Shinseiki Evangelion
Neon Genesis Evangelion

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Don't hesitate. Read it.

If you loved the anime, this will be great

If you hated the anime, this is redemption

Well...
If you havent watched the anime, Watch the anime first, the series, and then come back.

Although it's my personal opinion, this is much better than the anime. It's cleaned up, brings all of the characters together in a good manner, and the character development is much more enjoyable.
...
The psychological scenes have more meaning and aren't thousands of random pictures and images being thrown into your face

I haven't read a lot of mangas, but I couldn't stop reading this. It's funny, has lots of emotions, and brings to the table everything I love about NGE, and even more.

A nice change is that Shinji isn't such a whiner. He's more rebellious than anything, yet maintains his identity. (Thank the Gods)

It sticks more to the Series than anything, yet it takes its own path which was incredible. It also has a smooth transition to now-a-days Rebuild Movies. Which gives it a oh hot diggity dayum moment in the final chapters

It definitely goes into more detail about characters that were never truly explained
Example:
Kaji's past
Yui's past
Gendo's past
And even dives deeper into Asuka's past
Well, just about everyone's...
(And clears up a lot of what was not explained in the Series)

And Rei talks, and theirs romance, and feels, and ugh!! It's great!!

Most likely of why you're here is because you just finished the anime known as "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and simply want more, more beyond than what the Rebuild movies could ever provide for you! Curious ol' you now wonders, "Is it even worth reading this manga?" Granted, it is assumed you really enjoyed the anime series to even consider it. Otherwise, if you're one of the ones that didn't like Neon Genesis Evangelion to begin with (and that's okay!), you'll for the most part see exactly what you were offered in the anime and thus you might want to steer clear of this manga.
Now, for ... the ones that did express genuine interest in NGE, I would highly recommend this manga title, without a doubt! What you get on the surface is basically the exact same story and characters shown in the series. So why read it if it is basically the same as the anime? Is there anything different?
Well! To start off with, imagine getting to know most of the characters more in depth than you would of in NGE. Rei for instance is much more talkative, yet at the same time, she retains that secretive and quiet personality witnessed in the anime. For someone like me, this manga helped me find Rei to be a more likable character because of the fact I get to see more interaction in relation to herself and the other characters from her end! Plus, the relationship development between Rei and Shinji is much more developed throughout the manga, which gives you a glimpse beyond the obedient 'doll'. Asuka is still her feisty self, and in some regard, she's even more feisty, so if you loved Asuka already, you should have no issue loving her even more! Don't worry, her background story is still included too. Shinji is also relatively the same person as well, the self-loathing, depressed, hopeful, rebellious, and redeeming young man that makes Shinji, Shinji!
Still curious? Alright!
When it comes to the story, as mentioned before, is for the most part, untouched. But! How it comes out differently is exhibited in three ways:

1) Take for example, in the first chapter, the first Angel that Shinji lays eyes upon for the first time, is squaring it off with Rei in an Evangelion. While this was not shown in the anime, it does not hinder the expected outcome, in which case, the expected outcome is for Shinji to show up in front of the Evangelion for his first fight. That added detail helps reinforce the forthcoming situations and events to be better executed. So whenever Shinji sees Rei bandaged up and injured prior to agreeing to pilot Eva, the reader now understands why Rei is so shaken up: she was trying to fend off the Angel! In general, the outcome will be the same in the manga, but how it gets there is altered in some way, and mostly it's for the better!

2) A LOT more is explored than originally shown from the anime. Want more background information on Kaji? You got it! You want to get a glimpse into what Rei really thinks about Gendo in scenes that the anime kept hidden from you? You got it! You want to see more of the daily life Shinji had with his friends? You bet! You want to peer even more into Shinji's mind during those "events"? You guessed it! It even gives more light to Kaworu Nagisa's character and his relationship to Shinji and what his personality is like than the brief encounter that you saw in NGE or in End of Evangelion.

3) This manga assumes you have watched the series. It is evident because certain events are briefly covered as it was already something explored in the series. This happens rarely though since what is omitted (besides some of the battles of course) is overshadowed by the amount of content I mentioned in points 1 and 2. In essence, if you have seen the anime series, it shouldn't be a bother when certain events or background information is mentioned briefly.

There are few gripes I had with this manga though. Some included minor story details that I preferred in the anime series (won't mention them in this review of course) or certain parts of the story were left out. Others included such examples like Touji coming across as being a hillbilly-like character, which I don't think was a heavy trait in the series as much as the manga portrays Touji to be; the series seemed to have given Touji a more serious attitude with less immature-like qualities than what the manga offered. Of course however, these issues weren't distracting enough to hinder my overall personal enjoyment.

Overall, this manga is perfect for the NGE fan wanting to continue on with even more exploration into the story and character development that creates NGE! Feel free to drop me a line if you found this review useful or inaccurate to what you experienced~

Has decided to make the review of this manga so it has very strongly hooked on me. First I always liked a theme of psychology, strangenesses, etc. (and Evangelion I consider as the best psychological anime/manga, that proves numerous interrogations) and secondly I would like to learn history on manga. And I have not regretted. Even those moments, characters, an outcome of a story, incomprehensibility of a story, incompleteness of a story, "not up to disclosing" of characters and other, other, that in TV or Movie initially have not liked me with perusal manga completely have exchanged (and favourite only were grew fond)
As to manga ... in itself it is the best manga from those that I while has read through / saw. Besides that it in itself interesting and grasping, and most "readable", in comparison with others "creative" mangs.


