A Cruel Angel's Thesis (????????? ,Zankoku na Tenshi no Teze?) is the theme song of the popular anime Neon Genesis Evangelion performed by Yoko Takahashi. It is used as the introduction to every episode, and two instrumental versions of it are played in the finale episode, "Take care of yourself." These are "The Heady Feeling of Freedom" and "Good, or Don't Be", scored for violin, piano and guitar. 'The Heady Feeling of Freedom" is a somber and reflective violin piece, while "Good, or Don't Be" is played to a light piano and guitar tone. Both are considerably different in feel from the more hard driving techno-dance original. A similar, but sparser, version can also be heard during the intermission between the two parts of Evangelion: Death and Rebirth.
According to the liner notes to the album Refrain of Evangelion, director Hideaki Anno had originally wanted to use music from Borodin's Polovetsian Dances as the opening. The TV station (TV Tokyo) felt that audiences would be confused by a classical opening to an anime, and requested a change to a more typical or J-Pop & upbeat song. The production of the result, "A Cruel Angel's Thesis", was handled by Toshimichi Otsuki. The original song included a male chorus, which was cut at Anno's request in order to "emphasize maternal affection".[citation needed]
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