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122 reviews for:
Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vol. 1 : behold the angels of God descending
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
3.98 AVERAGE
122 reviews for:
Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vol. 1 : behold the angels of God descending
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
3.98 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I personally first really loved the anime and thought reading this would be a bit backwards, but as it turns out it is a manga based on the anime, basically retelling the whole series in the format. Its good, cause its evangelion but kinda a shame it did not input much more extras or additional lore compared to the anime.
Full series review:
A worthwhile read for a different take on the Evangelion story. It follows the progression of the anime from beginning to end, but the characters act differently, and so many scenes are removed, or inserted, or changed, it's like having a story refracted into something that looks familiar, but isn't. The numerous plot changes are only the most obvious, starting with seeing Rei's fight with Sachiel, and things really start going off the rails at the beginning of volume four, where Asuka's introduction is completely reworked. From there, there are so many changes, big and small, you'd need to do a scene by scene breakdown comparing the manga and the anime to work out the tangle. There were many times I asked myself "did this happen in the original?" or "wait, didn't something else happen here?" often not knowing which was which. About halfway through I gave up, and tried to just take the manga as its own thing, at least as far as the minor scenes went.
Tons of characters get expanded backstories, such as Shinji's life with his relatives, Kaji's past as an orphaned refugee of second impact, more detail on how Fuyutski came to work for Gendo, more of Yui's thoughts and motivations (which tend to make her seem less villainous than she was in the series). Rei gets several more scenes, and a closer relationship with Shinji, even if she lost her two iconic slaps. Asuka is the big loser, as she gets only a little more information about her conception and relationship to her mother than we got in the tv series, and many of her scenes with Shinji were cut. She feels overall much more like a side character than an equal to Rei in this version. In fact, she and Rei hardly interact - no elevator scene for you. If you're an Asuka fan, this'll probably be a massive turn off. I always preferred Rei, and hated the way the Rebuild movies treated her, so this was a pretty big plus, personally.
Even absent the many plot changes, the characters are not the same. Their overall emotional outlook has been softened significantly across the board. Shinji is far less sullen than he was in the anime (no endless train scenes or SDAT player to be seen here), Asuka is significantly less combative and unreasonable. Rei is the least changed of the main trio, but the expanded focus on her belies the idea that she was ever an empty doll (at least in this version). Gendo is the exception, as he seems even more hard-hearted here than in the original. While these changes make for easier reading, and Shinji especially could be trying in the anime, I feel overall it was unwarranted, or at least went a bit too far. Part of the appeal of Evangelion was its being uncompromising about the mental states of the characters. A Shinji who continually rewinds his SDAT player while lying in bed is far more memorable than one who tries to punch Gendo after the Unit-03 incident. In the end, while I appreciate Sadamoto's plotting (granted, he had hindsight and about 20 years of extra time to do it), I think Anno had the stronger characters.
In exchange for the expanded characters, we get a host of cuts. Even leaving behind small but important bits like the elevator slap (which was absolutely pivotal to the original Rei's character), entire episodes and angels from the original are cut. Some of these are forgettable and better forgotten ("Magma Diver" in its entirety, the latter half of the blackout episode), others are significant losses (the angel that tried to hack into MAGI, Leliel), and Sadamoto for some reason kept the dance battle angel. This was mostly a positive. The middle section of the show dragged quite a long time, and Sadamoto's way allows for a much more natural buildup to the ending. Most importantly, this made space for the biggest expansion of all, Kaworu.
Kaworu was always the most bizarre element of the show. He only appears in a single episode, yet is more important to Shinji's outlook and the events of End of Evangelion than any other single character, and if you went by the fanart and doujinshi production, you'd think he appears as much as Rei or Asuka. In the show, he exists as more of an image of unconditional love and self-sacrifice than an actual character, and I take it that Anno regretted the brevity of his appearance, given that he got almost an entire movie to himself in Q. Sadamoto also clearly agrees that he needed more time, but his Kaworu is the single biggest difference to the original story, even considering Shinji's actions in the End of Evangelion portion.
The manga's version of EoE is strictly inferior, except in one way. That movie is such a relentless crush of depression, and Sadamoto discards almost all of it. The false lance transforming and piercing Asuka's skull is such an iconic moment, and the Eva Series tearing apart Unit-02 and spilling its guts and brains everywhere, only for Shinji to emerge too late to help, is a perfect bit of horror and despair. Instead we get Shinji appearing early to play the hero, and though he still fails, the difference is crucial. It's fitting to his manga character, but it's far inferior to its counterpart. The Instrumentality scene is nothing compared to the movie, and rather than the giant Rei head as Shinji chokes Asuka we get...Shinji meeting Asuka on a train in a reborn world? Its only positive point is that I can actually believe this version of Shinji would reject Instrumentality. In the original, his mental destruction was so complete, and his turn back to the real world so completely unmotivated, I could only laugh as he emerged to a destroyed planet and Asuka calling him "disgusting". It was like some kind of cosmic joke. Here, everything makes sense, but its emotional payload is far inferior. No hand full of mayonnaise for you.
