Doomsday is upon NERV as SEELE has penetrated the Evangelion’s command center, will Shinji abandon Asuka to fight the new model Evangelions on her own?
Creative Staff
Story: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Art: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Content:
Once things start to go downhill for NERV, it goes straight to hell without taking the scenic byway!
SEELE soldiers have infiltrated the NERV headquarters, Asuka is still out of whack, the new model Evangelion’s are headed in to back up the SEELE forces, and Shinji is pulling his usual wussy crap. So far, Sadamoto’s version is right on par with the original Evangelion anime. Personally, I prefer the manga adaptations of anime to take a slightly different course so I’m not just reading the same story in paper version.
While I had no idea how Sadamoto might change things, I was delighted to see that he did. The changes were subtle, but I enjoyed a different version of Shinji confronting his father and the whacked out revelations revealed during that scene. I’m not telling, but it will leave you thinking, “Wha!! Really?!?”
From there, Asuka deals with her inner demons before sacking up and going out to battle the new model Evangelions. Yep, seems odd that Asuka has bigger balls than Shinji. Don’t get me wrong, I feel for Shinji and his screwy life, but he doesn’t have it any harder than many of the other characters in this story. I don’t want to turn this review into a psychoanalyzing of this series, but half of the main characters have messed up relationships with their parents. Shinji just makes a habit of siting around and complaining about it more than the others. That aside, I’ve always liked Asuka, and she can kick some ass, but can she really fight off nine new model Evangelion’s? Shinji better grow a pair and get his butt out there to help Asuka, because Rei is in no position to help.
In Summary:
Asuka’s battle with the new model Evangelion’s is way cool the way Sadamoto lays it out and illustrates it. Cool ass mecha battles aside, none of the many side ‘Evangelion’ story artist can capture the characters emotional distress as well as Sadamoto. Which to be fair, he was on the original anime character design staff. Regardless, whether it is Misato’s looks of pity for Shinji, Asuka’s battle rage, or Shinji’s soul-beaten look of dejection, the art in this volume speaks just as powerfully as the text.
What other little curve balls will the author throw at us compared to the ending of the original series? Or the re-imagination of the ending seen in ‘The End of Evangelion’, for that matter? I look forward to reading the last (?) volume, even if it does take Sadamoto over a year to finish it.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: February 15th, 2011
MSRP: $9.99
I’m glad that VIZ finally released this volume… I’ve been waiting so long. I definitely agree that it’s much better when the manga and the anime have some good differences. It’s made the Evangelion manga much more interesting to read than it would have been if it were exactly like the TV anime. Like Chris said, Shinji and Gendou’s confrontation and the “whacked out” revelations are pretty interesting.
Now just have to wait for Sadamoto to finish Volume 13 and then for Viz to localize it…