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Historical Record
On 13 September 2000, the modern world of Evangelion is broken open by the disaster later known everywhere as Second Impact. The official story presented to the public is simple enough to fit on a government briefing sheet: a giant meteorite descends on the South Pole, a colossal explosion follows, Antarctic ice melts, tidal waves spread, and the Earth is knocked off its axis. That cover story is repeated because it gives frightened populations something legible to hold onto. Even in its public form, the event is almost beyond comprehension. Entire coastlines are altered. Nations face mass death, abrupt displacement, economic collapse, and a wave of environmental disruption that does not stop when the explosion ends.
Behind the official explanation lies the secret history. Hidden records describe Second Impact not as an ordinary celestial strike but as the result of a contact experiment involving Adam at the South Pole. The Katsuragi Expedition, backed by powerful interests, discovers Adam and the White Moon in Antarctica. The attempt to control or reseal what has been found ends in catastrophic failure. Adam is torn apart, the expedition is effectively annihilated, and the polar region is ruined. What matters in practical historical terms is that the concealed truth and the public lie begin on the same day. From this point on, the post impact world is not only damaged, it is administered through secrecy.
The human toll is immediate and global. More than two billion people die in the southern hemisphere according to the public information later circulated in classified background documents. Sea level rises by tens of meters. Japan becomes a land of perpetual summer. Drought, floods, volcanic activity, abnormal weather, food pressure, refugee crises, and state violence spread across continents already struggling to absorb the shock. The event is not a single blast followed by calm. It is the opening of a long emergency. Wars break out in the aftermath, and even the signing of later treaties does not erase the fact that society has been forced to reorganise around loss.
Second Impact also changes the structure of power. It creates the conditions for the rise of covert organisations, the militarisation of scientific research, and the construction of special purpose cities and weapons systems justified by existential danger. Fifteen years later, when citizens of Tokyo 3 move through retractable buildings and underground shelters, they are still living in the world Second Impact made. Every school drill, every UN command decision, and every secret meeting inside NERV depends on the premise that the next catastrophe must be prepared for before it arrives. In that sense, Second Impact is not just an event in the past. It becomes the governing memory of the entire age that follows it.
Key details
Date: 13 September 2000
Location: Antarctica, South Pole region
Source: Neon Genesis Evangelion, 1995 to 1996, and Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 Classified Information, 2003
Significance: Second Impact destroys Antarctica, kills billions, and creates the damaged world in which the rest of Evangelion unfolds.
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FAQ
Q: Was Second Impact really caused by a meteorite?
That is the public cover story inside the Evangelion world. Hidden records instead connect the event to Adam and the failed contact experiment in Antarctica.
Q: Does Second Impact kill half of humanity?
Yes, Evangelion background material consistently treats it as a global catastrophe on that scale. The deaths come both from the immediate event and from the wars and environmental collapse that follow.