Volume 3 (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Volume 3
新世紀エヴァンゲリオン Shin Seiki Evangelion
Author:	Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Publish date:	JP: October 29, 1996 US: April 28, 2004
Volume chronology
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"Volume 2"	"Volume 4"

The third volume of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's manga adaptation of Neon Genesis Evangelion. This third volume is subtitled White Scars (白い傷跡 / Shiroi Kizuato) and is comprised of Stages 13 to 19.

Overview

Volume 3 adapts Episode 5 and Episode 6 of the anime series.

Summary

Stage 13: White Scars (白い傷跡 / Shiroi Kizuato)

After embracing Misato at the train station, and agreeing to go back "home" to Misato's apartment, Shinji runs into Toji and Kensuke outside the train station. Toji, instead of offering Shinji an apology, offers one his own way, by asking Shinji to punch him. Shinji replies that he'd rather have Toji owe him one, making the three of them fast friends.

Misato then takes Shinji to Shamshel's corpse while its in the process of being dismantled. Ritusko informs Misato that the Angels have a 99.89% genome match to that of humans. Misato replies that that's the same match as the Evas. Shinji, then sees his father walk by and notices the scars on the palms of his hands, and Ritsuko explains that he got them from saving Rei from her Entry Plug in the aftermath of Eva-00's berserk activation test over a month previously. Shinji is shocked that that his father cared about another person.

Stage 14: The Warped Room (歪んだ部屋 / Yuganda Heya)

After having found out that Rei and his father have a relationship, he wonders how this is even possible. Shinji contemplates that Rei doesn't even have a past, reflecting what Misato said when she told him her file was empty. Shinji is watching Rei during P.E., and Toji assumes he's "checking her out." Shinji still deep in thought desides to stick his fingers up Toji's nose while Rei (and the rest of the girls in the class) are looking to see what her reaction is. Shinji is disappointed that Rei didn't laugh, but tells Toji the two of them are now "even."

Back at Nerv HQ, Shinji sees Gendo and Rei interact, and wonders what Rei means to his father, sees the way his father looks at Rei, as soething he will experience. The following day, before Eva-00's reactivation test, Misato entrusts Shinji to deliver Rei's new security pass to her apartment. Shinji goes to her apartment and enters after knocking, to find his father's glasses in Rei's dresser. Rei then comes out of the shower, naked and barely covered in a towel, which Shinji responds to by nervously droping the glasses. After notciing the glasses on the floor, Rei kneels down to pick them up, and Shinji ebcomes flustered and tries to leave, only to trip over Rei and end up falling on top of her nude body. After a moment, Shinji composes himself, leaves Rei's new card, and leaves after apologizing.

Stage 15: What Her Crimson Eyes Believe (紅い瞳の信じるものは / Akai Hitomi no Shinjirumono wa)

Shinji, just after leaving Rei's apartment is upset, and thinks that Rei now hates him. Rei walks by him sulking on the sidewalk and he follows her, trying to strike up a conversation. Once they arrive at Nerv HQ Rei finally talks to him, and asks if he trusts his father, which Shinji says he is incapable of doing. Eva-00's reactivation test goes without a hitch, however just as Eva-00 comes online, a Pattern Blue is detected and Shinji and Eva-01 are deployed to intercept the Angel, Ramiel. As soon as Eva-01 emerges on the surface, it is hit by Ramiel's beam attack through severla buildings before Eva-01 can even deploy from the launch platform. Shinji is boiled by the heat of Ramiel's beam, and Eva-01 is recalled so Shinji can receive medical attention.

Stage 16: Abandoned Memories (棄てられた記憶 / Suterareta Kioku)

As a result of Ramiel's attack, Shinji's heart stops and has to be resuscitated before the medics can get to him. Shinji is rushed to the hospital for treatment and ends up in a coma. While Shinji is recovering, Ramiel begins drilling into the armor plating protecting the Geofront, while Nerv tries to understand how Ramiel operates, and Misato seemingly comes up with a risky plan considering thy have nothing to lose. While Shinji is in his coma, he dreams about his time his aunt and uncle. When he wakes up, he sees Rei watching over him, and confuses her for his mother. Rei instructs him to eat, as they are leaving in an hour.

