Volume 1 (Neon Genesis Evangelion Academy: Record of Heaven's Descent)
| Volume 1 | |||
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| Author: | Min Min (眠民) | ||
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| "N/A" | "Volume 2 (Neon Genesis Evangelion Academy: Record of Heaven's Descent)" | ||
Volume 1 is the first edition of Min Min's manga, Neon Genesis Evangelion Academy: Record of Heaven's Descent. It is comprised of four chapters.
Chapter Overview
Chapter One
Shinji Ikari goes out as he does every night to buy a drink from a vending machine near his home. At the machine he sees Rei Ayanami, a girl from his school, and a boy he does not know, race past him into the distance. Marveling at this curiosity, he accidentally drops his coin under the vending machine. He reaches under the machine and instead of his coin he pulls out a small, dark red orb.
Shinji wakes up the next morning, and on the news he hears about a disturbance that happened in the night close by. When he goes to Nerv Academy, a catholic school, Kensuke Aida tells him that the disturbance might be linked to some kind of “Divine Retribution.” He pulls up a website on his laptop that describes the prophecy told to the prophet Magi and speaks of this scenario: “[We] foresee this, and pass it to man, who has the potential for greatness; In 14 years and 29 days, the pillars that support the heavens will collapse, and rain spears upon the earth below.” Kensuke says to Shinji that that time will pass this year.
Asuka Langely Soryu and Rei Ayanami are in the same class as Shinji, and are briefly introduced at this time. Kaworu Nagisa is introduced to Shinji’s homeroom as the new transfer student, and he is seen wearing a different uniform from the rest of the students. When Kaworu is introduced, Shinji stands up and yells in surprise, since he believes Kaworu is the boy he saw last night with Rei. Because of this, Kaworu later asks Shinji to show him the school.
After school Shinji sees Rei and Kaworu walking off together, and he follows them out of curiosity. He soon loses sight of them until Rei rushes out in front of him with an implement similar in form to the Lance of Longinus. She hurls it at a crow, destroying it. From the crow falls one of the same red orbs Shinji found the other night.
Another being is in the area, which has wings and fires a lightning attack at Shinji. Kaworu protects him with an AT Field (which is said to be a remarkable thing for a human to have). Kaworu identifies the being as the Lightning based Ramiel, who has “…infected a human body…” It wants Shinji’s “core,” the red orb he found last night. Kaworu further identifies Ramiel as an Angel, a being to “guide mankind to destruction.”
Chapter Two
Ramiel powers up with a core in his chest, Kaworu explains that the Angels seek vessels to inhabit since they don’t have physical bodies. Kaworu yells at Shinji to hide and the battle with Ramiel progresses.
Shinji looks out from his hiding place and sees Rei badly injured. He rushes out to her, where at the same time crushing rocks fall to where he runs. Kaworu pushes Shinji out of the way and in return is pinned by a large slab of rock. Shinji struggles to remove the rock and tries to wake Kaworu, who is unresponsive. Shinji’s hand is full of Kaworu’s blood, and a flashback into Shinji’s past occurs.
A person’s arm is among objects looking like roots, which are enclosed by a now cracked screen. Leaves are floating in the air, and young Shinji watches as the person’s hand is placed on the cracked screen, smearing the blood on it flowing from that hand.
In real-time the Angel encroaches on him, and Shinji lets out a monstrous yell. He emits a ray of light which seems to destroy the Angel.
An image comes to life in Shinji’s mind. He is kneeling over a model of a city, and a young Kaworu says, “Though all you may see over there are individual parts, each of them has their own place, and their own meanings. Lilith draws ever closer…” Shinji remarks that he feels he has seen this child, and then says that the child is covered in red. He is corrected by young Kaworu, who says, “You’re the one covered in red…I wonder whose blood that is.” Shinji wakes up in Nerv Academy’s infirmary.
Rei comes to the infirmary and takes him into a church on school grounds. Inside the church, there is a black table in front of the tabernacle. To Shinji’s surprise, Rei places her hand over this and stairs appear where the black table once was.
She leads him through a pathway, past two angel statues marking the entrance into a room. They emerge onto a white platform surrounded by twelve white pillars. These pillars descend downward through what look like roots of a tree. The pillars ascend into leaves of a tree at the same time. Asuka and Kaworu are waiting on the white platform between the pillars.
A voice from above addresses Shinji with, “Starting today, you will be sent on missions along with the three people before you. You will fight the Angels.”
Chapter Three
Ramiel is still alive and takes over the body of a young woman.
The voice that addressed Shinji says that Yggdrasil, the World Tree, is withering. To save the tree and restore balance the cores must be collected.
A pod containing data and a dark orb appears before Shinji. It is called the Eva, and he is instructed to touch it. Kaworu tells him to focus his consciousness into his hand and think of a form to fight with, and when Shinji does it takes the form of a gun, his "will."
Shinji doesn't want to fight, but Kaworu tells him that if the World Tree were to die, all the worlds would combine into one, and all living and nonliving things would become one as well. This is referred to as being Third Impact The cores are needed to stop the World Tree from withering. Kaworu goes on to say that the different branches of the tree must be prevented from converging (which he parallels with man choosing different paths to take during his life), and the things that protect this equilibrium are the cores. That is why they pursue the Angels, who also want the cores. Shinji is still hesitant to take a different path and fight with the "Guardians."
Kaworu says they won't force Shinji to fight. The Eva won't manifest itself if the owner does not have the will.
When Shinji is leaving school later, the Angel Ramiel, in a woman's body, follows him and begins to engage him in a fight for his core. Kaworu senses the Angel as he and Rei are walking from school.
Chapter Four
Shinji runs from Ramiel but she catches up with him. Shinji sees a small girl watching the fight, and he runs to move her from the fight just as Ramiel lets out a burst of lightning in his direction. Shinji is able to deflect it with something that looks like an AT Field.
Shinji tries to fire his Eva but it won't work. Asuka shows up during his tries and she impedes Ramiel with her whip Eva.
Meanwhile, the girl Shinji saw finds her cat and he tells her to leave.
Shinji focuses his Eva into his hand and thinks of the times when he was saved by Kaworu and Rei. He thinks of times when they were badly hurt because he was hiding or standing idle. He thinks to himself "I musn't run away. I musn't run away."
Asuka looks away from her fight with Ramiel to see Shinji running towards her. Ramiel takes this chance to fire a burst of electricity at her. Shinji, in his excitement and because of his will to protect his comrades, is able to fire a shot from his gun Eva, which cancels out the blast of lightning from Ramiel.
Kaworu and Rei show up, and Kaworu directs a blast of energy at Ramiel, defeating her. He takes the core from her chest, and apologizes to her, saying "I wonder if you'll die if I leave you like this. Like a human....If only I could grant you that much. I'm sorry."
Shinji vows to fight with Kaworu and the rest of the Guardians. He thinks, "I only know that I don't want to sit by idly as someone is hurt right in front of me. And for that reason, I've decided that I will fight."
