Volume 8 (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
| Volume 8 | |||
| |||
| |||
| Author: | Yoshiyuki Sadamoto | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Publish date: | |||
| Volume chronology | |||
| ← Previous | Next → | ||
| "Volume 7" | "Volume 9" | ||
Volume 8 is the eigth edition of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's manga adaptation of Neon Genesis Evangelion. It is comprised of 6 stages.
Stage Overview
Stage 49:...Kiss
It's been thirty days since Shinji was absorbed into the plug. The chapter begins with Shinji seeing himself as a child during the time that Gendo relinquishes him to live at his uncle's house. This is after Yui was absorbed into Eva Unit-01.
Gendo tells Shinji that his mother is dead after young Shinji asks where his mother is. The idea of the death of his mother manifests as the test evangelion during the first ever 'contact' experiment with Project E.
Gendo instructs Shinji to pilot the Eva, to which Shinji says, "You didn't want me! You can't have me now! You can't come back for me now!" Shinji at this time remembers the death of Toji by the Dummy Plug System's control of Eva Unit-01, and in exasperation Shinji knifes his father, who falls dead to the floor.
Back in common reality, Ritsuko gives Maya a plan to salvage Shinji from the plug. Maya shows amazement that Ritsuko could come up with the plan so fast, but Ritsuko explains it was her mother's plan. She said the same thing happened ten years ago during the development of the Evangelion. However, that time they failed to salvage Yui Ikari from the Eva. Ritsuko ends her explanation with "...I think Commander Ikari used to be different..."
Kaji visits Misato, who just found out that all the children in Shinji's homeroom are pilot candidates. She begins to ask Kaji about Adam, and about the Instrumentality Project, but he quiets her with a kiss. Misato breaks away from him and he leaves, saying "Today was our eighth anniversary, you know. I'm sorry, but I'm still in love with you."
Stage 50: Into the Heart...
Shinji sees the form of what he thinks to be his mother in a placid sea of fish. She calls to him, and tries to relax him in her arms. Shinji tells her that he must fight, that he must go back, but she tells him that he's done enough, and that he can rest with her for forever. He gives in to her and begins to rest with her watching over him.
In the common reality, Rei comes out of the tube in a room deep in Nerv she is sometimes seen in. Gendo is waiting for her. She asks about Shinji and what will happen to him. Gendo doesn't know, and he starts to put his hand on her face but Rei brushes it off. She leaves while thinking about the emptyness that was inside her. She would fill it by thinking about Gendo, but then Shinji came and filled that void with something more satisfying and pure. She hopes for Shinji's return to them.
The salvage procedure commences, and in Shinji's reality images of the people he knows appear, along with a "secondary" Shinji, the Shinji that recieves the criticism while the other Shinji rests with his mother. The people who come into his reality are just images in Shinji's mind that represent the things he has learned from them. The image of Kaji tells him to "Look reality in the face." Gendo tells him "Don't turn away."
Shinji reacts violently to all these statements, saying "I'm going to stay right here! She said I could stay forever!"
The salvage procedure fails, and Shinji's clothes are released from the entry plug along with LCL.
Rei, watching, prays, "Please, come back. Ikari-Kun, I don't want to be made of straw anymore."
The image Shinji has of his mother combined with his wishes starts to rot, and her true form is exposed. She is the embodiment of the vague memories repressed in Shinji of his mother's 'death' in the test Evangelion. It is also the wrong dependency on his mother that creates that image and is that image. He was woken up and now confronts that image and his dependency on her.
Stage 51: Mother
Rei focuses her prayers on that false image, and says "I am you. You are myself. You are what used to be me." The test Evangelion says "Yes, you are me...Why? Why do you interfere?" Rei prays "Give him back to me."
Shinji is frightened by the image of the test Evangelion and tries to free himself. He calls for his mother, and a bright form of a woman with long hair, the true embodiment of his mother, comes from behind the test Evangelion.
After a bright flash Shinji finds himself lying in the shallow surf of a beach. When he gets up he sees his mother and father standing under a tree, with him as a baby. His mother is nursing, and as she nurses she says that "If he has the will to live...he can make a Heaven wherever he is." Shinji wants to go over to her, but he is frozen in place. His mother, Yui, looks over at him and says "You can come to me if you want, you know. Is it that you can't move? Or is it that where you really want to go...isn't where I am?...I'll always watch over you, Shinji. You can go wherever you want, and I'll still be watching over you."
Shinji begins to swim in the sea towards a "scent," to which he questions, "Ayanami? Misato?"
He rematerializes from the core of the Unit-01, drenched in LCL.
Rei in response kneels to the floor and sits to rest, saying "I feel...happy."
Behind her Kaji looks at his Nerv card and says, "Never noticed before. It's pretty much the color of blood."
Stage 52: Flashback
Rei visits Shinji in the hospital, and Shinji thanks her. He doesn't know why. They both say that they are glad to see each other again.
Seele has Kaji kidnap Fuyutsuki. Fuyutsuki is taken to Seele where they question him. They bring up Unit-01's acquisition of an S2 Engine, and how Shinji should not be made a child of God (his absorption into Unit-01 was proof of this to Seele). They do not agree with Gendo trying to make a god. They make Fuyutsuki tell him everything he knows, from the beginning.
Fuyutsuki begins. A flashback starts, and it is the year 1999 in Kyoto, Japan. Fuyutsuki is in the Metaphysical Biology Laboratory, reviewing a paper with Yui Ikari that she wrote. He questions her on her plans for the future, citing lab work as one of the options. She tells him that there's another option. She would like to start a family if she meets the right person.
The scene changes to Fuyutsuki getting a call from someone asking him to post bail for a Gendo Rokubungi. Fututsuki meets Gendo at the police station, and learns he was arrested for getting in a fight. Gendo tells him "Well...I'm used to getting bad reactions." Fuyutsuki replies with "I think you're going to get another one from me."
Another scene change happens. This time Fuyutsuki and Yui are hiking in the woods, and it is fall in Japan. Fuyutsuki knows Yui has been going out with Gendo, and asks her, "...I can't imagine you spending your life with him...What do you see in him?" She replies with, "He hates being alone. And I find him very endearing. Other people just don't understand him...that's all." Here, Fuyutsuki removes his hand that he had placed on her shoulder. Fuyutsuki's finishing thoughts are "...Everyone I knew who had an opinion said the same thing: Gendo Rokubungi married Yui Ikari for two reasons: Access to her groundbreaking theories...and to the patron supporting her work. Eventually I heard the esoteric name of the organization. Seele-in German, the "Soul."
| Manga Volumes |
| Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3 | Volume 4 | Volume 5 | Volume 6 | Volume 7 | Volume 8 | Volume 9 | Volume 10 |
| Volume 11 | Volume 12 | Volume 13 | Volume 14 |