Stage 17: The Night Before Battle (決戦前夜 / Kessen Zen'ya)

Shinji expresses doubts about being deployed against Ramiel again. Rei talls Shinji he can run away from their mission again if he wants to, and that she can pilot Eva-01 on her own. After their arrival at Nerv's temporary base, Misato details her plan to kill Ramiel. Shinji in Eva-01 will shoot the Angel with an experimental positron rifle that will draw all of Japan's power into a single shot, while Rei in Eva-00 will play defense, with a shield modified from the bottom of a space shuttle that can block a single shot from Ramiel for 17 seconds. The downside is if the first shot misses, the rifle's barrel will require 20 seconds to cool, meaning there won't be a second shot.

While waiting for the mission to begin, Shinji and Rei watch as the lights shut off in the countryside, Shinji and Rei have a conversation about why Rei pilots Eva. She pilots because she has nothing else, and that if she couldn't pilot, she would have no purpose in life, which is the same as being dead. Shinji tells Rei that he did not care about life, and that he just pretended to be a good kid. As they're called to their Evas, Rei tells Shinji he will not die, because she will protect him, and tells him "goodbye"leaving Shinji speechless.

Stage 18: Blood Battle (血戦! / Kessen!)

As the positron rifle is charged by all of Japan's power, Shinji is determined to make the shot the first time. However, Ramiel detects the impending attack and charges an attack of his own. The two attacks fire simultaneously. As they approach each other, the beams warped around, and slightly deflected each other. Ramiel's shot landed the right of Eva-01's position, while Shinji's missed entirely, hitting the hillside behind Ramiel. As Ramiel penetrates the Geofront, he charges another shot. Shinji moves the positron rifle to buy more time, but its still not enough. As Ramiel fires, Rei jumps in front of the beam, using her shield to protect Shinji from the blast. With the 17 seconds almost up, the shield begins to disintegrate.

Stage 19: The Moon Inside the Darkness (闇の中の月 / Yami no Naka no Tsuki)

As Eva-00's shield disintegrates from the blast, Rei keeps Eva-00 in front of Eva-01, taking the full force of the blast while Shinji prepares to fire a second shot. As Ramiel's blast dissipates, Shinji fires a shot, thaat hits Ramiel dead center, and blows out his Core, causing the Angel to fall to the ground, lifeless. With the danger passed, Shinji grabs the collapsed Eva-00 and rips off the armor plate covering the Entry Plug, and sets it on the ground. Shinji runs to the Entry Plug, and similarly to his father, opens the emergency hatch and sees an injured Rei inside. Rei, in her daze, mistakes Shinji for his father, and is taken aback by him being there to help her, and is confused as to why he's crying. Shinji tells her that he is very glad she's alive, and that he's crying because he's happy. Rei si confused as to why people cry when they are upset, and when they are happy, and is unsure of what expression to have when she is happy, Shinji, as he helps her up, suggests she smile. As Shinji helps Rei out of her Entry Plug, he tells her to not say "goodbye" because its too sad.

Notes

• Shinji's interactions with Rei at her apartment is much different from the anime.
  • Before he is able to put the glasses on, Rei comes out of the bathroom.
  • He trips over her, and does not end up accidentally sending her bras and panties everywhere.
  • While the pair is on the floor, Shinji's hand does not end up holding her breast while she's on the ground, nor is he told by Rei to move, as he comes to his senses on his own.
  • Shinji also remembers to leave Rei's new card behind before running out of her apartment
  • Rei's nudity is also a lot more explicitly shown than in the anime.
• At the end of the volume, we see that VTOLs have been converted into medivacs, which explains how the pilots are recovered so quickly from the battle field.

Analysis

• When Shinji says he does not have faith in his father's work, Rei does not react like she did in the anime by slapping him, but explains:

“

I have faith in him. The only thing in this world I have faith in is the Commander.

„

• It can be inferred from this quote, and from her much less harsh reaction to Shinji's distrust of his father, that Rei is not as attached to Gendo in the manga as she is in the anime.

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

Manga

Eva and Eva 2 Anthology | Girlfriend of Steel 2 (manga) | Neon Genesis Evangelion (manga) | Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse | Shinji Ikari Raising Project (Manga) | Shinji Ikari's Detective Journal | Petit Eva: Evangelion@School