It has been 15 years since EVA hit the scene. You may think that over the years the popularity has waned, but on the contrary the characters have grown in stature and aura.

I can’t help but think that the top rate characters design by Sadamoto Yoshiyuki, who has been working on the EVA project from the planning stages, have a special attraction that cross borders of sex and age. He has created dazzling characters that have left their mark in anime history like Ayanami Rei, and Soryu Asuka Langley (who in the new series is called Shikinami Asuka Langley). But did you know that he also made the Neo Genesis Evangelion manga? The manga first appeared in 1995 as part of the media mix before the anime as a series. The story was based on the anime, however Sadamoto added his own interpretation into the characters which makes for extremely interesting reading.

There have been twelve volumes on sale (as of December 2010) with cumulative sales topping 20 million. That totals 1.67 million manga books for each volume. Compare that with the top ranking manga Detective Conan which has sold 120 million manga books from its 69 volumes (ShoProｌicensing business) – that averages out to 1.74 million books per volume. This comparison gives you an idea of its popularity.


Different to the TV series and feature films, you can see a new side to Evangelion through this manga. Why don’t you take a look?

Ōkaba Masashi

[参照]
「月刊少年エース増刊 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン総集編2009』（角川書店）
「小学館集英社プロダクションライセンスビジネスサイト」
http://license-new.shopro.co.jp/products/