Shinseiki Evangelion (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 14

Chapters: 97

Status: Finished

Published: Dec 26, 1994 to Jun 4, 2013

Genres: Action, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Suspense

Themes: Mecha, Psychological

Demographics: Seinen, Shounen

Serialization: Young Ace

Authors: Sadamoto, Yoshiyuki (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.58¹ (scored by 48,250 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #96²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #111

Members: 109,889

Favorites: 7,540

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8.58

Ranked #96Popularity #111Members 109,889

MangaYoung AceSadamoto, Yoshiyuki (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /14

Chapters: /97

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Synopsis

In 1999, a meteorite crashed into Antarctica. The impact melted the continental ice mass and drastically raised sea levels, damaging the world's climate and causing the deaths of over half its population. Now in 2015, devastating creatures of unknown origin—referred to as "Angels"—ravage what remains of the planet.

In the heavily fortified city of Tokyo-3, 14-year-old Shinji Ikari is destined to halt the Angels' onslaught. Recruited by his father's secret organization NERV, Shinji is enlisted as a pilot of an Evangelion, a massive bioorganic android created solely to defeat the Angels.

Suddenly with the weight of the world upon his shoulders, Shinji must find the courage and drive to stand up for the future—and himself. But as skirmishes between the Evangelions and Angels become recurrent, the horrifying truth of the world is slowly revealed.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Shinseiki Evangelion is based on the anime series but with several differences, written and illustrated by its character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. It was initially serialized in Shounen Ace, but moved to Young Ace on July 7, 2009. Although it was set to be released just shortly before the anime series began airing, production delays pushed the anime's airing date to 10 months after.

The series was published in English as Neon Genesis Evangelion by VIZ Media from December 1998 to May 2003 for seven volumes, it was later reprinted under the Action imprint label from February 25, 2004 to February 10, 2015 and in 3-in-1 omnibus edition's from November 13, 2012 to June 14, 2016, with the latter volume released in 2-in-1 format.

It was also published in Spanish as Neogénesis Evangelion by Norma Editorial in comic-book format since July 1997 until it was cancelled in July 2008, which was later published in the original 14-volume format from May 2003 to January 2015; in Brazilian Portuguese by Jbc from October 2011 to November 2014; and in Italian by Panini Comics under the Planet Manga imprint in comic-book format from November 1, 1997 to November 22, 2014, which was later published in the original 14-volume format from October 18, 2001 to November 22, 2014.

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Related Manga

Spin-off:	Shinseiki Evangelion: Ikari Shinji Tantei Nikki, Shinseiki Evangelion: Koutetsu no Girlfriend 2nd, Shinseiki Evangelion: Ikari Shinji Ikusei Keikaku, Shinseiki Evangelion: Gakuen Datenroku, Petit Eva: Evangelion@School, Petit Eva Bokura Tanken Doukoukai, Tony Takezaki no Evangelion, Shinseiki Evangelion: Pikopiko Chuugakusei Densetsu
Alternative version:	Evangelion: ANIMA
Other:	Shinseiki Evangelion: Comic Tribute, Evangelion: 3.0 (-120min.)
Adaptation:	Shinseiki Evangelion

More characters
Characters

Souryuu, Asuka Langley

Main

Ayanami, Rei

Main

Ikari, Shinji

Main

Katsuragi, Misato

Main

Nagisa, Kaworu

Supporting

Pen Pen

Supporting

Ikari, Gendou

Supporting

Makinami, Mari Illustrious

Supporting

Kaji, Ryouji

Supporting

Akagi, Ritsuko

Supporting

Reviews

Nov 6, 2023

hexashadow13

Recommended

tl;dr: An accompanying manga to Evangelion that isn’t able to capture all the magic, but comes pretty close while also managing to do better in some areas.