Overall, I would say the manga is not better than the anime, but far more even. It has none of the lows (in terms of writing) of the anime, but few of its highest highs (which are emotional lows). That said, I far prefer it to the shitfest the Rebuild movies have become, which have also had a hilariously protracted release schedule, and indeed contributed to this manga's constant hiatuses. Well worth reading if you liked the original series but want a different take on it (Asuka fans beware, though). The most baffling change was showing Gendo's final line to Ritsuko. Sadamoto resisted giving us clear answers to things like Unit-00's soul or, so why reveal that? Still, minor complaint.
Artwise, Sadamoto was probably the best possible person to helm this, being the original character designer. Especially early on, the characters look just about identical to what they did in the TV show, and the copious mechanical details are excellently reproduced. The mechanisms are the unsung hero of Evangelion, always ignored in favour of the character drama, but that elevator clicker thing was just as iconic to me as any scene of a kid getting choked to death or Shinji staring at the ground. The action is clear and energetic, but it can't compare to the dynamism of the anime. However, the later chapters don't have the "shot reverse shot but not showing anyone's mouths" problem the later episodes of the tv series had.
A worthwhile read for a different take on the Evangelion story. It follows the progression of the anime from beginning to end, but the characters act differently, and so many scenes are removed, or inserted, or changed, it's like having a story refracted into something that looks familiar, but isn't. The numerous plot changes are only the most obvious, starting with seeing Rei's fight with Sachiel, and things really start going off the rails at the beginning of volume four, where Asuka's introduction is completely reworked. From there, there are so many changes, big and small, you'd need to do a scene by scene breakdown comparing the manga and the anime to work out the tangle. There were many times I asked myself "did this happen in the original?" or "wait, didn't something else happen here?" often not knowing which was which. About halfway through I gave up, and tried to just take the manga as its own thing, at least as far as the minor scenes went.
Tons of characters get expanded backstories, such as Shinji's life with his relatives, Kaji's past as an orphaned refugee of second impact, more detail on how Fuyutski came to work for Gendo, more of Yui's thoughts and motivations (which tend to make her seem less villainous than she was in the series). Rei gets several more scenes, and a closer relationship with Shinji, even if she lost her two iconic slaps. Asuka is the big loser, as she gets only a little more information about her conception and relationship to her mother than we got in the tv series, and many of her scenes with Shinji were cut. She feels overall much more like a side character than an equal to Rei in this version. In fact, she and Rei hardly interact - no elevator scene for you. If you're an Asuka fan, this'll probably be a massive turn off. I always preferred Rei, and hated the way the Rebuild movies treated her, so this was a pretty big plus, personally.
Even absent the many plot changes, the characters are not the same. Their overall emotional outlook has been softened significantly across the board. Shinji is far less sullen than he was in the anime (no endless train scenes or SDAT player to be seen here), Asuka is significantly less combative and unreasonable. Rei is the least changed of the main trio, but the expanded focus on her belies the idea that she was ever an empty doll (at least in this version). Gendo is the exception, as he seems even more hard-hearted here than in the original. While these changes make for easier reading, and Shinji especially could be trying in the anime, I feel overall it was unwarranted, or at least went a bit too far. Part of the appeal of Evangelion was its being uncompromising about the mental states of the characters. A Shinji who continually rewinds his SDAT player while lying in bed is far more memorable than one who tries to punch Gendo after the Unit-03 incident. In the end, while I appreciate Sadamoto's plotting (granted, he had hindsight and about 20 years of extra time to do it), I think Anno had the stronger characters.
In exchange for the expanded characters, we get a host of cuts. Even leaving behind small but important bits like the elevator slap (which was absolutely pivotal to the original Rei's character), entire episodes and angels from the original are cut. Some of these are forgettable and better forgotten ("Magma Diver" in its entirety, the latter half of the blackout episode), others are significant losses (the angel that tried to hack into MAGI, Leliel), and Sadamoto for some reason kept the dance battle angel. This was mostly a positive. The middle section of the show dragged quite a long time, and Sadamoto's way allows for a much more natural buildup to the ending. Most importantly, this made space for the biggest expansion of all, Kaworu.
Kaworu was always the most bizarre element of the show. He only appears in a single episode, yet is more important to Shinji's outlook and the events of End of Evangelion than any other single character, and if you went by the fanart and doujinshi production, you'd think he appears as much as Rei or Asuka. In the show, he exists as more of an image of unconditional love and self-sacrifice than an actual character, and I take it that Anno regretted the brevity of his appearance, given that he got almost an entire movie to himself in Q. Sadamoto also clearly agrees that he needed more time, but his Kaworu is the single biggest difference to the original story, even considering Shinji's actions in the End of Evangelion portion.
