I bet you thought the situation couldn’t get worse, could you?

Title: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Volume 13
Story & Art by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Based on the series by Hideaki Anno
Translation & English Adaptation by HC Language Solutions and John Werry
Published by Viz Media

Available from Amazon.com

The Premise

Third Impact begins…

High Points

[spoiler]Shinji rescuing Asuka from being eaten alive by the Mass Production Eva’s is probably the first big break that Asuka’s had in the entire Eva franchise.[/spoiler]

Low Points

From here on, Eva is entering the territory of anime and manga’s most infamous mind-f***. It’s a well written mind-f***, but it’s definitely divisive. You are warned.

Scores

Originality: Aside from one considerable change, which was mentioned under the High Point, this volume is fairly close to the events of End of Eva. 3/6

Artwork: 6/6

Story: 5/6

Characterization: Most of the characterization this volume is split between Shinji (who is going to be in the driver’s seat for Third Impact), and the Bridge Crew & Asuka (who are going to bear witness to Third Impact), but what there is is well done. Very well done. 5/6

Emotional Response: 6/6

Flow: 6/6

Overall: 6/6

In total, this volume gets 37/42.

Differences

• [spoiler]In End of Eva, the Mass Production Evas kill Asuka and eat Unit-02 alive (with Asuka feeling every second of it) in a scene that’s played a lot like a rape, due to Shinji being unable to motivate his Unit-01 to act. Here, Shinji manages to save her from death, but he is unable to fend off the MP Evas and is captured, leading to the start of Third Impact.[/spoiler]