Re-Take

Re-Take

Evangelion Re-Take is a multi-volume adult dojinshi written by Studio Kimigabuchi, which presents an alternate ending to The End of Evangelion. Because of its art and story it has become one of the most popular fan-created works among the Evangelion fan community.

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 attacks with Rei sitting by the bed and Asuka behind the door (just as in the anime). From this point on Shinji has seen all the events of the future take place and does what he can to change these events for the better. 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. 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. Shortly after this battle, Post-3I Asuka appears before Shinji again, prompting Shinji to reply that the current Rei is "the third".

Information about the rest of this Volume being written.

Re-Take vol 3

information being written

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) Asuka's point of view. She tells the story as she sees it explaining how she plays little mind games with him and eventually making her braking down.

Re-Take vol 4

information being written

Re-Take After

After is the story told without post 3I Asuka and Shinji. The pair get there memory back face to face with the wedding invitations in front of them. Then stand back as they belt the living crap through each other (Shinji actually). Asuka is informed of the child that she now bares and choses to remove it after Shinji says he needs to take responsibility. This fuels the rage of Asuka and Hikari jumps in to. She is informed that she will then be sent to work with NERV in Germany and returns back to live with her step mother taking her dairy with her to maintain her Japanese.

Shinji stays in Japan after chasing Asuka to say goodbye at the airport. He tries as hard as he can to make it after standing at his fathers grave. Unit 00 is reactivated in this time to assist with a "Simulated Rescue Mission" from commander Fuyutsuki and the rest of the NERV team.

The ending is unexpected but leaves Retake like the End of Eva open for yet another story.

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

01 Reincarnation

02 Girl

03 Double Blind

04 The Last Angel

05 God Bless

06 Re-Take

07 Ever Dream

08 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.

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 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