Story: 9 (because manga still is issued)
Art: 10 (besides that art in itself class, and is made so, that all the actions occuring in manga) (no are clear absolutely all)
Character: 10 (as even in comparison with TV or Movie any character given manga is opened much better and more clearly to the reader.)
Enjoyment: 10 (to those people to whom the theme of psychology simply not is interesting can to not put "10" :-), especially such legend as Evangelion.)
Overall: 10 (*read above listed items))))))

It was towards the end of summer and I had yet to ever read a manga and I had tons of time on my hands so I decided to read the manga adaptation of Neon Genesis Evangelion, as the anime before had left in a sort of confused state and I didn't totally understand what people meant when they said that Eva is deep, but that was before I read this...

Impression:
From the very get go I was pulled into the story just as episode one of the anime had done before, but this didn't feel like the Eva I previously knew, it was different as ... some of the events in the story were different in comparison to the anime, getting from point A to point B was a new experience though the manga does not stray to far from the story laid out by the anime however the first 3 volumes of the manga were already out before the anime had ever aired.
The best way to put it is that the manga is like a different interpretation of the same story done by the anime, the story and the characters are handled a little differently, as most of the manga was written after the anime's alleged end so the writer already had a good idea of where to go so everything seems more planned out and every event has purpose and a feeling of progression.
Now I can't say what the fans of the original series will think of this manga in whether they will like it or not but as a bit of advisory the story (as I said before) is handled differently, thats all I can say for that.
If you are a person like me who watched the anime and was not totally satisfied with it and felt like they kinda gave up and half assed it a little bit, or if you down right hated the anime for the typical reasons a lot of people hate Eva. (not gonna get into that)
Then good news, this won't make you depressed, but it's not like a generic mech anime it's still eva and the manga still keeps it's eva charm were not everything is perfect and it still keeps it's dark psycho-analysis and religious symbolic undertone and it doesn't sacrifice it's complex story either and all of the elements of eva are still present, but instead of bashing your head on the keyboard at the end of the series, you'll actually get it, or at least I got it, I can't really speak for everyone but that was pretty much my experience.
As for anyone who is arriving fresh with no prior knowledge nor experience to the franchise then you should expect to be taken for a ride.

Characters:
The characters in the manga are very well expanded on for the most part as eva is a more character driven story but even so just to get this out of the way one major con with this (and this applies to your particular taste) was probably Asuka, I didn't find anything wrong with her character in the manga but at some point of the story she was a little shoved off to the side and became more of a secondary character that only developed to a certain point though this also happens in the anime I think it is more noticeable in the manga, I don't particularly care for her character but there are other people who do so I'm just including that for their sake.
As for Shinji our lead male protagonist, he's actually not half bad in the manga, he's still angsty teenager we get to see more of his thoughts and he becomes a more understandable character where you see things from more of his prospective though at times I think he was a little more courageous in the manga I felt like I understood more on why he would do the things he did that in the anime made me completely hate his character at times, and I found that I liked him more in the manga with out it feeling like the shinji from the original series was completely replaced.
Rei was an interesting character in the manga as she seemed a little more talkative than what she was in the anime but there was also a lot more of a focus on her character in the manga, her character development happens pretty smoothly and the turns out to be a very interesting character as the manga goes more in depth with her.
Ryoji Kaji, who isn't even a major character in the story was also a very interesting character as the manga goes into his backstory which does a great job at explaining his motives for his actions in both the anime and the manga and it gives his character a whole lot of depth.
Another character who gets a lot of development was Kaworu who comes in the latter half of the story starts out seeming kinda creepy and cold but eventually begins to develop more of a personality.
most of the other characters are relatively the same as they were in the anime but the manga seems to take more time going in depth with them.

Final verdict:
I'm going to have to give this one a 10 out of 10 which I don't normally do but I can't find to many flaws with this manga, now like I said before some of the more hardcore fans of the anime might say something different but for anyone that is a little confused with eva, I highly suggest reading this manga.

Story: A true masterpiece. The writing is very cohesive and understandable. This manga is great regardless if you loved or hated the anime adaptation. I actually advise that you watch the anime first, read the manga, then watch the anime again because it will all come full circle; which an anime is suppose to do regardless. I wish I picked up the manga much earlier in my life rather than recent years then I could answer confidently that this is my favorite series of all time. It's a story that successfully answers all of your questions, but leaving more questions, but not in regard to ... plot holes, but just out of pure curiosity. The concept of the series is very interesting and fresh. It disguises itself as just another mecha anime, but that is just the surface of the ocean you are witnessing. The story is more of a nod onto the effects of different types of upbringings; such as neglect, loss, abuse, etc. The story itself is psychological rather than mecha, so be prepared for that heading in.

Art: I'm not sure why, but the art style is very nostalgic. It's familiar, but also unique to it. The angels look both angelic and hellish. The characters also have iconic designs which is easily recognizable to everyone. New anime fans and old all recognize Asuka Langley and Rei Ayanami. Everyone recognizes the Evangelions. This manga just knew what it was doing when designing the cast.