This manga is an adaptation of the anime with the same name, but it’s not really a replacement or alternative to watching the anime. It’s much more so an accompanying work that’s meant to be read after watching the anime. There are a number of reasons for this, though the one that seems the most explicitly obvious is that throughout the manga there are inserts in between chapters and at the end of volumes that have commentary from the ... author of the manga and staff that worked on the anime. Now of course the fact that one wouldn’t be able to appreciate insight into an anime that one has never watched is important, but even more important is that these inserts have spoilers for the story beyond where they’ve been inserted into the manga. Thus, as one should only read this manga after watching the anime, this review will assume that readers have watched the anime before reading this review and will have minor spoilers for the anime.

Overall, the plot is incredibly similar to the anime. It skips a lot, but the general path it’s following is the same for better or worse. It should be noted however that the way it chooses to convey the plot is a lot less unorthodox as compared to the anime, especially regarding the ending, and just in general I feel it’s easier to follow stories like this in writing than try to take them in through video. Thus, I think the manga makes things easier to understand as compared to the anime. However, as the plot is still the same with a focus on vibes over making sense, that’s not going to make a dramatic practical difference, but it does give a very different feel to the work.

Despite the plot being the same, the characters themselves are surprisingly different. Some characters, such as Asuka, Misato, and Kaji, I think give a different impression due to how the manga changes or skips parts that helped flesh out their character. Though ultimately, I would say that this is more a result of their surroundings than the characters themselves being different. However, there were also characters who were clearly different from their anime counterparts, namely Shinji and Kaworu. Regarding Kaworu, this works out somewhat bizarrely as the plot involving him is pretty much the same as the anime, despite the relationship between Shinji and Kaworu that should serve as the foundation for said plot being completely different. It felt kind of off and not well written.

The differences in Shinji outside of that worked a lot better. One of the core elements of Evangelion is a deconstruction of Shinji’s psyche. And thus, manga Shinji having a different, more positive psyche results in a work that is very different. The plot is still composed of the same events, but how manga Shinji goes from one to the next is very different from anime Shinji so it’s very interesting to watch for how these differences unfold. Though I feel that the manga skipped the events from the anime that it would have been too difficult to get manga Shinji to fit into which is somewhat disappointing in that attempts at those would have been the most interesting. Though I suppose the arc with Kaworu is the closest to that and had major issues so it may be for the best that the mangaka chose to just avoid them. Still, all in all I think it worked out quite well and resulted in the final impression the manga gives being very different from the one the anime does, and one that to be honest I’m much fonder of.

The art in the manga is great. The design work is the exact same as the anime as one would expect. But I was surprised at how well the art overall matched the anime. Not just in terms of the style itself, but also the paneling managing to capture the feel of key shots in the anime. There’s a lot it doesn’t manage to capture quite right of course, but considering Evangelion I wasn’t expecting it to come anywhere close most of the time, so how well it managed to do was quite unexpected. The manga is also full of a lot of really well done color illustrations that I was also impressed by.

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Apr 15, 2023

AronSensation

Recommended

Definitely it's one of the Mangas you gotta read before you die.
The drama and suspense are great as the story progresses.
The beginning of the plot takes place in the future after a major impact nearly wiped out humanity. After the impact the united nations funded a private company named "NERV" to create enormous machines they call EVAs.
15 years after the Impact a new wave of extraterrestrial invaders called Angels started attacking Earth Again.
At the time, our main character "Shinji" was the only one compatible to pilot the EVAs, suddenly the safety and future of humanity was in the ...

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Oct 20, 2021

nic016

Mixed Feelings

So I decided to give this highly praised manga a shot. I know the anime has mixed reviews, but I have no idea what it's about and I went in blind. This is what I thought:

Story: The story started strong. Simple and to the point, and I was hoping for a slow, methodical character development. Instead, I feel like the author rushed this. It almost felt like a summary of an anime or manga. Every other chapter a new character would show up. Halfway though I began to lose interest because things became overly complicated, but I'll just keep it at; the ending was not ...

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