Previously:
Just go read Part One right here:
The Gundam Anime Corner: Final Impact-An Evangelion Gundam Anime Corner Special (Part 13) (gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com)…oh ok fine, if you don’t want to:
Shinji got back in the game and took on several Mass Produced Evas to protect
Asuka but ended up being captured and used to kick off Third Impact
anyway. Meanwhile, Gendo thought he had
won the day but a farewell bullet from Ritsuko and Rei seizing his Adam Embryo
(wow that sounded grosser than I intended) and rising up to meet Shinji for the
big end of the world event.
Final
Impact has reached Third Impact and the final act of the Evangelion
Manga. Shall we?
Volume 14 (Episode 26, The End of Evangelion)
In the Anime:
In a dreamlike state, Shinji looks back on his life to
determine Humanities future. When he is
overwhelmed by the feelings of loneliness that have dominated his life,
Shinji’s wish finds the world returned to its primordial state and merged into
one consciousness, seemingly completing SEELE’s endgame. All are turned to LCL, save for Gendo, who is
devoured by Eva Unit 01 for his crimes.
However, once in a unified state, Shinji comes to realize that this is
not the answer he’s seeking and that feeling pain he can overcome it and find
happiness one day. His new wish severs
the gigantic Rei and the Eva series, returning him to the world to await others
who wish to join him there. Shinji finds
himself on a beach with Asuka. Still
rattled, Shinji tries to strangle Asuka, who simply touches his cheek, causing
Shinji to break down sobbing. The future
remains unknown.
·
There is no Shinji choking Asuka sequence during
Shinji’s Dream Journey, though his wish still remains the same: Ending the
world he cant protect.
·
When everyone returns to LCL, Asuka’s vision is
of Kaji. Meanwhile Fuyutsuki experiences
a memory with Yui the day before her Eva experiment that killed her.
·
Yui meets Gendo and tells him that in spite of
his wish to fill Shinji with hatred and despair so he’d eventually destroy the
world, Yui is confident Shinji will save Humanity in the end. Gendo does not turn to LCL nor is he devoured
by Unit 01, he simply passes away.
·
The theme of the power and meaning of “hands” is
prevalent during the World Union sequence.
Shinji tells Rei he wants to return to the world because even though
hands can hurt and part ways, there are still many times when they brought him
joy and he wants to hold Rei’s hand again one day. They do hold hands and it acts as the
catalyst to undo Third Impact.
·
Shinji sees a vision of his parents as he
returns to the real world. Gendo
specifically tells him to “live”.
·
A brand new ending scene: the world reborn
without memories of what’s come before.
Shinji makes his way to a train to travel to Tokyo for High School. Along the way, he observes a long dead Eva Series
corpse, though no one knows what it is or how long its been there. Upon arriving in Tokyo, Shinji meets Asuka,
helping her off the train. They briefly
hold hands and while they don’t know each other, Shinji feels something
familiar about Asuka, though she just brushes this off and happily goes on her
way. Kensuke also shows up right after
this exchange. Shinji vows to make his
own path, no matter what as we see that he has Misato’s necklace on his
schoolbag.
·
An extra story centered on Yui Ikari, two years
before Second Impact. We see her first
meeting with Gendo and her interactions with her fellow research students. One girl in particular claims to hate Yui as
she is everything she feels she is not, even stealing Yui’s glasses at one
point. After Yui helps her clean
Professor Fuyutsuki’s classroom, Yui straightens the girls hair and allows her
to keep the glasses she took from her.
The identity of this girl is revealed at the very end as Mari Makinami,
the new character introduced in the Rebuild of Evangelion Series.
Wow…that was…a very different ending for sure. From Asuka and Gendo’s new final fates to an
entirely different post Third Impact world AND a bonus epilogue/prologue with
an unexpected cameo, this might be my favorite Volume of the Evangelion Manga
and works some nice magic to make the finale a truly memorable one. Where to even start? Shinji’s wish? Gendo’s reward? Asuka making it to the LCL collection? I’m not sure how I feel about Kaji being who
Asuka sees before she gets LCL’d. For
everyone else it was about the person they cared about or loved the most
(except poor techie Aoba who is still LCL’d by a swarm of Rei’s in pure
terror). I guess it couldn’t be Shinji
for Asuka cause he was still alive.
Maybe she could’ve joined him in the Third Impact decision making
process somehow but that would rob Shinji of completing his arc with someone a
bit more important (sorry Asuka). Back
to that in a second but first, even Gendo got a kinder punishment than being
snack food for Eva Unit 01. He got his
final moment with Yui, who reminded him rightly she’s always been with him and
always would be…before not even being accepted to the LCL party and just dying
on the spot. Insult to injury comes from
Yui telling Gendo that Shinji will never be like him and that this LCL state is
only temporary…far more optimistic than the incredibly bleak Third Impact
sequence from The End of Evangelion.