Character: I will admit, at first, you will hate Shinji Ikari, but as time goes on, you won't. All of the characters are awesome in my opinion. Their psyche is what keeps me hooked to them. Shinji and Asuka both want to be loved, but both struggle expressing themselves and for different reasons. Shinji is timid and don't know how to understand his feelings while Asuka is just tsun af. Katsuragi struggles with knowing if what she's doing is the right thing. Rei starts to develop feelings as time goes on and struggles with undestanding them as a whole (she's a Kuudere). This manga will have you seeking and wanting to learn more of each character.

Enjoyment: I enjoyed this manga very much. The first time I read it, I mistakenly read it to fast and it was already over. A part of me which he series was longer and had kept going on, but all things must come to an end and I'm happy this series hasn't been ruined.

Overall: Definitely give this a read if you're into psychological thriller stuff. Yes, there's action, romance, and mecha stuff, but it's not the focus. The stuff there is good, but just don't have high expectations going into it in that regard.

Shinji: **exists**
Gendo: Get in the manga, Shinji

Shinji: Can I cum inside?
Gendo: No…that’ll make the pages sticky.

The 1995 Neon Genesis Evangelion anime, directed by Hideaki Anno, ingratiated the fandom into esoteric concepts that were rarely — if ever! — considered by the layperson. Furthermore, it offered little in the way of clarifying the concepts it was symbolically alluding to; plus, the staff deliberately deceived viewers into thinking the religious elements were inconsequential to the thematic elements and character arcs, when that couldn’t be further from the truth; and this becomes obvious when one reads the 1994 manga by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.

It should be noted that ... Mr. Sadamoto played a critical role in the original series, The End of Evangelion (EoE), and the rebuild movies; therefore, his ‘unraveling’ of the ambiguous concepts Anno exhibited can be viewed as legitimate. The ideas of integrating one’s ‘shadow’ (unexpressed half) through externalizing the dionysian/animalistic desires, understanding the angels/gods as manifestations of one’s inner psyche, and identifying/rectifying the imbalances of one’s inner world can be taken as vital components of the evangelion mythos. But could this elucidation be more of hindrance than a help? Artistic works thrive on enigma — particularly, evangelion — thus, allowing one to discover facets about themselves whilst coming to an understanding about the series.

While Mr. Sadamoto’s approach was more ‘direct,’ it did not take away from the primary aims of the story. In fact, elaborating on Kaji’s backstory was a benefit to the narrative, as it provided context about the world (post Second Impact) and offered an understanding regarding his motivations. Seele’s gnostic/kabbalistic beliefs were more transparent, but not enough so to make them any less interesting as a clandestine organization. I’m sure some will view these extra details as superfluous, taking away from what should have been inaccessible. Art has an aspect of the infinite — through its boundless interpretations —and through crystallizing core concepts, Mr. Sadamoto, somewhat, undermined Anno’s organic, psychological emesis.

In other words, Sadamoto provided the Apollonian interpretation to Anno’s Dionysian eruption. It’s a different means of achieving the same ends. One is an artistic tour de force that attempts to stimulate the ‘dark’ energies of the abyss; while the other grabs your hand — like a psychologist of sorts — and gives a road map for how to proceed. In this sense, the manga can be seen as less ‘deep,’ but is depth the criteria for ‘greatness’…or is execution the standard of standards? Miyazaki’s films are by no means convoluted, but ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ stands among the select few of precipitating one’s most inner feelings. Complexity is not a precursor for success. Sadamoto’s execution of Anno’s themes are what matters, and in this regard, he succeeded with flying colors.

In regards to the artwork, it is exceptional-to-great. Sadamoto’s character designs are distinct, yet at the same time, they feel ubiquitous. I would imagine numerous Japanese teenagers could see themselves in Shinji, which allows them to vicariously experience his tumult and apply his lessons to their own lives. Depression, after all, is a pervading element for the human species, one in which we all experience (either transiently or chronically). Sadamoto, like Anno, captures the introverted tendencies of the depressed individual and offered a male/female solution for confronting this ailment. Perhaps ‘aliment’ is not the correct word, as depression is more of a ‘call-to-action,’ an internal demand to become who we truly are!

This review is for both newcomers and veterans of NGE who have yet to read the manga.

Story:
You're walking into a heavy laden narrative filled with an incredibly thick amount of character drama. Even if you're only reading this because big robots and monsters, it's better for each big robot to be piloted by a well-developed character and for a giant monster to pose a threat to them, then to merely watch them fight because reasons. For a story to have a strong ensemble cast is quite impressive, and it flows flawlessly across each of their histories to tell an all inclusive story that demands a ... righteous ending.

That said, the ending is the biggest fault here. It's not that it's complex (contrary to popular belief), it's that it ends very abruptly. This may seem natural after you've read it, but when it really, really doesn't flow well. Not only that, near the end is when the characters lose their backbone and become placeholders. Most notably, Shinji.

After a certain event (for those who have seen the anime, you may know what I'm talking about), he reacts to it in a way that doesn't seem reasonable. Perhaps I'm coming at it as, "I've seen the anime and they changed this in the manga and I don't like it!" but I can guarantee that this is not one of those moments. In fact, a majority of the changes prior to the introduction of a new character were all better than the anime. I've reviewed the anime as an overall 7/10 solely because of the issues the manga has omitted, which lead me to think this was going to be a 10/10, if not a 9. The problem is that within the previous production, those events were flawless (not splurging about the anime, but rather that the reactions of the characters and events following made sense within the world.) Within the manga, which is virtually the same world, these things are changed based on outrageous decisions that make no sense. It's a shame, really.


