This review will mostly be discussing the ending of this manga and not the whole work itself. The reason for that is that basically everything that happens here quickly goes stale with the conclusion and I'll try to convince you why. If you don't want any spoilers, some people on here have alredy done a really good job in sumarising what this manga is all about for newcomers.

This review is also not suited for those who haven't watched the original, since most of what I'll be discussing here will be in comparision to it.

--- The Finale ---

If you've already watched the anime, this manga shares a very similar plot with it until the last few chapters. The only things I'd consider major are Kaji's and Rei's added character development. Seriously guys: it's huge. These two things alone already justify you reading this (even if you dislike these two characteres). Or better, they're the only ones that justify you reading this.

I say that because every other character (except for Shinji) lose their development by the end. I'm not kidding, they LOSE it. I never imagined I'd ever experience something like that in my otaku life, but that's it.

What Sadamoto seemingly tried to do here was mashing up the original's and the movie's endings. The attempt could seem interesting at first, but I can't say the same about the result.

What basically happens is that Shinji (apparently) creates another reality with the powers of instrumentality and starts living there as the boy he always wanted to be. He still learns to accept others and... Well, he's basically the same guy, but eveyone around him lost their memories.

I don't know whether he did that on purpouse, but that's a hell of an insult to the reader. As a consequence, we neve see Asuka having the chance to redeem from her past and learning how to accept others, nor do we see Katsuragi facing the fact she escapes from reality through sex. That's just awful!

You can argue that "Oh, we lost some, but gained some, so it's okay". It isn't. The show was yet unable to live up to the its own theme. As one can notice by the term "Neon Genesis Evangelion", NGO was an anime about having a new beginning in life and thus it's never too late to start things all over again and have a happy ending. The manga's ending wasn't a new beginning, but a total restart! Evangelion isn't about going back to the past to start things over (which is what somewhat happened here in a sense), but to work for the answers in the present itself; that's why the EoE's ending left much less of a sour taste in my mouth than this manga (as tragic as it was).

Another thing that doesn't favor the "character development tradeback" is the fact that this focus Rei gained was actually what caused the manga's downfall. Not that it's her fault at all, but the reason Shinji denied instrumentality in this one was because Rei taught him how to love others and, therefore, Shinji creates another reality to keep up with this feeling, unlike in the End of Evangelion, whereas when he gets into intrumentality, he denies it not only bacause he still doesn't feel loved, but also because he hates eveyone. He leaves it so he won't have to be close to Asuka, but once she's still there, he immediatily goes on killing here and changes his mind when caressed in the face and notices that he does can feel and be loved by others. That scene was the biggest character development for both Asuka and Shinji got and yet it's totally missing here.

But then, is the premise broken? I'd say no. As I said, this review would be in comparision to the original ending, so in this point... Yeah, the manga is worst. Is it shit? No. Evangelion has way too many qualities to be completely downgraded by an unfulfilling ending. For that I can't say it's good, but I can't say it's downright bad either; therefore I give it a 6.

--- A few more things for those who really care ---

One thing that I almost forgot to mention is that the narrative of this manga is much better than the anime's. I mean, if there were some things you didn't understand about the show, you can always google it. Someone probably already asked you question on Reddit, but you do can read this as well if you feel like it.

The art is great and the design is even better than the anime's in my opinion. You won't be disappointed.

As for my enjoyment with this show, it was probably even bigger than with the original until the "grand finale".