Customer Reviews

Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vol. 2

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

How to do justice to Neon Genesis Evangelion? I'm not entirely sure it's possible to describe this book with words. Yes, it's a comic book--but not in the sense most Westerners will think of them, or even the style of most manga.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Japanese "Shinseki Ebangerion") was one of the most controversial manga in Japan for the very reason it's so enjoyable. Unlike most comics, which are focused on action and little else, Evangelion involves heavy character development. The story centers around the introverted, socially inept 15-year-old Shinji Ikari. He works (so to speak) for NERV, a government agency devoted to repelling the attacks of the Angels--mechanical beasts seemingly bent on destroying humanity.

With Shinji is the First Child Rei Ayanami. Together, they pilot huge robots known as Evas (short for Artificial Human Evangelion). Close to Shinji is Misato Katsuragi, his 20-something commanding officer, whom he also lives with, not having anywhere else to stay.

Do not be fooled, Evangelion doesn't skimp on the action. But where this story really shines is the characters--per traditional manga, each one has deep character flaws. But they interact somehow much more naturally than most characters in such stories seem to. Each has his or her own set of confounding problems to deal with.

This volume in particular deals with Shinji's conflicting concepts of who he is and who he is told to be, and his more outward battles both with the Angels and with schoolyard bully Toji Suzuhara. The entire feel of Evangelion is enrapturing: the world is a dark reflection of our own situation, and despite the abnormal circumstances under which Shinji exists he still manages to come across as a very human character, something which can at times be almost frightening.

I reiterate, it is difficult to put in words how compelling this manga is. Whether or not you normally look at comics, Evangelion is more than worth the time and money.

~Kei

What's there to say, Shinji just isn't having the best of luck. The 2nd addition to the much loved Neon Genesis Evangelion gives us some humor and some more hardcore EVA/Angel fighting. It's Shinji's first day in his new school, and someone's already looking for trouble. Misato kicks back a few cold ones about when, every day? To Shinji's suprise she has a full refrigerator just full of beer! Pen-Pen and Shinji still have to do some bird/boy bonding, and stealing the jerky doesn't help. Shinji continues training in EVA-01 and wages battle with the one wierd Angel, while Touji and Aida come along for the ride, and then, whoopsies!, the power cord gets sliced. Can Shinji save the day again? Shinji then decides to jump ship on Nerv. Misato, now's your time. In this book we see the compassionate side of Misato, as well as Shinji's utter lack of self confidence. The emotions just shown with facial expressions is incredible. I fell in love withthe art as soon as I saw it. What I think was one of the most important parts of the book was just one sentence. Through Ritsuko, we actually see just how cold Gendo Ikari really is. See if you can find it. A must-have addition to any manga or anime fan's collection.

out of all the neon genisis mangas, I like the third the best but you can't get to the third without the second. this was a realy cool book though. there was fewer battle scenes than in the first book but they were still great. shinji is more rebelius in this one, he refuses to follow misatos orders and fights the angel to the end. some cool new weponds and charactors await you as shinji takes on another dreaded angel and an angry misato afterwards. the art is incredibale and the characters are still great in NEON GENESIS EVANGELION vol.2 (p.s. the only reason I gave it 4 stars is beacause they don't have a 4 and a half star rating.)

From possibly the defining work in Anime of this decade comes this brilliant manga title. One of the things that I enjoyed most was the way it focused much more on Shinji from a personal point of view, but I also missed the the detail that is given in the Anime series. The artwork and the gimmicky "original Japanese" (backwards) orientation of the comic definitely make up for this though.

I'm more accustomed to '80s manga, so this is one of my newer manga reads. It seems like a very promising series, and I've heard quite a bit about Evangelion, so that's why I'm continuing to read it. However, I do find this volume a bit cliche and confusing. I've seen the character types in copious amounts of previous manga, and their personalities just seem to be a bit misleading. Not confusing in the sense that it's hard to follow, but confusing in the sense that it's a bit difficult to discern who they're trying to be.
I'm having a hard time figuring out Shinji, but that may be part of the plot. Perhaps his issues are what stimulate/prevent the plot at certain points? Rei seems non-existent, other than to further the plot in the first volume, and Misato looks to be a more mature woman, but acts inappropriately immature at times.

Again, I'm not saying this is a bad series, but figured it takes some time to develop. It definitely has my interest, so I'm continuing into the next volumes and soon the anime.

I'm very picky with buying manga I'm not familiar with, and I haven't seen the entire series so I was skeptical about picking this up. But this is not a purchase that will be regretted. This excels the show in some areas. It takes its time to focus closely on the characters and their development, it stretches out few episodes to go into great deatail. Along with the terrific storytelling is the art. The art in here is superb, definetely one of the best in manga. At the end, it also has articles about evangelion from various people. The two aspects of manga, art and storytelling, are the highlights of this book, so it should defeintely be picked up.

SO far, I've read Evangelion books 1-3 and loved them all. The story is just great, action sequneeces are just so suspense full, I literally couldn't put the book down. Besides that, the art work is great. I didn't thing they couuld fit huge mechs into a comic book, but they did a great job of it. This is one of the best Manga epics I've ever read. I suggest all the books to everybody.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is far most the best manga/anime i have ever seen and read. The plot of the story gives it real life and deals with very much sci-fi and mecha. It also revolves around a world where our world could probably end up being. The characters are very vivid and interesting and my knowledge of Eva is far more than what i am writing here. If anyone would like to email feel free to!

This is the manga that will change your way of life. The anime left me speachless. In the manga, Sadamoto-sama get's more into the minds of the people and what they are thinking. One thing's for sure. This is not the anime and it will change your views in life.

It was quiet enthrallin