Art:
Pretty darn good! There were only a few panels where I started to confuse the motions with the backdrop. The characters look fantastic, and the settings are really detailed. The only reason this isn't a perfect is because the use of blacks I felt was not properly used during the final sequences. Not to spoil, but this climax is a climax of the ages. The art put into it was great, but could use some more work. I suppose it comes down to how detailed a drawing can get when compared to a digital image, but I digress. Still not an excuse, when Miura can do this perfectly with Berserk.


Character:
Perhaps some of the best-written characters you will ever read about in your entire life. The amount of detail put into their history helps expand the world and creates a believable cast with motives that seem real. All of it ties together for the finale as well. It's great. However, like I mentioned prior, there is an event that makes no sense. It is a change from the original work and it's pointless.


Enjoyment:
Hell yeah I enjoyed it. There are things in the manga that helped explain things that hadn't been expanded on in any other NGE work. Coming into this blind for the first time is nice in that regard to some, but i still would suggest coming into this after having experienced the anime and the finale film, End of Evangelion. You will enjoy this much more, and you probably will have enjoyed the anime/movie more because you didn't spoil certain aspects of the narrative by reading the manga. That said, still enjoyed this very much.


Final Thoughts (personal, non-critical opinion)
I'm mostly just disappointed that every iteration of NGE has flaws. The anime has some stuff in the middle that was a real bore to watch, but still sci-fi-esque so I didn't mind. Sci-fi's are supposed to be kinda boring, that's where you get all the smart tech talk. That said, they didn't add much to the narrative. The Rebuilds are the reverse of that, not spending enough time on certain aspects, but still being an enjoyable watch. The only flawless piece i the NGE franchise is EoE and that's a very eccentric film, considering it doesn't follow a standard 3 part act narrative, so in some way I feel as though it doesn't necessarily count.

Maybe after Anno completes the Rebuilds he'll wait 20 years before he's about to die or something and re-animate the original series and put the best parts of the anime and the manga together, and then just re-animate EoE with no real changes other than a face lift. This isn't required, and I don't particularly care for it because I still love the NGE world, but one can dream, right?


((If you liked this review, friend me for new reviews on other works, both manga and anime!))

For those who enjoyed the series, but felt that the end budget constraints and original ending were dissapointing (Before End of Eva), this is for you.

For the most part is pretty 1:1 the original series which is great because A) The original is still fantastic generally and is still preserved and respected here and B) It ends up adding so much new content and additional details to the characters and scenarios, despite how small some of them are, that it all feels completely new from their inclusion alone and developed them far beyond the original series.

The additions that shine brightest are the characters who, although ... subtly different in ways from the series, are given just that bit more personality, helped by the art especially, with more time spent to develop each and every one of them featuring more intereaction between all of them. Being able to hear what every character is thinking and adding to their interactions being key to the manga over the series. Kaworu in particular, who I personally felt was weak in his original inclusion being introduced overly late in the series to have a proper emotional impact, being given far more development and time overall which can be said for every character.

Flawless art. Captures Eva's original imagery and scale effortlessly while adding new imagery and ideas which are iconic in their own right. There's still the same level of care and character as the original series, but like the story, the manga simply adds more to it and has more fun taking advantage of little details in every page.

Just like the original, it's also just generally very fun while also tackling serious topics. The character chemistry is consistently interesting and hilarious when it wants to, the fights are engaging with some incredible imagery (Kaworu in Unit 03 literally weilds a chainsaw at one point), the story goes in directions you don't expect even if you've seen the original and it always manages to remain entertaining with both its humor and more personal issues without going too far on either one with both complimenting each other.

If you liked the series, then you will adore the manga. Every issue I had with the series was dealt with by the manga and more content was added on top from there. The Defintive Evangelion experience in my mind.

I finally finished the manga of the famous anime tv series Evangelion and i must say i liked the manga alot better because of the different ending. It's a deeper series than your avarage manga. It was a series that heavy on the christian mythology, especially symbolic use of christian mythology. There were probably parts that i didn't understand because i don't know christianty very well as a guy who was raised as a muslim, but the human side of the story was very good, that's what really impresed me. All of the subjects touched in the manga aside, what they tried to achive with ... the story was make Shinji who was the main character want to live, he was a 14 year old angsty boy who the creative team saw as their audiance lol (i'm not Shinji, damn it ! lol) so by making Shinji want to live in the end, they hope that their audiance who are 14 year old (in spirit) sulky otakus will want to live... lol well, we all hope so. lol

It was a mecha manga and the main mecha Eva 01's design was so good, i really loved that design. The other Evas' designs which were variations of Eva 01's design were good too since the original source is very good.

Misato was such a lovely character, waifu metarial desu. :D

Neon Genesis Evangelion left a great impact upon the anime culture and to this day possesses the archetypal tropes that not only are seen in modern-day mecha anime, but also within other genres. The original anime sparked so many discussions and theories among the characters, and the depth it actually gives, while in essence, it really just comes off as pretentious.

