Neon Genesis Evangelion: Gakuen Datenroku

is a 2007-launched manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

series by Ming Ming based on the Neon Genesis Evangelion
Neon Genesis Evangelion
, commonly referred to as Evangelion, is a commercially and critically successful Japanese anime series that began airing in October 1995. The series was highly influential, and launched the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. It garnered several major animation awards...

franchise. It was serialized in the shōjo

Shojo

The term refers to manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10-18. The name romanizes the Japanese 少女 , literally: "little female". Shōjo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction — often with a strong...

manga magazine Monthly Asuka
Monthly Asuka
is a monthly Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten, aimed at teenage girls. Much like its sibling publication Shōnen Ace, it places some emphasis on anime tie-ins and spinoffs...

between 2007 and 2009, published by Kadokawa Shoten

Kadokawa Shoten

is a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...

, and is also available in the PlayStation Store

PlayStation Store

The PlayStation Store is an online virtual market available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The Store offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games,...

. It has been collected in four volumes.

Many of the main characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion
Neon Genesis Evangelion
, commonly referred to as Evangelion, is a commercially and critically successful Japanese anime series that began airing in October 1995. The series was highly influential, and launched the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. It garnered several major animation awards...

return, including Shinji Ikari

Shinji Ikari

is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise created by Hideaki Anno. The protagonist of the series , he is the Third Child and pilots the Evangelion Unit 01...

, Rei Ayanami

Rei Ayanami

is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, a Japanese anime from Gainax. She is the First Child and pilot of the Evangelion Unit 00....

, Kaworu Nagisa

Kaworu Nagisa

is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. He is the Fifth Child and the seventeenth Angel, Tabris. He is sent to Nerv by Seele as a replacement pilot for Unit 02 after Asuka Langley Soryu's synchronization ratio falls below usability...

, Asuka Langley Soryu

Asuka Langley Soryu

is a 14-year old fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. Within the series, she is designated as the Second Child and the pilot of the Evangelion Unit 02...

, Toji Suzuhara, Misato Katsuragi

Misato Katsuragi

is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise created by Hideaki Anno. She is the operations director at Nerv, initially with the rank of captain; she is later promoted to major. In Rebuild of Evangelion Misato's rank is lieutenant colonel...

, and Kensuke Aida. Though the series uses the same characters, the story and setting differ greatly from previous manga and anime series in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise.

Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...

has recently announced that it has acquired the rights to distribute an official English translation of the series, starting in August 2010.

Plot

Shinji Ikari attends the NERV Foundation Academy and lives a relatively boring but peaceful life. During a typical outing at night to a nearby vending machine, he witnesses Rei Ayanami and another boy he has never seen before fleeing from the scene of a violent explosion. Startled by the incident, he accidentally finds an unusual gem.

The next day, he meets Kaworu Nagisa, a transfer student to the NERV Foundation Academy and the same boy Shinji had seen the previous night. When Shinji tries to discover the truth behind Rei's relationship with Kaworu, he soon finds himself forcibly recruited to assist them and Asuka Langley Soryu fight against "Angels", beings who wish to destroy humanity by obtaining "Cores", one of which is the gem found by Shinji.

Shinji soon receives an "EVA", the manifestation of the most powerful form of his will, in order to combat the Angels. Accompanying the group on their nightly patrols around the city and investigating strange phenomena, Shinji must protect civilians who are disappearing, though in reality have been killed by Angels and their bodies used as vessels, all without revealing the truth to his friends.

Characters

Shinji Ikari

is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise created by Hideaki Anno. The protagonist of the series , he is the Third Child and pilots the Evangelion Unit 01...

