be enough to get the attention of Netflix, nor convince the service that it's worth the money to bring "Fly Me To The Moon" to its version of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Sources reportedly did not divulge to The Wrap how much it would've cost to acquire the rights to the cover of the Frank Sinatra classic. With that said, subscribers were quick to point out that the streaming giant has spent more than enough money elsewhere on other things.
"Fly Me To The Moon" was said to be one of a few assets that were subbed out, though it hasn't been revealed what all has been switched or changed. Netflix did work with Gainex, the Japanese studio who originally worked on Neon Genesis Evangelion to create the new version, however, so it's doubtful anything more egregious or vital to the series is missing.
In reality, it sounds like a petty grievance, but show themes and outros can mean a lot to the fans of shows. If Netflix swapped out the iconic theme from The Office, there would be people upset regardless of the fact it has very little to do with the show itself. When looked through that lens, it may make more sense to casual audiences why the folks who love Neon Genesis Evangelion are so disgruntled.
Conversely, there are always worse things that can happen as a result of licensing issues. Sometimes being able to secure the music to certain songs has kept entire shows from appearing on streaming. Luckily, that wasn't the case with Neon Genesis Evangelion, and subscribers can still binge the 26 episode series with minimal changes.
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In fact, Netflix subscribers can do that right now, and then do it all over again should Netflix listen and add "Fly Me To The Moon" back to the series. CinemaBlend will be here in the meantime with updates on what's happening in television and movies!
