Manga Review – Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vol. 7

This issue, we get the back-story of one of the adult supporting characters, and a member of the supporting cast gets introduced early.

Title: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Volume 7
Story & Art: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Creator: Hideaki Anno
Translator: Lillian Olsen
English Adaptation: Fred Burke & Carl Gustav Horn
Publisher: Viz Media

Available from Amazon.com

The Premise

Shinji quits NERV out of disgust & anger after the conclusion of last volume. However, an attack by another Angel leads Kaji to talk Shinji into the cockpit.

High Points

The whole fight with Zeruel is amazingly done, from seeing it from the ground level again with Shinji (with better flow this time, because Shinji has a better understanding of what’s going on), to the echo of his scene in the Eva bay with Gendo from back in Volume 1.

Low Points

While Kaji’s flashback provides some great character development, it stops the plot dead for a bit.

Scores

Originality: This plays the story from the show pretty much straight, with the addition of Kaji’s back-story. 4/6

Artwork: 6/6

Story: This is the most action heavy of the last few volumes, but it’s very well written action. Kaji’s flashback is well done, though as mentioned in the low point, it’s placed poorly. 5/6

Characterization: In the show, we didn’t get much of Kaji’s back story, except for his connection with Misato. Here we get a much better idea where he comes from. 5/6

Emotional Response: With Unit 1 eating the Angel we have the Wham Volume hat trick. 6/6

Flow: 6/6

Overall: 6/6

In total, this volume gets 37/42.

Significant Changes

  • Shinji tries to punch Gendo in the face.
  • Kaji tells Shinji his backstory.
  • First appearance of Kaworu/Tabris, in a dummy plug dubbing unit.