The protagonist, Shinji lives a relatively peaceful but boring life attending a local Catholic school. His mother died when he was a child and his father

Gendo Ikari

is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. He is the commander of Nerv. While all of the English versions romanize his given name as Gendo, Gainax's website romanizes it Gendoh, and some fansites romanize his name as "Gendou"....

works abroad, so Shinji's legal guardian is Kaji, one of his father's former subordinates. He finds his life changed forever when he becomes involved with Rei Ayanami and Kaworu Nagisa as they hunt the "Angels" and capture them. He apparently has mysterious powers of his own, which allow him to drive off Ramiel, the first Angel he encounters. His Eva weapon manifested itself as a gun. Shinji appears to have a crush on Rei, although his friendship with Kaworu could be called more than that, since they both have blushed in the presence of each other, and since both of them care about the other's opinion and well-being.

Rei Ayanami

is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, a Japanese anime from Gainax. She is the First Child and pilot of the Evangelion Unit 00....

A beautiful, but distant girl described by Toji to be classy, but gloomy and is admired by Shinji. Most people in the class consider her an oddball, though she is exceptionally talented at anything she is told to do, especially if Asuka tells her that it is a "mission". Rei leads a secret life, working as a Shamash Guardian for a group hidden in the school, to fight against Angels. She wields the Lance of Longinus in combat. As revealed in chapter eight, she is an "artificially created child", meaning that she has no parents, and she has spent most of her life in a facility.

Kaworu Nagisa

A transfer student who takes an interest in Shinji, who is suspicious of his relationship with Rei. With Rei, Kaworu secretly fights against Angels and has the ability to generate an AT Field to defend against attackers and his Eva manifests as a sword. He uses the name Tabris to play online games. He, as revealed in chapter eight, is an "artificially created child" and has spent all of his life until now in facilities. He is ignorant of many social customs, and considers himself to be close friends with Shinji.

Asuka Langley Soryu

is a 14-year old fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. Within the series, she is designated as the Second Child and the pilot of the Evangelion Unit 02...

Asuka is considered to be an attractive and stylish foreign student by the children in Shinji's class. She is also involved with the Shamash Guardians fighting against Angels and appears to be on relatively good terms with Kaworu and Rei. She is apparently outspoken and has little patience for novices like Shinji, though does not display these aspects of her personality with her classmates. Asuka wields a whip when fighting against angels and is proud of her abilities. As revealed in chapter eight she is the only one out of the three (Kaworu, Rei, and herself) who has parents, and unlike the other children, she has been enrolled in school prior to her assignment as a Shamash Guardian.

Toji Suzuhara, Kensuke Aida, and Hikari Horaki

Toji and Kensuke are Shinji's friends. Kensuke is a conspiracy fanatic and has knowledge about supposed prophecies involving Angels and the destruction of the world while Toji is more sceptical of these claims. They take an interest in the girls in the class, commenting on both Rei and Asuka, and enjoy playing MMORPG

MMORPG

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....

s. Hikari is the class representative of Shinji's class. Kensuke has recently been controlled by Iruel into freeing her from the computer which he succeeds at in Chapter 14.

Misato Katsuragi

, Ritsuko Akagi, and Kōzō Fuyutsuki

Misato is Shinji's class teacher and she and Kaji are old acquaintances, though Misato does not seem to have a positive opinion of him. Before becoming a teacher, she is worked in the same facilities as Kaji. Ritsuko works as the nurse at Shinji's school, who apparently is aware of Rei's activities involving the "Angels", and treats Rei and Shinji after their first fight with Ramiel. However, Ritsuko's actual loyalties may not live with NERV, as Kaworu remarks upon when he comes to see her. Fuyutsuki is mentioned in chapter 11 as the vice-principal of NERV Academy, and one of the teachers who is aware of the Angels.

Makoto Hyuga, Maya Ibuki, and Shigeru Aoba

Mentioned in chapter 11 as teachers at NERV Academy who are aware of the Angels. Hyuga is the current events teacher, Ibuki works as the mathematics teacher, and Aoba is employed as a chemistry teacher.

Kaede Agano, Satsuki Ooi, and Aoi Megumi

All three appear in chapter 11 and appear to be teachers in the school. When introduced, they are all dressed as nuns.

