How anime played a pivotal role in Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’
Jordan Peele has become synonymous with horror contributions that don’t just elevate the genre but redefine it. From his debut in Get Out to the equally riveting Us, Peele has taken film enthusiasts on rollercoaster rides, blurring the lines between terror, societal critique, and cinematic brilliance. His most recent, 2022’s Nope, presented a western-tinged expansive horror that evolved into outright, balls-to-the-wall science fiction adventure. From its tightly wound tension, masterfully built atmosphere and sensational visuals, most audiences would have regarded it as wholly original. But keen-eyed fans noted something unexpected within its frames – a nod to the universe of anime.
Right off the bat, before the film had even hit theatre screens, the trailers showed a moment where Keke Palmer’s character skilfully manoeuvres her motorcycle, coming to a sliding sideways stop that brings up clouds of dust. Without question, it was a direct reference to an iconic sequence from the legendary 1988 anime Akira, which is intriguing considering that Warner Bros had once approached Peele for a live-action version of Akira. While he declined, the homage within Nope unmistakably pays tribute, and when asked about the “Akira slide” by IGN, Peele gleefully exclaimed, “I got to do it, man!”
But the anime influence runs deeper – much deeper. In one of the greatest reveals in horror history, there’s a moment in Nope where we realise that the classically shaped flying saucer that’s been tormenting our protagonists isn’t being piloted by aliens – it is the alien. Referred to by the characters as ‘Jean Jacket’, what’s assumed to be a UFO reveals itself to be a trippy, shapeshifting, physics-defying creature from beyond our galaxy.
With this comes an even more dreadful realisation – the dozens of people that have been ‘abducted’ by Jean Jacket weren’t beamed into a spaceship; they’ve been eaten. Once the final act of Nope gets underway, the alien starts contorting, stretching and billowing into a myriad of strange shapes and sizes – and for many of us, it was reminiscent of a particular type of antagonist we’d seen before on the small-screen: the angels from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
The show’s influence on culture cannot be understated, and its celebrity fans range from Wes Anderson to Robin Williams. However, it wasn’t until an episode of the HappySadConfused podcast that Peele confirmed this fascinating intersection between Nope and the anime universe. When questioned about a potential inspiration from Neon Genesis Evangelion for the design of Nope‘s alien named Jean Jacket, the director reflected, “The Evangelion angels are based on the Biblical angels.”
Peele continued, “I didn’t want to be sort of literal that Jean Jacket is an angel, but I do think that there is something about where evolution and design collide that leaves doors open.”
What’s more, official production notes for Nope referenced the design of Jean Jacket having “hyper minimalism” and a “biomechanical design flair”, directly referencing the angels from Evangelion and incorporating their legendary design into Peele’s alien aesthetic.
Neon Genesis Evangelion presents a futuristic, semi-post-apocalyptic Earth that has been ravaged by a cataclysm of biblical proportions. Following this event, mankind must fight for survival against angels. Taking cues from the actual descriptions of angels in the Bible, rather than our heavily diluted, much more palatable Westernised versions, they’re depicted as a host of terrifying, mind-boggling, awe-inspiring entities. Among these, the designs of the angels Ramiel, Armisael, and, most prominently, Sahaquiel resonate with Jean Jacket’s depiction in Nope. From Ramiel’s stationary form to Sahaquiel’s massive wingspan with a central, unblinking eye, Peele’s creation seemed to have drunk deeply from Evangelion‘s fountain of imagination.
