Neon Genesis Evangelion (1999)

[新世紀エヴァンゲリオン]

Volume 5

Author/Artist: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Original Story: Gainax
Publisher: Kadokawa Comics Ace

Synopsis:
Asuka moves in with Misato and Shinji while Kaji is busy investigating NERV's secrets.

Story/Characters:
We've seen divergence between the manga and the TV series up to now, but here it's more dramatic. We skip Episode 10, move Episode 11 after Episode 12 (minus Matarael, which wasn't that impressive of an Angel anyway), take a little bit of Episode 15 and then stick the only meat from Episode 14 on the end. By this point, the production of the manga is several years after the series ended and the story starts to move more in its own direction.

It's nice to see all three Evas working together on an Angel (that is, Sahaquiel). We also get more of a view into Kaji's activities than we did in a series and he works to engage Shinji a lot sooner. We get some tantalizing revelations, but larger view of the truth is still a ways off.

Art:
The quality you've come to expect holds steady here. The encounter with Sahaquiel is suitable dramatic. There's some silliness like in the previous volume which leads to some good expressions.

Conclusion:
This is a solid volume, but it feels more like a bridge between parts of the story than anything else. The setup here gets payoff later, so it's worthwhile, just not as strong as the previous two volumes.

Rating:
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