The 1995 anime felt boring. Not the film, though, because the film wraps up the story nicely and grotesquely. The TV series had a disjointed narrative that, while good in confusing the audience on the big picture, does not give enough for the events transpiring ... to actually make sense at all, turning the story around into what would have been a grim and dark deconstruction of the mecha genre, to an unnecessarily disturbing clusterfuck of a plot. So there lies the question: What if Evangelion was better paced?

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto is one of the regular Gainax character designers, having helped create some of the most impactful characters for the bigshot shows the studio had to offer, particularly the cult classic OVA FLCL, and of course, Neon Genesis Evangelion. Little do people know, that while the show is thriving in Shinji x Kaworu shipping posts all over the Internet, there is actually an Evangelion manga—all drawn and plotted by him, that ran from 1994 to 2013(!). This leads us to make a proper segue into the actual review.

Let us start with the art, since we're talking about Sadamoto. Knowing that the manga is made by the actual character designer for the show puts the mind at ease, for you don't have to worry about consistency dropping, and this holds true. For about 19 years the style of Shinji and the cast remained all the same, and everyone looks like their anime counterparts: how their facial expressions look, and how the scenery and the battle scenes are drawn are like a prelude to the Rebuild films.

There is also a remarkable and significant point to take note of: the presentation. Hideaki Anno and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto are two different people, with their two different concepts, working under the same ground. Since the show has gone and made great use of producing a cathartic effect—through disturbing and awkward imagery, it is pretty hard to follow that same format into a manga, since the series had utilized the visual medium so well. It is surprising to see that, while toned down with lesser nudity and graphic scenes, the manga retains the same core themes as the show's, albeit having a lesser degree of bringing out the most disgusting of feelings, had far more emotional inclination for the characters themselves.

The point I'm getting to is while the Evangelion series are something of merit, it has always been hard to approach it because of its obscurity—and when you do actually get close, it looks more like just an observation of an art piece, which is one thing for a TV show, but it must require more than just investment—it requires immersion. Sadamoto's art direction fills that void within the manga and gives you a sense of sympathy for the characters and their inevitable problems.

I stated before in my End of Evangelion review that I hated the characters. They had nothing to go for, Shinji is stupid, and only Asuka had the honor of being likable. The manga seemed like the character analysis side the anime never had, and while the anime DID have those analyses, being a psychological anime above others, it never felt like it was too in depth because it was grossing over Freudian and 2deepforme perspectives too much. Sure, having a Freudian analogy to everything is great, it's awesome. But it's practically useless and contains the same pretentiousness as it does with its religious symbolism. For the manga, though, it seemed more philosophical than psychological, and that may be good because we were given more time to enter the minds of the characters and sympathize with their questions about life, their motives and their principles.

The scope for the drastic changes about the characters are too wide, and so I will focus on the three main characters.

Shinji, for one, comes off as a mixture of Rebuild Shinji and TV Shinji, and is the perfect and ideal representation for a self-doubting person who must learn to amp up his confidence level not only for the sake of others but for himself as well. This is a Shinji that is more realistic than any of the two iterations—self-questioning and not entirely apathetic for most of the time, and I found myself enjoying his philosophical questions and how, for once, I felt a connection with the character.

I didn't dislike Asuka's characterizations for the most part, but it's weaker than the original Asuka. She starts off strong (her introduction is different from the anime), but she remains stagnant as the later chapters give more focus to Rei, Shinji, and the plot. Of course, like usual, she becomes the badass MVP of the game in the End of Evangelion arc, but to be honest, there was nothing new to note about her. If anything, she's less harsh...but I am unsure whether that is a bad or good thing.

Rei became one of my favorite characters in this story, and at this point I started to think that the Rebuilds might have gotten inspiration from the manga to utilize this form of character development. I don't know why, but I like female characters that were originally heartless in a sense (see: Saber, Arcueid from the Type-Moon franchise) and learn to become more and more human. One particular event in Rei's character arc hurt me far worse than the anime did. The manga has given Rei justice in becoming an important character and not a mere plot device.

The other side characters not mentioned develop better than the show, most notably Kaworu and Gendo, who became characters that you needed to care about and not the ones you just gloss over to get to the progression of the plot.

Now, while the plot is fundamentally the same as the TV show, its modifications to the minor details made the manga a notch higher in telling the story than the source material. Instead of moving ahead and confuse viewers, the manga takes its time for the readers to catch up while maintaining its sense of obscurity. Take note that the said minor details have a greater effect if you have watched the series AND the film first, and it is highly recommended to do so to get enjoyment. The manga stands alone from the anime, but to understand how complex Evangelion is you need to see it from its original form.

Also, this may be pretty subjective but listening to the song "Komm, Susser Tod" while reading the End of Evangelion arc is pretty awesome.

Regarding the ending, it isn't as controversial as the endings Evangelion has produced in the past, but even a whiny character like Shinji deserves a happy ending.

The Evangelion manga makes up for a lot of the plot holes the original Neon Genesis Evangelion anime had, and it clears up some of the confusion and may have answered of the questions about the franchise's lore. Regardless, there is one important part of the story that will make you question what you know about Evangelion once again...but that will be for a different day. It's compact, it is complete, it is wholesome, and it is Evangelion.

