Volume 7 (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
| Volume 7 | |||
| |||
| |||
| Author: | Yoshiyuki Sadamoto | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Publish date: | JP: December 1, 2001
US: October 10, 2004 | ||
| Volume chronology | |||
| ← Previous | Next → | ||
| "Volume 6" | "Volume 8" | ||
The seventh volume of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's manga adaptation of Neon Genesis Evangelion. This seventh volume is subtitled A Man's Battle (男の戦い / Otoko no Tatakai) and is comprised of Stages 41 to 48.
Overview
Volume 7 adapts Episode 19 of the anime series.
Summary
Stage 41: Fist (フィスト / Fisuto)
Immediately following the revelation of Toji's death at the hands of the Dummy Plug controlled Eva-01, Shinji is enraged and inconsolable. While docked in the cage, Shinji has taken complete control of his Eva and refuses to hand the control back over to the bridge staff in retaliation for Toji's death, preferring to have died rather than being forced to kill his freind. Eva-01 rips free of its restraints with Shinji intending to exact revenge with the one minute of battery power he has left. Shinji is begged to stop, but does not respond, and his revenge is cut short when Gendo orders his LCL pressure raised to knock Shinji out. As Shinji loses consciousness, Shinji's last thought is of Toji.
Shortly thereafter, Misato and Ritsuko are surveying the site of the decimated Eva-03 discussing Shinji's current situation and also lamenting that they've been hung out to dry. Asuka and Rei discuss Shinji's status as a pilot, with Asuka saying that Shinji is far more fragile than the two of them. While resting in the hospital, Shinji has a guilt ridden dream of Hikari asking where Toji is, and then accusing him of killing Toji. As Shinji screams his father killed Toji, he awakens with Kaji watching over him, under orders from Gendo to bring Shinji to him the moment he awakens. Shinji is brought in front of his father, Gendo reads the charges Shinji has against him for commandeering Eva-01, and Shinji's only response is to ask if his father has anything to say, and then charges Gendo when he does not like the response. Kaji pulls Shinji off just as his fist is about to make contact with Gendo's shocked face. He refuses to be a pilot anymore and declares he never wants to see his father's face again. Gendo expresses his disappointment in Shinji and dismisses him back to Atsugi.
As Shinji is about to leave again, he thanks Misato for everything she has done for him. After a weak pep talk from Misato, Shinji asks how many people need to die for world peace, and asks if every life is worth the same to NERV. Misato says she'll keep his password to HQ in case he decides to come back, and Shinji says he'll never pilot an Eva again.
Stage 42: Ashen Skies (灰色の空 / Hai-iro no Sora)
After bidding Shinji farewell, Misato thinks back on Second Impact and now questions everything she has done at her time at NERV. As the same time, Shinji waits at the train station to go back to Atsugi, he thinks on his time in Tokyo-3, thinking of the rage he feels for his father now, the unbelievable things he's done while he was there, the missteps he's made along the way, and all the different people he's met, and then thinks of Toji before silently apologizing as a state of emergency is declared signifying another Angel attack.
Zeruel floats in, and like all other Angels thus far, is impervious to conventional attack. However, NERV was no longer dealing with just an average Angel. Zeruel is the most powerful Angel to attack the city, and shows off his impressive power by sending a powerful blast through 18 of the armor layers protecting the Geofront. Misato responds by deploying Asuka in Eva-02, and Gendo orders Rei be deployed in Eva-01. Shinji watches helplessly as VTOLs are deployed against the Angel's onslaught. Kaji appears behind Shinji and takes him to a "safe place" to talk. Shinji asks if his father is behind it, but Kaji says its his own idea, as it may be the only time he'll be able to talk to Shinji about Second Impact.
Stage 43: Cross-Examination (尋問 / Jinmon)
Rei's Entry Plug is being loaded into Eva-01, and as the Evangelion comes online, Eva-01 rejects the nerve linkup. Gendo believes Eva-01 is rejecting him and his will, and orders Rei to be launched in Eva-00 instead, despite its missing arm. With Rei delayed in the switch over of Evas, Asuka must face the Angel alone. As Zeruel breaks into the Geofront, he is met with an attack from Asuka, confident that they don't need Shinji's help, and that she can take the Angel all on her own.
Meanwhile, Kaji brings Shinji somewhere safe and explains his reasons for spying on NERV. He explains his experiences in the aftermath of Second Impact. The world was in chaos, or as Kaji puts it, the world was hell. Disease, starvation, and war ran rampant, until the final death toll was three billion people, including Kaji's parents. He and his younger brother survived, as two of the scores of orphans left behind by the death of half the world's population. They lived in a cramped shelters where there was hardly enough blankets and food to go around. After enduring these conditions, Kaji, his brother, and five other kids broke out and did what they had to do to survive, including stealing. With all the other less guarded locations having been picked clean, the kids scouted out a military supply warehouse and took turns raiding for small amounts of food. When it was Kaji's turn to run in and steal, he was caught. As he interrogated and beaten for the location of the rest of group, Kaji has a gun held to his head and told that deadly force is authorized against any intruders, and he gives in. As he is left with a single solider while the rest speed off. Kaji escapes and arrives at the hideout just as the soldiers leave and walks inside to see his slaughtered friends and brother lying lifeless on the floor. Kaji admits he's alive today because he took the lives of his friends and brother. Shinji is visibly shocked by this story.