Spoiler
Sadamoto's conception of Kaworu is a completely different character. Whereas Anno's is the image of love, Sadamoto's Kaworu is a probing and callous person who wants to, but does not, understand human beings. In the original, he seemed to understand exactly what Shinji wanted, and gave it to him, with his homosexual advances being accepted by Shinji, but here, he fails completely to understand what it is that Shinji wants, and Shinji appears on the point of punching him in the jaw. The infamous kitten murder scene may have been a bit excessively shocking, but it was an effective signal to the reader "this is not the Kaworu you knew". He still has an image of benevolence, but its a kind of alien, nonhuman benevolence shared with Instrumentality. This presents a bit of a dilemma to Sadamoto when the time comes for Shinji to kill him. In the original, Shinji was so thoroughly broken by that point, I could've believed he would've killed any person other than Kaworu in that scene. Here, he doesn't even like Kaworu as a friend, so his hesitation feels more normal. It does introduce some problems for Shinji's suicidal depression at the beginning of End of Evangelion, but they aren't impossible to overcome.The manga's version of EoE is strictly inferior, except in one way. That movie is such a relentless crush of depression, and Sadamoto discards almost all of it. The false lance transforming and piercing Asuka's skull is such an iconic moment, and the Eva Series tearing apart Unit-02 and spilling its guts and brains everywhere, only for Shinji to emerge too late to help, is a perfect bit of horror and despair. Instead we get Shinji appearing early to play the hero, and though he still fails, the difference is crucial. It's fitting to his manga character, but it's far inferior to its counterpart. The Instrumentality scene is nothing compared to the movie, and rather than the giant Rei head as Shinji chokes Asuka we get...Shinji meeting Asuka on a train in a reborn world? Its only positive point is that I can actually believe this version of Shinji would reject Instrumentality. In the original, his mental destruction was so complete, and his turn back to the real world so completely unmotivated, I could only laugh as he emerged to a destroyed planet and Asuka calling him "disgusting". It was like some kind of cosmic joke. Here, everything makes sense, but its emotional payload is far inferior. No hand full of mayonnaise for you.
Overall, I would say the manga is not better than the anime, but far more even. It has none of the lows (in terms of writing) of the anime, but few of its highest highs (which are emotional lows). That said, I far prefer it to the shitfest the Rebuild movies have become, which have also had a hilariously protracted release schedule, and indeed contributed to this manga's constant hiatuses. Well worth reading if you liked the original series but want a different take on it (Asuka fans beware, though). The most baffling change was showing Gendo's final line to Ritsuko. Sadamoto resisted giving us clear answers to things like Unit-00's soul or
Spoiler
who killed KajiArtwise, Sadamoto was probably the best possible person to helm this, being the original character designer. Especially early on, the characters look just about identical to what they did in the TV show, and the copious mechanical details are excellently reproduced. The mechanisms are the unsung hero of Evangelion, always ignored in favour of the character drama, but that elevator clicker thing was just as iconic to me as any scene of a kid getting choked to death or Shinji staring at the ground. The action is clear and energetic, but it can't compare to the dynamism of the anime. However, the later chapters don't have the "shot reverse shot but not showing anyone's mouths" problem the later episodes of the tv series had.
ohhh brother this guy really wants his dads validation.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Es el primer manga que leo, y me gustó. Si bien hace años que no miro un anime, perdí el habito, sigo sintiendo un poco de cariño por ese tipo de animación y siempre tuve pendiente leer un manga, y como regalo de navidad de mi amigo invisible (justo fue mi esposa) me llegó esta oportunidad.
Como es el primero que leo, no se con que compararlo, no se si es mejor o peor, si los dibujos y los diálogos están buenos. Lo que si se, es que me gustó la traducción argentinizada, y que me parece que como tiene poco dialogo, son más bien escenas que observar, se me pasó rápido.
Tal vez en un futuro pueda ajustar el puntaje que le doy.
Como es el primero que leo, no se con que compararlo, no se si es mejor o peor, si los dibujos y los diálogos están buenos. Lo que si se, es que me gustó la traducción argentinizada, y que me parece que como tiene poco dialogo, son más bien escenas que observar, se me pasó rápido.
Tal vez en un futuro pueda ajustar el puntaje que le doy.
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
okay so i didn't read the manga (yet) but i just wanted to put my general opinion on the series out to the world. i like it, quite a lot actually. the characters are very well written and are all very complex with complicated backstories. what i think everyone who saw this show struggled with was the plot. it was very difficult to make sense of alone without watching any of the movies and without reading the manga (i did neither. i just read a long explanation that i found which helped a lot). overall, i really like this series. the setting and characters are great though i think that the plot needed to be a bit clearer.