Some anime openings age nicely. Others become full-on cultural artifacts. A Cruel Angel’s Thesis, the legendary opening theme from Neon Genesis Evangelion, has now crossed a wild milestone: 1,000 total weeks on Japan’s karaoke charts.
According to Oricon’s latest weekly karaoke ranking, Yoko Takahashi’s iconic Evangelion OP landed at No. 3 on May 4, 2026. That pushes the song’s total time on the chart to more than 19 years overall — absolutely gila for a track that first blasted into anime history back in 1995.
For context, this is not just an old anime song getting occasional nostalgia plays. A Cruel Angel’s Thesis first entered the karaoke Top 10 in 2008, and across the years, it has spent more than 14 years inside that Top 10. That kind of staying power is rare even for mainstream J-pop, let alone an anime opening tied to a psychological mecha series about trauma, identity, giant bio-machines, and very complicated father-son problems.
The song was performed by Yoko Takahashi, with lyrics by Neko Oikawa and composition by Toshiyuki Omori and Hidetoshi Sato. Its bright, soaring energy is part of why it works so well at karaoke — even if the anime itself is way darker and more emotionally messy than the opening suggests.
Takahashi responded to the milestone by crediting the combined force of director Hideaki Anno, Evangelion as a work, the cast, and the song itself. She described the record as something that came together because of all those elements, and also thanked the fans who have kept singing it for decades.
She even gave some advice for anyone brave enough to take it on at karaoke: practice slowly while reading the lyrics first, then sing with the karaoke track and record yourself to spot weak points. Her most specific tip? Don’t mumble the opening “Zankoku na” — pronounce it clearly, then carry the momentum all the way through.
Honestly, SEA fans will understand this immediately. In Malaysia, anime karaoke is not some niche thing anymore. Whether it is at ACG events, private KTV rooms, campus anime club nights, or that one friend group that always ends up singing anime OPs after dinner, A Cruel Angel’s Thesis is one of those tracks everyone recognises even if they have never finished Evangelion.
That matters because Evangelion’s influence here is bigger than just old-school anime fans flexing nostalgia. The series still shows up in cosplay, figure collecting, merch drops, memes, and late-night anime debates about whether Shinji is misunderstood or just exhausting. For Malaysian and SEA fans who discovered anime through streaming, YouTube clips, rhythm games, or convention culture, the song acts like a shortcut into anime history.
Evangelion itself is also still moving. The original TV anime and Rebuild films may already be complete, but the franchise has continued through collaborations, anniversary projects, and fresh releases. A special short featuring Asuka was released for the show’s 30th anniversary, and a new Neon Genesis Evangelion anime has also been announced, with Nier: Automata creator Yoko Taro involved.
So yes, 1,000 weeks on karaoke charts is a music milestone. But it is also proof that Evangelion refuses to fade into “classic anime” museum status. Three decades later, people are still singing the opening like it dropped yesterday — and somewhere in Malaysia, confirm got one bro queuing it up at karaoke this weekend.
Source: Dexerto Gaming