"You and I may closely resemble each other, but we are not the same."
—Rei Ayanami

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.

Neon Genesis Evangelion – Spoiler Free – Recommended

TLDR
Story – 9/10 – 9 x 0.275 = 2,475
Art – 8/10 – 8 x 0.2 = 1,6
Characters – 8/10 – 8 x 0.225 = 1,8
Enjoyment – 8/10 – 9 x 0.3 = 2,4
Total: 8,275 -> 8

Story – 9/10
... This review targets the story of the manga Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is comprised of the original anime, the director’s cut, the End of Evangelion film, and the ending of the rebuild version. Being the manga an adaptation, the comparison between the original material and the manga is inescapable.
As it is known, there are several versions of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and the manga is just one of them. The story nevertheless has the same premises and can be understood as a more refined (up for debate) and unified (this is certain) version of the plethora of films and animes that NGE has.
One of the good things about the manga is the depressive turn in some of its details. For example, one of the characters—which I won't spoil—gets killed in the manga but only injured in the anime. This does justice to the overall depressive undertone of NGE. The pacing is also different and more focused on character development rather than action.
There are also insights into the lore of the world that help one interpret the quasi-mystic religiosity that Evangelion naturally entails. However, it must be said that Evangelion is not a difficult story.
The story's first half is better played out than in the anime, partly due to the reduction of the number of angels. The last volumes, too, are absolute page-turners and are impossible not to binge-read. However, I believe one of the problems with the manga version is the ending. I genuinely didn't like the ending, being just an easy way out of an otherwise incredible and engaging story. In this sense, the End of Evangelion is still the superior version (in my humble opinion).

Art – 8/10
Neon Genesis Evangelion’s art is great. It is very expressive and works really well to convey the message and meaning of the panels. There are also awe-inspiring pages that really help the “shock value” (not in a bad sense) of some scenes. The character design is also impeccable, making it easy to tell characters apart. The action scenes are straightforward to read through and fun to do so.

Characters – 8/10
Characters are memorable and have personalities of their own. Moreover, since some of them are in their teens, questions such as sexual discovery and the beginning of puberty are explored in the manga, and it is well done in that regard. The interaction between characters is interesting and engaging. The characters’ past is also explained in greater detail than in the anime, which is a surprise but a welcome one.

Enjoyment – 8/10
One must never underestimate the enjoyment that Neon Genesis Evangelion gives. It is a depressive story with a great atmosphere. There are, however, some differences from the anime version, such as the number of angels in the beginning, which reduces its monster-of-the-week effect. There are also some differences in pacing, which, I must say, fit better than the original one. Things feel more fleshed out and robust, and the characters are better developed. After reading the manga, it is hard to see some of the other versions and not think of the manga as – sometimes – a superior version. In all fairness, all forms are valid to experience Evangelion’s unique story, and the lack of an OST (for obvious reasons) also removes some of its charms (let us not forget Evangelion’s incredible intro) or Beethoven’s 9th symphony in the original. Be it whatever it may, if God's in His heaven – all's right with the world!

Acknowledgements
A special thanks to Turambar5 for his insights into the anime versions of NGE and his comments on the text.

I'm going to start by saying that anime really seems better to me than manga, however manga seems like a very good way to complement the series. Things that are not completely clear or they lack a bit of development get along well, among them is the relationships of shinji with misato, rei and asuka that are better and clearer here, the only things that seem worse to me carried (Although I do not think it was entirely bad to experiment a little in these but they ended up not working) are Kaworu and Kaji, Kaji seems to me that he was a character that ... lived a lot of mystery, and here to explain more about him without finishing convincing in his story and having strange attitudes with Shinji seems to me that he is less interesting and even annoying, which was never in the original series, and on the other hand Kaworu always seemed to me a character who comes to be a support for Shinji in his difficult situation and not to make him feel uncomfortable as it happens in this manga to be rejected by him and basically beg for his attention, in the anime their relationship is good, Kaworu always knows what to say and do to try Anxiety Shinji, even before he dies, seems to really understand it but in the manga you can't wait for the moment when Shinji kills him, and the guilt for killing him is not so credible, so much so that even the story seems to forget him completely Like shinji, for the rest even gendo and yui seem to me to have more interesting background, and the events of The End Of Evangelion are even clearer, and even at the end we have something that not many may like as is the theme of the "reincarnations" or something similar with the characters trying to lead their lives better but for me it is not a bad way to close with this manga

This manga singlehandedly converted me from an Eva hater to a Eva fan. If this is your first time reading Eva, I recommend you watch the anime first. Because one of the best experiences you can have while reading the manga is comparing it to the anime and feeling so much better because you know what was changed.

To give you some background, I gave up while trying to watch the Evangelion anime. It was too "deep" for my tastes. I still watched a good chunk of the show--around 16 episodes I think--but by the time I dropped the series, I hated every character and had ... no intention of continuing the series. So when I decided to pick up the manga on a whim, I was absolutely blown away.

First, the art is amazing. I always had mixed feelings on the art style of the anime, but Sadamoto's linework in still form knocked it out of the park. It is simply immaculate. The shading, the thickness of the lines, the facial expressions, the composition, etc. I could go on and on about how good everything looks.

