Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days

OhHaiDer :]


Wroaaaaaar meh internets live again!!1!cos(0) (Yeah, I'm that nerdeh :B)
Anyways~
Today I bring you (a somewhat whored out series if I don't say meself) Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days! *exhales* A mouthful as well~


Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days


Story & Art: Fumino Hayashi
Publisher: ADV Manga
Rating: Teen (13+) 
Synopsis: (Wikipedia) As in the original anime series, the first four volumes of the manga deal with the Angel invasions, but from a much different angle. Asuka and Shinji are childhood friends, but both are reluctant to risk their friendship and form a deeper relationship. Nonetheless, Asuka becomes jealous when Rei is attracted to Shinji. Kensuke has an unrequited crush on Asuka, but is afraid to act because of Shinji's possible feelings. Rei is in a parallel position, with the roles reversed. Toji and Hikari date, even though the invasions threaten both of their lives. Kaworu is also a childhood friend of Shinji. However, their friendship originated from childhood incidents when Asuka abandoned Shinji, and he and Asuka never got along. By the time of the manga, Kaworu has failed to form intimate relationships with anyone besides Shinji, and resents Shinji's closer relationship with Asuka, and also tries to prevent Rei from getting closer to Shinji. Gendo Ikari's work schedule and cold personality alienate Shinji, who in turn resents his father's attitude towards his mother, Yui. At the end of the fourth volume, the main characters, as Evangelion pilots, are broken up and posted to different spots around the world, although they plan to (and, with one exception, do) meet up after the Angels' threat is over and they grow too old to work as pilots anymore. The fifth volume is a flashback to Gendo and Yui's youths. This flashback presents Gendo as a violent juvenile delinquent in high school, abandoned by his parents, who hates the world. Yui is introduced as a star student who is attracted to Gendo and helps him overcome his problems. The sixth and final volume returns to the main story arc after the Angels' defeat, specifically the actions and fates of the characters as they grow up. The volume attempts to tie up loose ends, including:Rei and Ritsuko, who are stationed together, both realize their romantic feelings will remain unrequited - Rei's feelings for Shinji, and Ritsuko's feelings for Gendo.Misato and Kaji, who dated in college and remain good friends, review their relationship. Although they seemed to break up soon after college, they realize that they never "officially" broke up and still have feelings for each other. They agree to keep their relationship going, but not to rush anything.Hikari and Toji endure a long distance relationship, made complicated by the constant dangers in Toji's job. Shinji and Asuka are forced to deal with strains in their relationship on their own, especially since Kaworu is (apparently) no longer around to defuse their arguments.
Kaworu's true identity, goals, purpose, feelings, and eventual fate are hinted at during both story arcs, but are never explicitly identified. (On a side note, I fully apologize for the NOVEL of a synopsis but as Neon Genesis Evangelion fans know very well, this series is ridiculously complicated and this is brief compared to other summaries.)


Art Review: 4/5


I've always liked the art of this series, all pretty and dramatic and such. As you all know I'm still picky about eyes and tiny details like that, and there were some little things that stuck out to me, but overall still a good showcase of manga.


Story Review: As I've mentioned previously, this manga is ridiculously complicated, even the summary of the series states itself that several characters in the manga as of yet don't really have an explained purpose amongst it all. I wonder if Hayashi, or whoever originally came up with the storyline starts writing these series out and even forget how this was supposed to end up partially because it gets so ridiculously complex that you have to keep notes on your OWN manga or you just think that the fans will come up with explanations and disputes amongst themselves and you don't even need to intervene. If I find somewhere on the internet that people follow this series as a bible, I'm not going to be very surprised. I find it interesting that in these series someone always has a serious mental disorder or thinks very controversially. It does get tiring, eventually, but with this series, it has this magical trait makes this series shiny and new every time someone decides to branch off a new series from an episode in the original manga. I don't really understand this manga, nor do I have the time or effort to actually attempting to understand it. I liked this little branch off series though, it had its dark moments but it still manages to have its cute moments. Although the fast forwarding makes this manga come off as a bit.. odd, one might say. I know they need to condense the story so that they are not killing 20 trees in the making of one book, but going from hatred, to like, to love, to getting knocked up in one novel, and it's not even a one-shot manga, seemed a bit abrupt to me. As confusing as this whole goddamned series is, I liked the volume I read. The story seemed to flow pretty well, despite me not knowing much background about this series. If you like being sucked into a complex manga, this is something not bad to pick up.


7.5/10