In 1993, Gainax wrote a presentation volume of
Neon Genesis Evangelion named , containing a first draft of the planned episodes. The studio published the
Proposal document in 1994. In the
Proposal, the staff initially called the episode . After the battle with the Angel, Shinji would have become friends with Toji and Kensuke, receiving a call from them; Gainax, however, changed the planned scenario and moved the beginning of the friendship to the following episode, "
Hedgehog's Dilemma". The staff later changed the original title to "The Silent Phone", with the English title "A Transfer".
Neon Genesis Evangelion director
Hideaki Anno and Akio Satsukawa wrote the script for "A Transfer". Assistant director
Kazuya Tsurumaki and Hiroyuki Ishido composed the
storyboards. Ishido also served as director, while Nobuhiro Hosoi took the role of chief animator, and Tsurumaki and Yoshitoh Asari served as assistant character designers. Asari also worked on Angel Shamshel's design. Animator
Yō Yoshinari also contributed to the depiction of the battle against Eva-01 and Shamshel. According to the schedule, Anno had already worked on the fifth and sixth episodes of the series at the time. He felt he had to go beyond regular anime in developing realistic characters for "A Transfer" and "Hedgehog's Dilemma", so he tried to focus on Shinji's relationships in the installments. Specific technical terminology was used for the simulated battle in the first scene, including terms such as "gain" and "induction mode". Japanese academic Masaki Miyakawa noted how in Shinji's training scene, the control room where Ritsuko and Maya observe him has walls full of light indicators in the style of
Leiji Matsumoto, particularly reminiscent of
Space Battleship Yamato or
Galaxy Express 999. In the episode, an image of a crater generated by the battle in the previous episode, "
The Beast", was introduced, in which a mountain named Mount Takanosu was depicted. Tokyo-3 is also shown in a battle for the first time in "A Transfer"; for the landscapes of the city, Anno took inspiration from Tracy Island from the
Thunderbirds series and the headquarters of
UFOs SHADO organization. An imperfect three-dimensional representation of the Entry Plug was also added at the end of the episode, produced by Kensuke on his laptop according to his memories. Several voice actors were used again to portray Shinji's classmates in the installment; the female companions, in particular, are voiced by
Yūko Miyamura,
Kotono Mitsuishi, and
Megumi Hayashibara, who also voices the characters of
Asuka Langley Soryu,
Misato Katsuragi, and
Rei Ayanami. At the beginning of the episode, a radio program with two female speakers talking about
Matsuzaki city was included, revealing details about the geography of the world of
Evangelion in "A Transfer".
Junko Iwao and Yūko Miyamura voiced the two female speakers of the radio program. British singer Claire Littley sang a cover of "
Fly Me to the Moon" which was later used as the episode's closing theme song, replaced in late home video editions by another cover by
Yoko Takahashi. ==Cultural references and themes ==