And thus, the EVA marathon comes full-circle . We started with Neon Genesis Evangelion by Anno Hideaki, and we end it with Neon Genesis Evangelion by Sadamoto Yoshiyuki. Yes, in order to promote the show, a Manga was released, and like the Anime, it’s very much divisive in its own right. Admittedly less so as most of the opinions lean towards the positive, but the more die hard EVA fans in particular will have more conflicting feelings. Why is that? Well, that’s what we’re here to find out.

Also, for all following Manga Reviews, my usual format will be ditched, and in the case of Arc Based Mangas, I will be covering the Art as it went along. Anyhow, moving on.

This Manga is, when you get down to it, deceptively similar to the Anime. On a surface level, pretty much all major events happen and almost all notable characters appear. The plot goes through more of the same plot beats, and in general things are pretty similar on a first glance. However, like with Jurassic Park and its movie adaptation, while the overall plot remains the same, the details are altered to hell and back, ironic as most of the mechanics of the world remain the same.

In general, few scenes play out the same in both mediums. Maybe it’s something as simple as a shot being changed, the perspective being switched to another character, or in the most extreme cases, scenes are so widely different that it gets flat out ridiculous. This isn’t an inherently bad thing. Some things either don’t translate well to the new medium or are simply just as interesting in their own right, and in the end, the changes do prevent it from being more of the same like in 1.11.

And honestly, I do like these changes for the most part. They mostly help to either streamline the story, or to give new meaning to certain scenes. I would actually recommend reading this after watching the Anime as then it becomes a game of “Spot the difference”. For instance, the infamous elevator scene doesn’t happen, yet Asuka is still told the same line about having to open up, just under different circumstances and by a different person. Similar changes abound, with some of them even more notable (As in, character who didn’t originally die dying levels of different) and I do generally really like them.

In turn, the tone is ever so slightly lighter. Not by much, mind you, this is still a pretty damn dark Manga, but due to it being done by someone who is likely less depressed than Anno (Not that Sadamoto seems particularly stable either if his version of the Unit-03 incident is anything to go by), in general it doesn’t come across as quite as depressing as the Anime. Maybe it’s because of the increase in comedy early parts, but who knows?

Yet it’s the characters where the differences truly come to light. Shinji is the most notable example; he’s snarkier, rudder and just generally more outwardly aggressive. He’s still prone to depression, but not quite as often as his Anime counterpart. Yet in the end, he ultimately comes across of the better man here: He’s far more willing to do the right thing, and instead of rejecting affection, he actively seeks for it. The only exception is towards the end in which he willingly distances himself from Kensuke, but that’s because he knows that their friendship wouldn’t be the same after the events that had happened. This also makes his breakdown in this story’s equivalent of EOE less severe, so he recovers a tad quicker.

Rei and Asuka suffer similar changes, especially Rei. Asuka isn’t technically changed too much, it’s just that due to the changes to Shinji, she comes across as less abusive and more just snarking back at him, she also gets some changes to her backstory which just helps build up her feeling of being special. Rei however does change a lot and it doesn’t have much to do with the changes done to Shinji. If there was any way I could describe her, is that she’s the intermediary state between her Rebuild Counterpart and her OG Counterpart. Still pretty chilly overall, though she does open up to Shinji in a much more blatant manner, and like said movies, the romantic angle between the two is really played up. It’s done similarly well, though I honestly feel that movie did it slightly better, ironically enough.

Gendo and Kaworu, however, are the most different of the lot. Gendo has the few moments in which he showed any degree of affection towards Shinji removed, the story instead focusing on his mad love for his dead wife and how said death continues to influence him. Ironically, he ultimately has a more tragic and tear-jerking end than his TV counterpart (At least in terms of presentation), which does bring his character full circle. Kaworu though… you know how people sometimes evangelize (Pun not intended) him into some sort of saint? Well, when he finally appeared here, years after the show ended, Sadamoto basically said “Look guys, Kaworu was a creep”.

Needless to say, his negative qualities are even more notable than ever, and honestly he comes across as a bit of a creep. It’s so much so that even though Shinji does somewhat appreciate him for showing him affection when no one else would, he can’t help but feel weirded out by him because of how blue and orange his views on the world are. I think another reason Sadamoto did this was because ultimately his impact on Shinji’s character isn’t as notable as his TV counterpart, so he just decided to make him a more fleshed out character. It overall works, at least to me, being pretty much the definitive take on an evil Kaworu in my eyes.

Besides that, there isn’t much else that is really changed. Some stuff is added, for instance Kaji gets two whole chapters focusing on his personal history with Misato and his past, but besides that, it’s still EVA, and going into other changes would mean delving into spoilers. It’s still the same basic story, so they can’t fuck it up too much. Hell, I can finally enjoy the events of EOE since its tone is no longer in direct conflict with its themes!... Mostly. More on that later.

Sadamoto’s Art of course helps. He was the character designer for the show, so as you should expect everyone looks more or less the same. And thankfully this Manga in general looks fantastic. With no budget to worry about, every scene comes across as a visual spectacle, helped by the overall framing for the scenes and how Sadamoto knows when to use either a two-page spread or a full page spread. It’s wonderful to say the least.

Sadly, there is one problem with this Manga, and it is the one almost all EVA products seem to suffer from: The Ending! And unlike the ending of the show and EOE which I found “Good but I don’t like it”, this Ending is just plain regular bad. Not gonna dwelve into spoilers here, so all I’ll say is that the reset button is effectively hit, erasing all the character journeys our heroes went through. It’s a shame as everything leading up to it was fantastic, but the actual final chapter itself was disappointing.

Yet in the end, does a bad ending ruin a show? I’d say no. If anything I’d say it’s the opposite of Code Geass, there the Ending was good but everything leading up to it didn’t work. Here we have the opposite, and neither result is particularly pretty, but I’d much rather take this. A disappointing final chapter, to me, isn’t enough to truly break this Manga. In the end, for all its faults, I do like it, dare I say, more than the Anime. I grew attached to these characters far more than it did there, the plot twists kept me guessing, and overall, I can’t help but find it just plain better overall. Needless to say, it is highly recommended.

Final Score: 9/10