Re-Take

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Evangelion Re-Take is a several-volume adult doujinshi written by Studio Kimigabuchi, presenting a continuation of The End of Evangelion. Due to its art and story, it is regarded as one of the most popular fan-created works among the Evangelion fan community. Anime critic Hiroki Azuma praised it after receiving the collection as a gift. There is a rumor Yuko Miyamura has read it.

Re-Take vol 1

Re-Take Volume 01 begins where The End of Evangelion left off, with Shinji strangling Asuka on the beach after Third Impact. From there Shinji, wakes up in the hospital just after the 12th Angel attack with Rei sitting by the bed and Asuka behind the door (just as in the anime). At first, Shinji believes all the events he witnessed were a dream, but eventually he realized they were a vision from the future. He decides to change these events for the better. When fighting against the Bardiel-possesed Unit-03, Shinji breaks all the limbs of the Eva and safely recovers the Entry Plug, avoiding the use of the Dummy System and saving Toji. Against Zeruel, Shinji goes into battle earlier than canon to prevent Asuka from not winning the battle and losing her pride. He defeats the Angel, but his Eva doesn't consume its S² Engine. Shinji vows to help Asuka even when she thinks she does not need help. Shinji and Asuka become closer to the point of eventually become a couple. When they confess their love to each other, they have sex without protection (important plot point).

Acceptance

Rei meanwhile becomes depressed--eventually committing suicide--because Shinji starts to ignore her (and later admits to Rei that Asuka is the one he loves). Shinji's ignoring Rei stems from the fact that he now knows what Rei's true identity really is, and it scares Shinji. Rei attempts to emulate Asuka by wearing blue eye contacts, making her hair red, and saying Anta Baka, but Shinji rejects Rei and says he like Asuka. To make things worse, Asuka from the Post Third Impact world starts appearing before him. This Asuka is bitter that Shinji tried to kill her after Third Impact and that he (in her view) has the nerve to become happy with the past version of her.

Last words

Re-Take vol 2

Volume 2 begins with Shinji and Asuka laying in bed together. Asuka is somewhat surprised about their having so much sex, while Shinji--who's depressed about Rei's suicide--claims that he just wants to be with her. However, the next Angel, Arael appears. Shinji protects Asuka during the Arael battle to prevent her from being mentally-raped, but he ends up targeted as a result. During the battle, Misato becomes suspicious about Rei's condition since her suicide "attempt". The battle ends with a powerful A.T. Field destroying the Angel, revealed to be Eva-01's. Shortly after this battle, Post-3I Asuka appears before Shinji again, prompting Shinji to reply that the current Rei is "the third".

After a short discussion about Shinji's mental state by Ritsuko and Misato, the narrative shifts, in which Asuka, consistently failing her sync tests, resolves to quit piloting her Eva. Ritsuko then questions Shinji for a time, concluding that he is seeing hallucinations, and has been "polluted" by an Angel. Coming to terms with the fact that this pollution will eventually kill Shinji, Asuka decides to propose marriage to Shinji, who happily and naively accepts, unaware of his approaching fate, and thinking the proposal is only about her pregnancy that she just revealed to him.

After handing out marriage invitations to the jovial members of Nerv, Shinji finally approaches Gendo. Gendo says he has to go to Matsushiro on that day, so he will sent Fuyutsuki to Matsushiro instead. Asuka's final sync test reveals that she is unable to pilot her Eva any longer, and even though she has attempted to prepare for the day, she feels that her "shelter" has vanished. Shinji makes peace with Rei. He says he was avoiding her because he loved Rei and he felt that love threatened what he and Asuka had. Shinji invites Rei to his wedding. The hallucination Asuka comes to taunt Shinji and say he is not father material. Shinji tries to apologize for what he did to her and says that he isn't hers anymore, but Asuka does not forgive Shinji and says he is all hers.