Back to Shinji, while I don’t ship him and Rei for obvious, icky
reasons, I do really like their relationship in the Manga and the fact that it
grew through holding hands. Sure hands
can hurt and parting hands can be painful…but as Spock once said, “This simple
feeling,” embracing the hand of a friend, can mean the world to anyone and
that’s a feeling worth preserving even in a world of hate and distrust. Maybe I just like the way they talked about
it better or it was simply easier to understand but this was a beautiful ending
and a conclusion I’m glad Shinji and Rei both reached together. He even gets a thumbs up from both
parents…way to go Shinji Ikari, way to go.
Now, about that extra ending.
No beaches of red oceans, no giant bits of
Rei all over the place and certainly no Shinji trying to choke out whatever
version of Asuka washed up on the beach with him.
The world is reborn Rahxephon style and
Shinji is ready to face it.
He even
helps Asuka off a train by, yep, taking her hand and helping her out.
Yui Ikari’s bet was right: Shinji didn’t doom
the world, he gave it a fresh start and hopefully it will pave the way to a
better tomorrow with this reset.
Normally this would result in one of many Evangelion Spin Offs about
this new world (like Angelic Days or the Shinji Ikari Raising Project).
But if there’s one spin off I want far more
it’s the Yui Ikari prologue featuring Mari Illustrious Makinami from Rebuild of
Evangelion.
I wanna see how she and
Gendo met and how they fell in love and I wanna see what greater role Mari
plays.
Hell, could this even be part of
the reset world and Yui and Gendo get a second chance with Mari’s help.
I have so many questions…but then again,
that’s par for the course with a Neon Genesis Evangelion ending.
Not everything is wrapped up nicely and
everything will always be debated…this is the way.
As always at a time like this, what are my Final Thoughts
on
Final Impact and my look at the Manga retelling of Neon Genesis
Evangelion?
The long delays in between
Volmues (some coming out years after one another),
probably gave Yoshiyuki Sadamoto time to
refine and look back on Eva to see what could be tweaked, what could be made
better and what could help the Manga not be a carbon copy of the Anime.
I spent three volumes complaining about
Kwaoru’s depiction so i’ll just say, that’s what keeps this from getting a 10,
and leave that at that.
Everything else
was great and mostly improved:
Kaji’s
backstory; Gendo’s deeper motivations; a stronger Shinji; Rei’s more focused
connection tale; Asuka leaning on Shinji a bit more.
A lot of the Mecha action was mostly
unchanged save for the Angel battles that were excised to give more time to the
improved character interactons.
The End
of Evangelion Arc was improved massively from better endings for every
character to new action scenes with Shinji AND Asuka getting to throw down in
their Evas one more time before Third Impact.
In the end, I talked about this in my review for Evangelion 3.0+1.0 and
hinted at it briefly in Volume 13 but here’s where I expand: every version of
Evangelion is a product of its time and the creator at the helm.
Anno was angry and depressed in the 90s,
giving way to a very tough but artistically amazing story about the struggle
for acceptance and love in a world that seems to deny it, even at the end of
the world, culminating in the angry but magnificence filled End of
Evangelion.
Rebuild was Anno well after
that point and he had developed a more optimistic outlook on life and human
connection, showcased over four amazing films.
Sadamoto worked on the Evangelion Manga for almost 20 years and had
enough of Anno’s notes to work off of while also putting his own spin on
things.
Shinji’s journey is still a
difficult one filled with loss and a lot of pain.
And yet the Manga looks at Shinji’s issues
differently and presents new conclusions and offers a more optimistic
atmosphere.
Yui Ikari herself knew that
Gendo wanted to beat Shinji down to his lowest point so he’d hate the world and
want to end like he did.
And yet Yui
believed in her son through and through, whether it was reaching out to him via
Eva Unit 01 or how Rei slowly found genuine connection spending time with
Shinji.
Original Eva wanted the world to
end on a note of uncertainty.
The
Evangelion Manga ended the world harshly but it never felt like the final
outcome would be a cruel punishment but rather the promise of things finally
getting better after they definitely got worse.
I loved this Manga and what it brings to the Evangelion legacy is
great.
This is a perfect example of: if
you love the Anime, you’ll love the Manga…you might not look at Evangelion the
same way ever again…then again, didn’t Eva 3.0+1.0 already do that?
Thank you so much for joining me on this special Gundam
Anime Corner event.
I had a lot of fun
doing this deep dive on the Evangelion Manga and it’s got me wanting to try
this again with another beloved Manga series I own the entirety of.
What could that title be?
Well there might’ve been a hint here and
there but I think I’ll look into working on it for 2022.
Til then, keep it locked here to the Gundam
Anime Corner for more surprises and reviews…and definitely get set for Monday
when we begin the final event of 2021 and the sequel you’ve all been waiting
for…
GUNDAM MONTH MARK V-THE GAUNTLET PART II.
See ya then.
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