Ryoji Kaji

Shinji's guardian, a journalist and photographer, who was once a subordinate of Shinji's father. He appears to recognize Kaworu Nagisa upon their first meeting, and also has ties to Misato. He disapproves of Shinji's nightly walks, particularly in light of recent civilian disappearances.

Gendo Ikari

Shinji's father, and the commander of NERV. He's introduced at the end of chapter 11, much to Shinji's shock since Shinji had believed that his father was dead. Originally, Kaji believed that Gendo had died in a past incident when Kaji was still his subordinate, but learned his former superior was alive when Gendo requested that Kaji act as Shinji's legal guardian while Shinji attends school. He is cold and to the point, though Shinji remarks that his father was not so cold in the past, and is apparently fixated on the circumstances behind the death of his wife, Yui Ikari.

The Angels

Angel (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

In the anime and manga Neon Genesis Evangelion, are beings which attack Tokyo-3 over the course of the story. They are the main antagonist of the series and were designed by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.-Description:...

Beings which have appeared in order to claim "Cores" embodied as small spherical objects in order to eventually destroy the humanity. Originally supporting devices for the Yggdrasil, the Angels refuse to accept their fate and escape, expressing that their motives are only to live in peace, even if meant the Yggdrasil withers and all realities are converged as a result. The Angels possess no real bodies of their own, consisting only of a consciousness, and must find vessels to inhabit and move between.

Ramiel: : The first angel to appear in the series, Ramiel kills and possesses the body of a man in order to take the Core Shinji has obtained. He has the ability to generate lightning and transforms the body he possesses so that he gains wings. Though he overpowers first Rei, then Kaworu, inhibited because he was protecting Shinji, Shinji's powers suddenly awaken and he drives Ramiel away. Soon after, he possesses a young woman and approaches Shinji again with the intent of discovering the location of cores. Ramiel is eventually defeated by Asuka and Shinji and her core is removed from her host by Kaworu
Shamshel: :Appearing in chapter 10, Shamshel takes the form of a teenage girl. She addresses a fellow as-of-yet unnamed Angel as "brother" and appears to enjoy teasing him
Iruel: :Appearing in chapter 10, Ireul appears on a series of screens, possibly as a computer program. Its gender has not been specified yet, but it appears to take the form of an androgynous being wearing a mask with three reptilian eyes; two on either side of it and one in the center. It has been confirmed in Chapter 14 that Iruel has taken a female form when she escapes from her prison
Leliel: :First appearing in chapter 17, Leliel possesses a young man with pale hair and infiltrates the school while Iruel was battling against Shinji and Asuka. He finds and kills an unnamed person from the school before attempting to do that same to Toji and Hikari only to have his core removed by Israfel, one of their halves then chides him for involving innocent humans and states he can remain in that form for a while
Israfel: :Unlike the other Angels, Israfel is incarnated as human twins Cecilia and Makoto de Nuovo, twin siblings who are talented singers. Though Cecilia and Makoto is seen as early as Chapter 5, their identity as Angels is unconfirmed until chapter 11 by Makoto. Cecilia was first appears in Chapter 4 as an unknown girl who Shinji rescues from Ramiel's attack before she is formally introduced along with her brother in Chapter 5. She is mostly naive to the goals of the other Angels and has even developed a huge infatuation with Shinji to the point of running away when she sees him. Her brother, on the other hand, is fully aware of their situation and is generally cold towards Shinji and tries to protect his sister. It is later revealed that their apparent other halves are still with the angels when they disable Leliel and hold a conversation with Tabris in which it is shown they view him as a traitor to them

Other Angels: :While they have not been seen yet, chapter 10 has an as-of-yet unnamed Angel in the form of a man naming himself "Mimori" and working for the game company GNX. He and Shamshel mention Leliel), whose human identity is unknown still. There are also two unknown Angels who appear to be working against the others as they saved Kaji from a group of students who where under Iruel's control

Plot

Characters

Further reading