Unit-02 is sent against Armisael even though Asuka's sync score is too low. Armisael attempts to attack Shinji but Asuka grabs it before it can get to Unit-01. Armisael starts to infect Unit-02; Gendo orders Unit-02 be self-destructed to mentally break Shinji. Shinji tries to prevent it but Asuka herself starts the self-destruction. She tells Rei to take care of Shinji for her and blows up. Kaworu, observing the explosion, comments how the events are different from the scenario he expected to encounter.

Re-Take vol 3

After the battle, Shinji had to be restrained for nearly a week. Medical staff believes he is showing signs of mental disorder. Misato goes to visit Shinji; he comments on how he cannot cry because he mentally shut down himself to block out the pain. Shinji starts to make a hobby out of folding newspapers and Rei, in an attempt to make good on her promise, tries to provide more newspapers for Shinji to fold, but is rejected. Kaworu arrives and asks Rei if he is able to see Shinji because he wants to kill him. Gendo makes plans to fight against the Committee using Shinji and Eva-01. Gendo is confident that Shinji will follow Gendo's scenario because he had experienced the loss of a loved one.

Misato runs into Shinji's room to tell Shinji that Asuka is really alive. Asuka says her mama protected her from dying. Shinji and Asuka start to have sex but Asuka suddenly vanishes and hallucination Asuka appears. She tells Shinji he should not try to escape reality; the core imploded so it is impossible for Asuka to have survived. Hallucination Asuka wants Shinji to drown in his remorse. Shinji proceeds to choke Asuka like in The End of Evangelion. Asuka replies, "How many times do you have to kill me before you are satisfied?" Shinji screams.

Shinji runs away from the hospital and meets up with Kaworu. Shinji asks Kaworu to attend his sync test and Kaworu agrees. Shinji breaks free and grabs Kaworu. When Misato tells Shinji to stop, Shinji explains that he is going to consume Kaworu because he wants the S² Engine inside of him. Shinji consumes Kaworu and the detectors goes off saying that Pattern Blue is dispersed across a wide area. Shinji later learns that Kaworu was actually a human, not an Angel. Maya becomes guilty of the information Ritsuko and Gendo are hiding from Shinji and she takes him to the Terminal Dogma. Asuka is in the Terminal Dogma, but her mind is not in the body. Shinji and Asuka's child was an Angel and it transported Asuka's body to Terminal Dogma before the explosion occurred. In return for her life, it took away her mind. The Pattern Blue in the atmosphere was the last Angel dying. Hallucination Asuka tells Shinji he should let go of Asuka because she is now no different than a doll, but Shinji refuses and says he will not abandon Asuka. Hallucination Asuka breaks the news to Shinji, he is an Angel. For explanation, Misato and Ritsuko are talking about the same topic. What Shinji had was not mental pollution. His body is human, but his thought patterns as deciphered by electrical impulses are those of an Angel. Shinji is, in the form of the human mind, the final Angel.

Hallucination Asuka explains further. She says there was an entity named Shinji but he took control of the past body. If he lives and keeps fighting, the world will cease to be. Shinji can only fight if he lacks the will to live; that is the only way he can save Asuka. Hallucination Asuka says to Shinji, "Alright, kill me whenever you like however you like. But in return, at the end, please die with me." Maya and Hyuga comes and tells Shinji he can leave with Asuka. Shinji wonders what they mean that he can "leave." As Maya and Hyuga try to sneak Shinji and Asuka out, Misato walks up to the cart they are hidden under and shoot her gun at it. She rips away the sheet to see Shinji using and A.T. Field to block the gunshots and Misato starts to cry.

Seele discusses about how brainwashing Shinji has failed, but Shinji isn't fully under Gendo's control either. They decide to give Shinji a meaningless death. They start to invade Nerv HQ just like they did in The End of Evangelion. Misato yells at Shinji to pilot the Eva and Hallucination Asuka tell him that people only see him as a tool. Shinji decides to pilot it. Hallucination Asuka goes on a rant about how everybody will disappear, nobody cares about him anymore, and he has no reason to fight. Shinji says that hallucination Asuka is watching his actions and judging him so he has to pilot. He apologies for "that time." Hallucination Asuka says he has no chance in a S²-lacking Eva 01 but Shinji says he is alive and he has a chance to win, even if the world he fights for has no place for him. Shinji leaves and hallucination Asuka calls Asuka pathetic. She says Shinji is a self absorbed bastard. She hates Asuka because Shinji has always been with her. The last scene is Shinji going out to fight the Eva series alone.

