Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days is a Japanese manga created by Fumino Hayashi based on the original Evangelion anime and is a spin-off of the video game Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel 2nd. Serialization of the Manga is by Kadokawa Shoten in Monthly Asuka from 2003 to 2005, with a total of 6 bound volumes.
This manga Angelic Days continues from the Episode 26th sequence where Shinji visualizes an alternate world with the original characters. The story is completely different, Misato is a homeroom teacher and Rei is a transfer student. The manga still touches upon the Evangelion Units and Angel battles, but in general the story has a lighter and comedic twist to the original series.
Plot
The first 4 volumes have similarities with the anime such as Angel invasions but with a different twist on the plot of the original anime series such as:
Shinji and Asuka are childhood friends, and jealousy comes from Asuka when Rei is attracted to Shinji.
Kensuke confesses his love to Asuka but gets rejected.
Hikari and Toji go on a date despite an Angel invasion threat.
Kaworu is another of Shinji's childhood friends, and their friendship began when Asuka and Shinji had disagreements.
Characters
Here are the alternate versions of the characters in the manga story in relation to the original anime series.
Shinji Ikari
Retains being the male protagonist in this manga, but his personality is more sociable and friendly. Especially to his childhood friend Asuka Langley Soryu. Compared to the anime in which he was a quiet boy, timid and easily influenced by others.
Asuka Langley Soryu
Asuka is Shinji’s neighbour and childhood friend. Her feelings of inferiority from the anime series are the same in this manga, but she cares deeply for her friends and will defend them when the situation arises.
Rei Ayanami
Rei becomes an extrovert in this manga, as opposed to her reserved robot-like attitude in the anime. She is pure and is very light-minded in the way that she can’t do simple tasks such as cracking open an egg and is often disliked by girls in her class for flirting with boys.
Kaworu Nagisa
Kaworu is a flirty friend of Shinji with a mysterious past.
Toji Suzuhara
Toji is a standby pilot for an Evangelion Unit. He still has strong feelings for his classmate Hikari. The biggest difference is him showing his more vulnerable side.
Kensuke Aida
Kensure has also been accepted into NERVs piloting program. He has feelings and an infatuation with Asuka and is trying to get her attention. Asuka will not reciprocate the same feelings he has and later on accepts to being a friend.
Misato Katsuragi
Misato is the homeroom teacher and is assigned to Shinji and Asuka's class. Compared to the anime she is capable of cooking and she has some operational work at the NERV headquarters.
Ritsuko Akagi
The nurse at Shinji and Asuka’s school. A completely different position to the anime but her crush on Gendo Ikari who is the Head of Medical and Science officer at NERV is the same.
Ryoji Kaji
Kaji is an investigator at NERV and a researcher spying on Kaworu Nagisa, his position is official and reports to Gendo Ikari. He dated Misato during college and with his efforts, became close to her.
Yui Ikari
Yui Ikari is alive and works for NERV with her husband, Gendo, and Asuka's parents. In the story it goes over her love story and highschool life.
Chapters
Volume 1
Rei is a new transfer student at the school where Shinji is attending, and she starts to like him confiding her feelings to Asuka.
-Part 1: “The Transfer Student”
-Part 2: “NERV”
-Part 3: “Sad Hearts, Gentle Hearts”
-Part 4: “Changing Hearts, immutable Hearts.”
Volume 2
The students start to learn that they are being nurtured to pilot the Evangelions. Rei and Shinji are both deployed to stop an Angel attack. Shinji is paralyzed with fear at first but manages to gather his nerves to save Rei and defeat the Angel.
-Part 1: “Giant of Light”
-Part 2: “Rei Ayanami”
-Part 3: “Into the Caves”
-Part 4: “The First Battle”
Volume 3
Shinji is invited by Kaworu to play in concert with him but Shinji decides to take care of Asuka, who became sick instead. Kensuke tells his feelings to Rei, and Asuka then confesses to Shinji.
-Part 1: “The Group Photo”
-Part 2: “How to Spend a Day Off”
-Part 3: “Individual Feelings”
-Part 4: “The Ideal World”
Volume 4
Tokyo-3 is attacked by multiple Angels emerges, and Shinji merges into the form of Instrumentality, where he confesses his feelings to Asuka. Soon after, the pilots split up to different training facilities across the world. The story concludes after several years with the pilots reuniting and opening a time capsule they buried together.
-Part 1: “That Which is Precious”
-Part 2: “Ghosts of the Past”
-Part 3: “A World of Light, A Darkness of Sound”
-Part 4: “The Future from Now”
Volume 5
Chronicles of Gendo’s past as a high school student, the moments which is when he was usually in a fight and his relationship with Yui. Gengo and Kaworu’s first meet-up and their lives in detail.
Volume 6
These are scattered Volume 4 events, and there are four different separate endings.
The story of Misato and Kaji. The second is with Ritsuko and Rei, the third is Touji’s, and last is Shinji and Asuka.
-Chapter 1: “Misato x Kaji”
-Chapter 2: “Ritsuko x Rei”
-Chapter 3: “Hikari x Toji”
-Chapter 4: Shinji x Asuka”
-Side Story 1: “Toward Tomorrow”
-Side Story 2: Tomorrow is Tomorrow”
Release Information
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days is published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan. It was serialized from 2003 to 2005 in Monthly Asuka with a collection of 6 volumes. Newtype USA serializes it from August 2005 to January 2006.