I swear when I first saw this story on a Japanese blog about researchers in Tokyo naming their new anal oxygen treatment after Evangelion I thought it was a mistranslation. Then the good folks over at SoraNews24 confirmed the facts, which left me absolutely no choice but to report on it so that all of you could be as informed as I am. In other words, if I have to have this knowledge in my head, so do you.
We’re no stranger to writing about butt stuff here at the J-List blog, but this takes the fish cake. Researchers in Tokyo have developed a new oxygen treatment that doctors who are suffering from shortages of items (such as ventilators) could use due to the worldwide pandemic. The new treatment involves injecting liquid oxygen into humans via the anus using an enema in order for them to absorb the oxygen through their intestines. So far the treatment has only been tested on rats and pigs, but the good news is that it’s already proven successful with very few (if any) side effects.
The treatment is called “enteral ventilation via anus” or “EVA” for short and, as I mentioned, that’s no coincidence as the researchers were partially inspired by the anime series’ concept of the Eva pilots breathing liquid oxygen (they were also inspired by a small eel-like fish which can breathe through its butt, but we’re ignoring that part for now for the sake of the article).
While we’re still likely a long way away from seeing this research actually put into practice with humans in hospitals, this research could one day save many lives should the researchers’ hypothesis prove correct. This could go down as the latest example of anime keeping us all healthy in a quite literal way, as science-fiction becomes reality.
While I’ve never been a huge fan of Evangelion, it’s fascinating to see a key part of the Eva pilot sequence get turned into reality in this way. Now we just have to hope that other parts of the franchise can come true too. Well, not the whole being attacked by angels thing… or the psychotic mecha thing… or the abusive and yet all-powerful father figure thing… you know what? Maybe I’ll leave this whole wish-fulfillment thing to those who are much smarter than myself.
Sources: 2ch, SoraNews24