Re-Take vol 0

Re-Take vol 0 is a look at the first 3 volumes of Re-Take from post 3I (Post third impact) Hallucination Asuka's point of view. The story starts when Shinji says he will pilot the Eva against Seele's raid. Asuka reflects on what has passed before this moment. She remembers the moments after Rei dies and Shinji being too afraid to tell Asuka about Rei's death. She insults Shinji by fake choking herself. She feels pure hatred towards Shinji. In different worlds he always lives happily and every time he goes for Asuka, though he hurt her in the actual timeline. Hallucination Asuka decides to make Shinji see reality and she tries everything to stress him out. The only hindrance to her plan is Asuka, who makes Shinji happy and heals his mental wounds.

When Nerv thinks Shinji's mind is polluted, hallucination Asuka thinks Asuka will break up with him but instead she proposes to Shinji. Hallucination Asuka believes in the end Shinji will betray Asuka just as he betrayed her. She remembers when she fought against the Eva series alone and lost. She waits to break the news to Shinji that he has no hope in this world and waits to see what face he will make. She knows that the world will end as it has many times before. Each time Shinji cannot accept it and he, along with her, are transported to a new world. After Shinji believes Asuka dies, he is sad and left laying in his bed. Hallucination Asuka feels sympathy that quickly dissipates when she thinks of how Shinji betrayed her in battle against the Eva series. She enters Shinji's mind and sees a scene with him, Asuka, and a child all happy. When Shinji says he will stay with Asuka even if she lost her mind, hallucination Asuka decides it will be the perfect time to tell him the truth. Shinji decides to pilot the Eva and Asuka goes on her rant. His words are breaking her resolve to make him miserable. She realized what made her sick was that she didn't want to accept that Shinji decided to accept her. She didn't want to know that a happy future could be possible for both of them.

Re-Take vol 4

Kaji is shot by a random Seele agent. The man is about to shoot again until a sound is heard and the roof falls on him. What caused that was Shinji fighting the Eva series, saving Kaji accidentally. Shinji keeps fighting as the JSSDF invades farther into Nerv. Misato commands the other pilots to be transferred to the lowest floor of Dogma. Gendo is down where the Reiquarium is and presses the button that destroyed all the Dummy Plug Plant Reis. He tells Ritsuko it was necessary to pull the lines. It is meaningless if there is only one line and he will trust the result of that path. Rei is in her room looking at Gendo's broken glasses and Asuka and Shinji's wedding invitation. Kaji walks in and tell Rei she needs to come to Nerv with Asuka for her safety. Kaji says he needs to pick up Toji and well and asks Rei if she has another plan and she says she does.

Toji is wandering around looking for his little sister. He starts to look on a computer for information, but Nerv agents find him and take him to Dogma. Nerv still fights the invading forces and Gendo goes down to see Lilith. Kaji comes down to tell Gendo that Rei isn't coming to fulfill his plan. Gendo takes off his glove to show he doesn't have Adam in his palm. Even if Rei was there, Gendo could do nothing without Adam. Kaji asks then why is Gendo down here. Gendo says Rei could still come down here if she wanted to and now he has her answer.

