February, 2024
By Joseph Nino, Arts & Culture Editor
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a highly influential franchise that has impacted works of literature, entertainment, art, music, and underground nerd culture. Evangelion is recognizable to many people worldwide, even those who have little to no knowledge of the plot. Although Evangelion is best known for its 90s original anime series, the manga version of Evangelion is another spectacular iteration of the story. In most cases, an anime and manga are reminiscent of each other with minor differences, however, with Evangelion both the anime and manga have their own identity. This makes reading the manga worthwhile because not only does it have different plot points compared to the anime, but it also has details the anime does not mention at all.
Evangelion starts in a modern post-apocalyptic Tokyo where a majority of the world has been on the brink of extinction. What used to be Tokyo is now underwater and destroyed, replaced by a rebuilt Tokyo named “Tokyo-3”. In there resides a young boy, Shinji Ikari, a boy who has nothing in his mind but insecurity. He gets asked by his father, Gendo, commander of the agency ‘NERV’, to pilot the Evangelion Unit-01 to combat the creatures known as Angels. Confused by his request, he does not want to comply. Shinji by all means is not in any way a strong person, after his mother’s passing, and his father abandoning him, there is no way that he could see himself protecting humanity from these creatures. After much consideration, he decides to pilot Unit-01, however, due to him not being used to piloting such a machine, he goes ‘berserk’ and violently kills the Angel which leads to him being hospitalized. While still confused about why his father wants him to pilot Unit-01, one thing that he realizes is that humanity needs to be saved.
Readers later learn that fifteen years before the start of the story, the world was almost destroyed after The Second Impact, and the whole reason why NERV has to kill the remaining Angels is to prevent another apocalyptic destruction (The Third Impact).
Along the way, Shinji meets another pilot, ‘Rei Ayanami’, who pilots the Evangelion Unit-00. Rei is an enigmatic character who bears little to no emotion and gets more respected by Gendo. Due to Rei’s mysterious presence, Shinji wants to know more about her. Throughout the story, Rei becomes one of the series’ complex characters, there is a strong and strange fascination behind her character that makes her heavily important to the story and to the future of NERV. Later on, there is Unit-02’s pilot, Asuka Langley Soryu, a German-Japanese girl who at first seems like a loud mouth who gets mad at Shinji all the time, but later on, we learn more about her past, her past is built on who she later becomes now as a person and why she strives to pilot the Unit-02. This is just the beginning of what ends up becoming a story filled with memorable fights, psychological emotions, and most importantly, fighting with one’s self.
What makes Evangelion stand out compared to other stories that are in ways similar, is the breakdown of the mecha genre. Most stories that are of the mecha genre feature strong protagonists willing to fight with others. Such examples include Mobile Suit Gundam, and Mazinger Z, which are critically acclaimed for their characters, and battles for which the mecha genre is known. However, that is not the case in Evangelion. As mentioned before, Shinji does not want to pilot the Unit-01, he shows emotions that are nothing like other protagonists of mecha manga. Another thing that makes this stand out from other stories is the emotions the cast of Evangelion feels, each character displays emotions that make a character unique and easily stand out. The story even portrays raw, unfiltered emotions such as trauma, and depression to make the plot interesting as the story progresses. These emotions are also responsible for another important aspect of Evangelion, complex and psychological storytelling.
The manga features complexity within the characters that connects to the plot, it dives deep into themes of existentialism, identity, and consciousness. Along with those themes, the characters all have backstories that align with the issues that would later affect them. The story of Evangelion makes you introspect the characters in ways that even the story doesn’t fully make a clear answer to. The world of Evangelion is also backed up by themes of both philosophy and religion that make more sense once you fully understand the true meaning of some characters or plot lines.
To further verify the complexity of Evangelion, there are philosophical themes that linger in the story. Such themes include the questioning of life, the human consciousness, and the nature of existence are some of the themes that are present throughout the story. Through the narrative and character development, the reader can further understand and ask questions that surround the storyline.
Evangelion’s storyline is also filled with religious symbolism and references which make the plot and characters be seen in a completely different perspective after understanding those said references. Those references stem from religious themes such as Christianity, Islam, Gnosticism, and Kabbalism which are shown as either characters, weapons, iconography, or plot lines. The story’s antagonists are called “Angels”, and all of the named creatures are named after angelic beings mentioned in the Old Testament. What makes their appearance in Evangelion unique is their design, these creatures are by no means humanoid figures with wings, they are ugly, they are diabolical looking, and they are esoteric. They are not friendly or protective in the way they are portrayed in their source, in Evangelion they are the opposite, they destroy humanity and are to be killed by the Evangelion units. NERV (the main agency mentioned in Evangelion) is also a reference to Christianity with the name of their supercomputers being named after The Magi. NERV uses the Magi System to combat the Angels and to help the Evangelion pilots whilst in battle. Even though Evangelion is recognized for its complex storytelling, it is also recognized for its artistic style.
Due to being a manga, Evangelion is covered in detailed illustrations, speech bubbles, and action words from right to left. The head designer of the anime, “Yoshiyuki Sadamoto”, returned to illustrate the manga, and his designs are some of the most fascinating to look at. The characters are some of the most recognizable figures out of many other manga, the Evangelion Units, and Angels are heavily detailed, and the battles are visually appealing to look at. There is nothing else to say about the artistic direction because it is all just there for the reader to gaze at and be mesmerized by it. Even after its manga run was completed, the spirit of Evangelion remains in various forms of art.
Both the manga and the anime have been heavily praised and influential towards other forms of media. Several other manga and anime took inspiration from it when it came to storytelling and its themes such as Revolutionary Girl Utena, Serial Experiments Lain, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Gurren Lagann, and many more. Even in non-manga/anime, Evangelion was also heavily influential. Movies such as The Matrix, A Space Odyssey, and Jacob’s Ladder have themes reminiscent of Evangelion. Several bands and musicians have also used Evangelion in their discography such as the 90s/00s grindcore band Discordance Axis, which on their record “Inalienable Dreamless” has references to Evangelion. Nerdcore Techno group “Project Gabbangelion” is also a blatant reference to Evangelion. Even with the strong influence that Neon Genesis Evangelion has had around the world, the story of Evangelion is important to read when wanting to get into the mecha genre and the psychological themes that are mentioned throughout the story. With a strong narrative, Neon Genesis Evangelion is a must-read manga that one should read at least once in their life.
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