The Evangelion Shinkansen

Published on : 26/06/2016
by : Japan Experience

Sanyo Line Eva Train

Anime lovers, use your JR Pass to ride on the special Evangelion shinkansen!

From November 2015 to May 2018, an Evangelion-themed shinkansen ran in Western Japan

The 500 series train, running on the Sanyo shinkansen line (from Shin-Osaka to Hakata) has been changed into Evengelion unit 01, named 500 TYPE EVA.

The 500-series bullet train debuted in 1997 by JR West, and became a hot topic because its top speed was 300km/h, its “long nose” was 15 meters long, and because of its neo-futuristic design.

The train ran from November 2015 to May 2018, as the Kodama 730 ( leaving Hakata at 6:36 and arriving in Shin-Osaka at 11:14) and as Kodama 741(leaving Shin-Osaka at 11:32 and arriving in Hakata at 16:07).

Shinkansen 500
©By Rsa - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47655789

Evangelion is one of the most famous anime to come from Japan, and was a huge hit the world over 20 years ago.

The story centers on Shinji, a teenage boy who is recruited by the shadowy organization NERV to pilot a giant bio-machine called an Evangelion in combat against monstrous beings known as Angels.

It was broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 1995 to March 1996.