Rei is with Asuka and Toji in a secure location. Toji explains to Rei that Asuka thinks Shinji is the doll and Rei can't talk to her. Asuka starts yelling Shinji's name and Rei goes over to hug Asuka. Hallucination Asuka comes and chills in the corner. On the speaker, the bridge bunnies and Misato are talking about Shinji's sync ratio is dropping and he may not be able to control the Eva anymore. Rei tells Toji to move so she can go to the cages. Toji tells Rei she can do nothing except die and Rei says she is fine with that. Toji punches Rei and tells her she can't leave. He hates people who throw away their lives. Rei responds that how he can do nothing when Shinji is fighting. She punches him back; she says that failing to protect the things that are precious to oneself is worse than dying. Toji says the only way she can go to the cages is to kill him. Rei and Toji battle until both are bloody and bruised up. Hallucination Asuka tells Rei to give up because it is meaningless for her to join and die. Rei says she will not let Shinji die. Hallucination Asuka says that Rei is following the Commander's orders but Rei responds it is because she made a promise with Asuka to protect him. In the cage, Unit 00 starts to move unmanned; hallucination Asuka was the one who moved it for Rei.

Shinji is still fighting the Eva series until one pierces him in the eye with a replica lance and silences him. As the Eva series fly up to finish him, Rei comes and shoots one down. Gendo and Ritsuko are still talking beside Lilith. Gendo says Yui is gone and a different soul is inside Unit 01. He says it must be the work of God. Gendo dies of a wound in Ritsuko's arms, maybe shot by her. He says he lost his humanity a long time ago and Ritsuko says he didn't give her want she really wanted.

Rei shoots down each Eva with the positron cannon. However, after all of them are down, they regenerate back to normal. They start to group around Rei and attack her Eva. Hallucination Asuka is sitting listening to the conversation. Little Asuka appears before her and asks why she doesn't go to Shinji. She says that hallucination Asuka is acting like Shinji when she was fighting the Eva series. She is afraid of a Shinji would doesn't run away because his torture has been the reason of her existence. She is abandoning him so a new world would be created. Hallucination Asuka asks who little Asuka is and she replies God.

Hallucination Asuka explains to God why she doesn't help him. After Third Impact, infinite worlds were created. All were pleasant for Shinji. Though each world is drastically different, what is common in all of them is Shinji and Asuka connect deeply. She thinks it is all pathetic since the real Asuka and Shinji are on the beach as shown in The End of Evangelion. She says it doesn't matter what Shinji does because the world is done. God replies that Shinji still fights because he knows he was lying to himself previously. Hallucination Asuka says though each world Asuka is his greatest treasure, in the real world he abandoned and dirtied her. She believes she is just a tool for his fantasies and God says it is because he loves her.

Meanwhile, Shinji's Eva's arm gets pierces by a lance. Shinji is transported into a dream world where he says the pain is fine because it is the same pain he gave Asuka before. Hallucination Asuka appears in the real world to help Shinji pilot the Eva. The sync ratio starts to increase and the Spear of Longinus flies down to Earth's surface through the work of God. Unit 01 destroys the Eva series. The bridge crew is elated but then they remember the last Angel, Shinji, still has to be destroyed. Shinji holds the Spear so he can pierce himself and destroy the last Angel. He asks hallucination Asuka what will happen to him when he dies. She says he will be reborn but he will have no memories of what happened here. Shinji says since he is the last Angel, he has to die for everybody else. He says he doesn't want to die but must. Asuka says she forgives him for his past crimes. Maya raises the LCL pressure, causing Shinji to become unconscious. She says she wants to save him and it isn't right to kill him for the world.

The scene changes to Shinji and Asuka's wedding three years in the future. Shinji says after the battle he lost the properties as an Angel. Asuka's memories never came back and she got to stay in Japan. He and Asuka moved out after high school. Shinji past up college and got a accounting job at Nerv. Shinji and Asuka had a baby. Kaji comes over to Shinji's house to say he can't attend a party. They talk about Kaji and Misato's failing relationship. Kaji says he and her are fated to be unhappy unlike Shinji and Asuka. Everybody comes for the party. Shinji and Misato go out for a walk afterwards. Misato is happy for Shinji and Asuka. She says Kaji is going to be transferred to Guyane to destroy the remnants of Seele. She says she doesn't have the right to be happy after all the things she has done. Shinji says he forgives her even if the whole world doesn't. Misato follows Kaji to Guyane.

