Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji Ikari Raising Project, reviewed

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji Ikari Raising Project

As a follow up to my initial finding post, I’ve read about 3 Volumes of this series, it is about the most I can get my hands on. I was correct when I said that it feels like a ‘ToHeart’ with EVA characters.

In this manga series, Shinji and Asuka are childhood friends. They lived in Tokyo-3 since they knew each other, and went to the same school since. Up to the point where I am, there are several relationship happening, just that they are not surprises to any Original EVA fans.

One of the things that might disappoint some fans are that, there are no EVAs in this series. The closest point we get to see an EVA are in the end of Volume 1, where EVA-1 appears and complain about not appearing in this new Neon Genesis Series.

Character bios

Asuka Langley Soryu

She likes Shinji, but cannot admit it, everyone can easily see that but she would usually hide this side of her by getting angry at Shinji and yelling ‘Baka Shinji’. She loves Curry and hamburger. She can’t cook, but knows how to make amazing curry. The reason she loves hamburger is because it is the first food Shinji ever cooked for her.

She isn’t as smart as to hold a University degree, but her marks are always higher then Shinji.

If you are a Love Hina fan as well, Asuka’s personality is sort of like Naru, so I believe she will ultimately be win Shinji over. Not to mention her actions toward Shinji are exactly like Yui’s actions towards Gendo.

Shinji Ikari

Shinji likes Rei but worries about Asuka at the same time. Since he grew up with both Gendo and Yui by his side, he is way more confident then the original EVA’s Shinji. Same circle of friends as the Original EVA series, just minus all the angel fighting scenes, replaced with lots of character development. We get to know Shinji really well in this series, especially in a world and time line where Yui is there to correct Gendo’s mistakes. (And the fact that Gendo isn’t constantly plotting to revive his dead wife :p)

I would said that he is distantly similar to Keitaro of Love Hina.

Rei Ayanami

Rei is in love with Shinji, after accidentally kissing him at Misato’s apartment during the one them Shinji is sick. Rei’s background is still mysterious, even in this series. She was introduced as a distance relative to Shinji from his mother’s family, but Shinji have never heard of Rei nor had he ever saw her. All we know about Rei’s past is that she was always alone and hates being alone.

Together with Asuka and Shinji, she forms a love triangle where she seems to be winning. As Shinji is always ‘next’ to her while Asuka tags along behind.

In this series, Rei is definitely more human then in the Original Anime, and I don’t think there are ‘clones’ of Rei in the basement of Nerv headquarters anymore.

This is the attractive part in EVA, at least that’s what attracted me most, if I were to describe Rei using Love Hina Characters, she is…. Naru. If she combines with Asuka, we will have the ultimate female leading character.

Gendo Ikari

Father to Shinji, in the original series, Gendo is always hiding his face behind his hands, plotting away. Well, in this series he does the same thing, but seems more as a comic relief then anything else. For example, Shinji always complain about Gendo dressing in his ‘trademark’ style wherever he goes. Places where Shinji complains about Gendo’s dress code include Sakura viewing, to parent teacher meeting at Shinji’s school or to an unpopulated island.

Gendo is always doing or saying something stupid in this series, but in most cases, he would still get the admiration of all his underlings. Some of his stupid examples including powering Nerv with generators attached to exercise bike, or using physical human strength to move a multi tonne magnetically sealed door. When ever he say something stupid, he would end up getting pounded by his wife, who usually appears in the proper timing. One such case is the parent teacher meeting at Shinji’s school (Shinji’s home room teacher is Misato), after making a mess of things, Gendo was hit and dragged to the halls by a timely arrived Yui. We ended up seeing Gendo sulking outside Shinji’s classroom door.

Yui Ikari

Yui is Shinji’s mother, she is the sensible character in this series, even Shinji himself said that ‘if that’s what mother say, that must be it’. Her position at Nerv is exactly the same position as it was in the original series, until her death in the original series. She is the one we count on to stop any crazy stunts from Gendo, like the time Gendo wished Shinji luck after dropping Shinji, Asuka and Rei off on an unpopulated island, in a perverted way.

Kyoko Zeppelin Sory

Kyoko is Asuka’s mother, one of the scientist in Nerv at Tokyo 3. Unlike the original series, where she went insane committed suicide, she works in the lower parts of Nerv headquarters. She is looking forward to seeing Asuka and Shinji’s child.
Ritsuko Akagi

With Yui alive, Ritsuko would never made it into Nerv. So she became the school nurse for Shinji’s school, and working for Seele in the dark to destroy Nerv’s research.

She seems to have a crush on Gendo, I wonder what will happen if Yui finds out… HEHEHE.

Misato Katsuragi

Misato is the home room teacher for Shinji’s class, she apparently still have some links with Nerv and is now the guardian for Shinji, Asuka and Rei, protecting them from Seele. Misato’s personalities didn’t change much, still as messy as ever, and all she cares about is beer. Oh, since the time line changed, and Misato is a teacher, not a Colonel, she is now officially dating Kaji.

Hey, where’s Pen pen? I am afraid poor Pen Pen is terminated at the end of the experiment.

Ryoji Kaji

Kaji is mentioned several times as Misato’s boyfriend, the school’s gym teacher.

Kaworu Nagisa

Kaworu was the 17th angel in the original series, in this series however, he is just an agent from SEELE (could be an angel in the future, but so far, nothing showed up, not even Adam). His assignment, to make Shinji his. In a sense, both mind and body of Shinji Ikari must belong to Kaworu. So he is the homosexual character in this series, in which requires united Asuka and Rei to defeat, since Shinji is most likely a bisexual here.

Overall

I personally liked this series, the possible link between this crazy spin off and the original series is that, it is the alternate reality shown in episode 26, where Shinji see everyone who died, happily going to school and such. If you think that way, this would explain some of the craziness in this series, as compared to the serious nature of the original Neon Genesis.