Second, the story and the characters in the manga are *satisfying*. The anime almost intentionally makes everything unsatisfying to be more artistic. This can really appeal to some people, but I could not stand it. Nearly every character gets a subtle shift in their personality that makes them less "realistic," but much more appealing as characters.

Let's take for instance, Kensuke Aida. You may be thinking right now, "Shinji's classmate that wears glasses? Why is he important?" It's because I believe the changes made to Kensuke in his introduction to Shinji are a perfect little microcosm of everything I dislike about the anime and everything I love about the manga. When Shinji gets confronted by Toji, Kensuke is there with them. In both versions, Toji gets pissed off at Shinji for reasons outside of Shinji's control. In the anime, Toji beats up Shinji while Kensuke just kind of watches, despite the fact Shinji is a goddamn hero who saved the entire city. In the manga, Kensuke stops Toji before he could fight Shinji basically saying 'dude what the hell are you trying to do to the guy that saved this city'.

In the anime, Kensuke's actions are "realistic." Most people don't really have a strong moral compass. Most people wouldn't stop their Toji from beating up Shinji, knowing how his sister could have died. But that realism is immensely unsatisfying! I was yelling at my screen when watching the anime "my guy, aren't you going to stop Toji??? Shinji literally fought off the thing trying to kill all of you guys."

But the manga, almost as if it knew this exact thought I had, addresses it directly! This isn't just an isolated incident either. The reason why I use Kensuke is that even something this minuscule that most people wouldn't have thought that much about is changed in a way that makes the story feel better but without too big of changes to the story or the characters.

A lot of people will point to how much of a gigachad Shinji in the manga is compared to the anime. However, Shinji's actions from the manga to the anime are still almost mostly identical (except for a few at the very end but let's ignore those for now). The only thing different about Shinji is his mindset and how he views himself and the world. Shinji actually grows in a meaningful way because he is willing to improve rather than being depressed 80% of the time.

These types of changes are all over the story, Asuka, Kaji, Misato, Akagi, heck, even Gendo receives a more fitting and appropriate end to his character arc here than in the anime. Some may disagree whether these changes are "improvements" or not, but it definitely made reading Eva at least a hundred times more enjoyable than watching it.

Evangelion is a masterpiece. But I never would have known that without this manga.

"Don't think you can try to understand me. For some reason, humans try hard to understand others. But remember this: people will never completely understand each other." (Gendo Ikari to Shinji in ch. 29)

It's already hard to understand one's own heart. In the midst of all the confusion of war and terrifying revelations about his own role in carrying out that war, Shinji must figure out how to find the courage to pilot the dang Eva, but also the courage to try to understand others, despite the hurt it may bring him. The winding path to his self-understanding is enthralling--at least it was for me, ... because I love seeing freaky robo-monsters fighting freaky alien-monsters.

I'd recommend giving this a read if you want to understand the world of Evangelion better, especially characters' motivations that aren't totally clear or explained in the animated series and movies. Plus, it's one more alternate ending to the story of Shinji and the many other characters--and a lot of characters' relationships are very different compared to the animated versions! The world of Evangelion is so complex and there's so much to explore, so I think it's worth it to learn more about. The art is beautiful, the story struck me in a different way than the animated versions did, and for me, personally, this version offers the most satisfying ending. The themes of the story are explored more deeply and give a better understanding of what Hideaki Anno wanted to say with this story.

I still think that, like the animated versions, each read of this manga will leave you with a different impression, or different things will strike you differently each read. The original series can be a slog, but this was a pleasure to read.

It's not an overstatement to say that Neon Genesis is probably the most argued over series ever created, and it's not an exaggeration to say that every single frame of that show has been deconstructed, overanalyzed, and misunderstood a thousand times over in every position known to the critical lense of man. For a series that has such a massive cultural footprint, it makes me sad to see that the manga it spawned failed to attract ever a morsel of the rabid cult following the anime's had for the last 25 years.

Story 9/10: Eva hits it out of the ballpark with their adaptation of the ... OG story, keeping most of the plot points that made the TV series special and axing the stuff that held it back. They combined the TV series and EOE together near the end, but around where the events of the movie start the manga takes a bit of an unexpected detour that not everyone is gonna love. Although it plays out more or less the same as the movie, the change a lot of stuff throughout the final few chapters, and the very end of the manga is pretty radically different from the movie ending.

Personally, I think nearly every change they made storywise was a massive improvement to the original, as things were generally better explained and much less confusing as well as expanded upon lore where it was deserved. My only gripe with this area was the unavoidable lore mess that comes hand in hand with anything Eva-related, and how they choose to end it by taking it in a different direction than the EOE ending; pretty sure most would agree with me that EOE had a near-perfect ending, not sure why they would deviate from that but the ending we did get was still good by its own merits, made sense, and didn't devalue the rest of the manga.

Art 8/10: Nothing stands out as being over the top or particularly spectacular, the angel designs are badass and the mech designs are even more badass, but it's nothing we wouldn't have expected from an Eva manga.

Character 10/10: Wow, they fundamentally fixed Shinji. I get that in the original, he was written so you intentionally didn't like him, but that doesn't automatically make him a good protagonist. Not saying he was poorly written, but I think what they did here with him was provide a good amount of balance so we can truly get a sense of depth to his character. Everyone else was significantly more developed than in the original, with Kaji being the most noticeable improvement; he was always one of my favorites, and seeing him fully fleshed out was awesome.

