Review by Iain Delaney: Neon Genesis Evangelion is a 1995 anime series that proved very popular and divisive. Many fans were unsatisfied with the ending, prompting the studio to make two theatrical films; one a summary of most of the series and the second a new ending, replacing the final two episodes of the TV series. About ten years later, the producer of the original series started a new theatrical series to tell the story as he originally intended. Now, with total control and a much higher budget, the Rebuild of Evangelion series comprised four movies released between 2007 and 2021.

No matter which version you watch, the story starts the same way: Shinji Ikari is summoned by his father to pilot a 70-metre-tall biomechanical humanoid called an Eva and battle alien creatures called “Angels”. The Evas have a dizzying array of weaponry to accomplish this task and one of the more prominent ones is the Progressive Knife. The Progressive Knife (or prog knife) is stored in the left shoulder pylon and scaled proportionally scaled for the Eva to handle. It resembles a military combat knife.

The toy comes in a pretty nondescript cardboard box that is black with minimal white line work. The two pieces, the knife and the stand, are inside the box enclosed in clear clamshell plastic.

There were no instructions in my box, and most of the text was Japanese but I did eventually find a URL on one edge. This lead me to a PDF download of a manual, again in Japanese but with enough pictures to figure out how to make it work.

The toy knife version is over 13 inches long and features electronic sounds and lights. It uses three LR44 (watch-style) batteries hidden in the grip. One side of the grip pops off and the battery compartment is under a panel held down by one screw. There is also an On/Off “master” switch that controls all the other functions of the knife.

With the switch in the “On” position and the grip cover replaced the toy is ready for play. There are two small buttons on the handle of the knife, one on the top and one on the bottom. Pressing either button will play a sound from the series, either a line by Shinji or Misato Katsuragi, Shinji’s commander. There are 13 lines connected to the top button and 14 connected to the bottom.

Also, pressing and holding the bottom button for a few seconds and then releasing it will cause the blade edge to light up, simulating the “vibro” function of the knife. Finally, pressing and holding both the top and bottom buttons will light up the blade and produce a sound effect.

The stand is a red half-sphere resembling the “energy core” of an Angel. Placing the knife in the stand makes it look like the blade has stabbed the life core, a violent but accurate way to display the knife.

The Progressive Knife costs 13,200 yen directly from the Eva Store, or cheaper from online vendors. This works out to about $89 US, which isn’t a bad price if you’re a fan and looking for a collectable that a bit different from the t-shirts and statues that are available for Eva fans.

---

Iain Delaney was born in the UK but moved to Canada at an early age. The UK heritage explains his fascination with British TV SciFi, including Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, UFO, and, of course, Dr. Who. After fumbling through high school, he fumbled through university, emerging with a degree in physics. With no desire to pursue graduate studies he discovered that a bachelor’s degree had little to no job prospects, so he took up a career in computer programming. In his off time he reads, watches TV and movies, collects toys, and makes attempts at writing. To that end he has a small number of articles published in role-playing game magazines and won two honorable mentions in the Writers of the Future contest. He is working on an urban fantasy YA trilogy and entertains delusions of selling it to movies or TV.