qmisato:

anno wanted to kill toji off - he was supposed to die in episode 18 when unit 01 crushed his entry plug. but anno was forced to uphold two conditions on the part of eva’s production company, king records, to ensure his show would get airtime:

Takekuma: Toji lost his leg. Why didn’t he die?

Anno: I couldn’t kill him.

Takekuma: Of course.

Anno: No, um, I made a certain promise, though I think I might have broken it by now. From the start, when we drew up the plot, I met with the producer, from King Records, who told me, “I will approve the plan you submit, whatever it is, because I have faith in you. However, there will be two conditions. The first one is that you will remain with me for five years. You cannot, for example, do a film version with another producer. The additional condition is that you will not kill any children. The adults can die, but I don’t want children dying.” Because of that condition I couldn’t kill Toji. (interview excerpt from schizo/parano by mitsunari oizumi)

as anno alludes, sometime between episode 18 and episode 24 anno went fuck what da teacher said proper and killed off kaworu on a 6:30 primetime weekday timeslot. king records reportedly lost it and demanded to clear all storyboards before subsequent episodes would be aired.