Overall vast improvement over anything from the anime, Shinji was actually kinda based, Rei felt a lot more human, Auska felt a lot more nuanced and somewhat empathic, and the main cast just had a wonderful dynamic together. Enough said.

Enjoyment 10/10: They tell the Eva story in a way that a lot easier to follow then the confusing mess of the original, and it pays off. I can actually understand what's going on now, and even when I can't, it doesne't bother me because I know it will eventually be explained to me.

Overall 10/10: An action packed psychological Seinen till the bitter end. Although they could've stuck the landing better, they did a phenomenal job adapting one of the most iconic shows of all time into a different medium and (somehow) actually improving upon it. Hate Eva? This series improves upon or erases most of it's major problems. Love Eva? This series narrows in on what makes it great and hyperfocuses on it. Conclusion: Read this manga. somehow it passed under the anime communities radar, even though it has absolutely no right to go this unnoticed for this long.

At first I didn't know if this was worth reading, as it fairly closely follows the events of the anime. However the translator's notes at the end of every volume provided interesting facts and context I would not have known otherwise, so I kept reading.
There are some key differences in the manga that explore more facets of the characters, changing up the story in some ways while keeping the core events largely the same.
Even if it can seem redundant at times, this manga nailed the landing in the final volume. The ending was genuinely touching, moreso than the rebuild movies. The expanded backstories and ... thematic relevance of the finale made the whole read worthwhile. As a result I believe this is an excellent addition to the Evangelion canon.

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 ... hands of Shinji. All that responsibility at the age of 14.
That responsibility in time takes a toll on Shinji psychologically. Some of his friends lost they're lives fighting the angels. Adding to that, there are a whole lot of political and religious division within NERV and the government.
Plot is definitely well written, the characters all add purpose to the series.
The Artwork is great, it is top of the line when it comes to Mangas in general.
This is a series that is influential for good reasons. It set the bar very high when it comes to the Mecha genre. If you haven't read this, you are missing out on something great. Just go for it and don't hesitate.

this manga, i found almost outclassing the anime, if it were not for the ending. I know that the anime and the movie "the end of Evangelion"'s endings have caused much discourse for the better part of nearly 30 years, but out of all the endings thus far, the manga in my opinion has the poorest.

however, there were many things I loved about this manga. firstly, the art stays at an incredible standard throughout the entirety of the run, especially during third impact, and it also kept you engaged constantly. as well as this, many of the characters are handled better due the the ... chance to add more scenes than the anime. many of these scenes revolve around Shinji and Rei's relationship, resulting in significant development, especially towards Rei. this makes you feel more for her character before she sacrifices herself than you did in the anime. the relationship between Gendo and shinji is also fleshed out further, resulting in Gendo becoming more humanised than he appeared in the anime, due to the reader learning the reason he doesn't want to interact with shinj is for fear of tarnishing their relationship further. this also explains why he interacts with Rei more than Shinji, as he sees her as easier to interact with due to her lack of social skills, along with her resemblance to Yui, his wife.

sadly, the ending managed to ruin the entire previous experience of reading the manga up to that point, as the ending pretty much negates the entirety of the manga. the hero is not celebrated, no congratulations, not even a memory. yes, the ending of both the movie and anime are bleak yet hopeful in retrospect, but none of them wipe the main characters memories as well as all of humanities. it renders the sacrifices of Misato, Kaji, Yui, Ritsuko Rei and numerous NERV and UN personnel to nothing, as none will remember them. even shinji's personality has changed somewhat, with him being more cheery than usual. though this is somewhat comforting seeing the horror he had previously encountered, this ruins the experience as it basically says that all the previous 95 chapters were for nothing and were pretty much a waste of time for the reader, as a reader who was unaware of the previous chapter could just skip to the end, and believe it is where it begins.

therefore, i thoroughly enjoyed the majority of this manga, yet i had to mark it down from a 9 0r even ten, just because the ending leaves such a bad taste in your mouth.

I'm coming at this with the approach of being a huge fan of the original anime run and never seeing the Rebuilds at all, just for reference.

Long story short: The manga adaptation is just fine.

There are some elements which are done really well and I would say much better than the anime did: this includes some more character development for many of the characters that helps make their character more nuanced and easy to identify with. There also is more credence given to the many connections Shinji could have as someone who is canonically bisexual, giving the reader more opportunities to connect with Shinji in ... the way that Anno seems to have intended for the viewer (or in this case, reader) to engage with him.

And yet, there are some elements which are more or less bastardized here. There's a very certain relationship late in the anime which gets even more overlooked and neglected in the manga adaptation which severely disappoints me. If you like positive representation of gay romance in your manga, I wouldn't invest too heavily here because while there is more time the characters in question spend together than in the anime, it is borderline infuriating at some points seeing how Sadamoto handed their connection given the many versions of this relationship which was shelved in production due to the kind of censorship and concern which the manga was supposed to remove.

This is a problem across a lot of the manga adaptations of Evangelion: the only place it seems like it could potentially be better is in Angelic Days but I haven't read that for myself so I can neither confirm nor deny.

If this is your first rodeo with Evangelion, watch the anime first. Please.

If you're curious to see Evangelion in manga form, this will do just fine and provides a unique enough experience from the original to make it worth the read.