Fuyutsuki has become commander of Nerv and Rei's personality has become more human Kaji and Misato are going to get married. Shinji says he is happy and he knows what he wants to protect. He tells hallucination Asuka that he is ready to go to his future. He could have lived happily in that world but he says then hallucination Asuka would be all alone. He goes back to fight scene. Though the LCL pressure is high, he doesn't pass out. He cracks his own core. Asuka gets her mind back and starts to walk around Nerv. Shinji is alive and is brought out of the plug. He meets up with Asuka. Both lost all their memories and forgotten their love.

The scene changes to the beach in The End of Evangelion. Shinji stops chocking Asuka and sits a distance away. Asuka walks over and they sit together and fall asleep. A random girl escapes from the LCL to see them sleeping, their hands slightly touching.

Re-Take After

After is about the alternate universe Shinji and Asuka (instead of their post 3rd Impact counterparts). They gradually learn to deal with their feelings for each other after learning about the events that happened in Re-Take volumes 1 through 4.

Re-Take All Ages

All Ages is a version of the Re-Take series with the sexual content removed. Volume 1 contains Volume 1 and 2 of the original release while Volume 2 has volumes 3, 0, and 4 of the original series. Despite the sexual content being removed, the violent scenes are kept--including some scenes being added--giving this Re-Take release a Gothic/horror feel of sorts.

Soundtrack

To help promote Re-Take Kimigabuchi created a soundtrack containing 8 tracks.

Re-Take OST cover

1. Reincarnation
2. Girl
3. Double Blind
4. The Last Angel
5. God Bless
6. Re-Take
7. Ever Dream
8. Holy Day

An additional 5 tracks where used in the promotional MAD videos. 2 of the tracks where variations of the Re-Take theme with the remainder keeping within the industrial style of music.

Trailers

Official trailers:

• "Evangelion Re-take PV from Studio Kimigabuchi" -1:57; "official trailer when the 18x edition volume 4 (ReTake 4) was promoted in an earlier Comiket"
• "Evangelion Re-Take Ep3 Trailer" - 2:46; "official trailer used by Kimigabuchi to promote the All-Age edition volume 3 in Comiket"

Fan-made:

• "Neon Genesis Evangelion: Re-Take" - 1:50
• "evangelion trailer RETAKE video promocional 3(evangelion RETAKE trailer)" -4:55
• "Evangelion RE-TAKE Animated Intro" - 1:51; part of a stalled EGF project to animate Re-take (trailer mixes Re-take stills, End of Evangelion and NGE TV footage)

Live-action

The group TMA ("specialized in parody/re-enactment of anime + porn") produced a video enacting Re-Take titled Ever-ReTake, recreating scenes up to Eva-02's self-destruct. All-ages clips have been edited together into 3 YouTube videos (32:42):

1. 【TMA】EVER RE-TAKE (1/3) (10:54)
2. 【TMA】EVER RE-TAKE (2/3) (10:51)
3. 【TMA】EVER RE-TAKE (3/3) (10:57)

Analysis

• Although Re-Take mixes events and lines from the anime and manga, the fact that Shinji and Rei were initially closer than Shinji and Asuka, the reference to Rei and Shinji's hands touching, the implication of Touji being killed if Shinji didn't save him, along with other things (Shinji having brown eyes instead of the blue of the anime series) suggest that anime-universe Post-3I Shinji and Asuka ended up in the manga-universe.
  • Even though Shinji is depicted with brown eyes in Re-Take, he's depicted this way in quite a bit of Eva merchandise/pictures in general.
• The little girl at the end of Volume 4 when Shinji and Asuka are back on the beach as been the subject of debate, with fans thinking it's Shinji and Asuka's daughter to even Misato as a child. However, the most likely explanation is the little girl is simply a returnee from the LCL Sea, being a symbol of hope that more people will eventually live on.

External links

• Studio Kimigabuchi (Japanese)
• Re-Take Archive