Stage 44: Atonement (贖罪 / Shokuzai)
Asuka continues her fight with Zeruel, having switched from a single pallet rifle to a pair of pallet rifles. She has yet to neutralize his A.T. Field, and has yet to do any damage to the Angel, but Asuka remains defiant and refuses to give up.
Meanwhile, Kaji continues to explain his past, having traded his brother's life for his own, and explains that he even tried to kill himself over it. But when he got to thinking, we wondered how the world had ended up that way. He never believed the story behind Second Impact, and knew people were behind the devastating event, and that they needed to be punished for their actions. Kaji thought the only way to atone for taking his brother's life was to uncover the truth. He explains that he found family to take him in and went to college where he met Misato. They fell in love right away, though Kaji wondered if he deserved to be happy considering he'd killed his own brother. He explains the guilt over his brother led him to break up with her. Kaji hen explains Misato is the only survivor of Second Impact's ground zero, and that she is only person alive who saw the what really happened. Her father discovered the being "Adam" in Antarctica, and conducted a test on it leading to the beast awakening and causing Second Impact. Kaji says that neither he or Misato deserve to be happy, and neither does Shinji. Shinji protests, saying his father is cause of Toji's death, but Kaji counters that Shinji just sat there and watched, as Shinji had a chance to save Toji had he decided to fight in the first place. Kaji says Shinji is no different from him, and that he needs to stop pretending nothing happened. Shinji asks what he can do, and Kaji implores him to fight to stop Third Impact, and to not look away from the truth, because the Evangelions are the only things that can stop the Angels.
As Asuka continues her attacks, now with a bazooka and pallet rifle, Zeruel's arms unfold like paper and shoot towards Eva-02. Eva-02 loses its arms with one swift attack as Asuka screams in agony until she composes herself and focuses her pain into rage and charges headlong towards Zeruel with reckless abandon. Misato urges her to stop and orders the nerve connections severed just in the nick of time as Zeruel strikes again at Eva-02's neck, taking the head clean off. As Eva-02 falls to its knees, Zeruel continues towards NERV HQ. Asuka is alive, but there is another problem, the Dummy Plug is rejected by Eva-01.
Stage 45: A Man's Battle (男の戦い / Otoko no Tatakai)
As Eva-01 is rendered inoperable by rejecting both Rei and the Dummy Plug, NERV has no viable defense left against the Angel. Gendo excuses himself and leaves Fuyutsuki in charge so he can deal with Eva-01. As Zeruel attacks NERV's pyramid directly, blowing a massive hole in the shaft that leads to Terminal Dogma, Eva-00 launches with an N² Bomb under its remaining arm and Rei charges the Angel, trying to shove the N² Bomb through Zeruel's A.T. Field. Just as the N² Bomb penetrates the field, Zeruel covers its Core and the bomb detonates, doing no damage to the Angel, and Eva-00 is flung aside.
Meanwhile, Eva-01 is still rejecting Gendo's pleas to accept the Dummy Plug, asking what Yui is thinking. All the display screens around Gendo then flash to an image of Shinji, and Gendo asks if this is really what she wants. before Eva-01 can reply, Shinji calls out to his father and asks to be let into Eva-01 because he is the Evangelion's pilot. Gendo contemplates this as Zeruel gets inside NERV itself, and just as Zeruel is about to attack the Command Center directly, Eva-01 and Shinji come charging through another wall and slam Zeruel to the ground, much to everyone's surprise and relief.
Stage 46: The Awakening, Part 1 (覚醒・前編 / Kakusei, Zenpen)
As Eva-01 crashes through NERV HQ causing extensive damage, Shinji gains the upper hand with the Angel through brute strength and rage. Zeruel fights back with its eye beam, costing Eva-01 its left arm, but this does not slow Shinji down, and his resolve is strengthened through the pain. Gendo watches from the catwalk as Shinji pilots Eva-01, getting covered in blood as Eva-01's arm slams into the wall above him. He watches in awe as Shinji moves the Angel to one of the launch elevators, and Misato fires the pair to the Geofront's surface. As Shinji reaches the surface he looks around and sees the disabled Eva-00 and Eva-02 and becomes even more enraged. Zeruel is slammed into the ground and Shinji beats and then attempts to pull Zeruel's face from his body, but runs of power before he can kill the Angel. Now defenseless, Zeruel gains the upper hand and throws Eva-01 around like a rag doll. Shinji begs Eva-01 to move, otherwise their entire fight would have been for nothing. Just as Zeruel attacks with its eye beams and exposes Eva-01's Core and begins to mercilessly pummel it with its ribbon arms, Shinji continues his pleas and is answered. Eva-01 awakens, raising its remaining arm and splitting one of Zeruel's ribbon arms, and uses the arm to pull Zeruel in close, only to kick him away and rip off his arm. Eva-01 jams Zeruel's wrecked arm where its missing arm once was, and it is reformed. Maya reports that Eva-01's sync score is over 400% as Eva-0 breaks its jaw restraints and roars.
Stage 47: The Awakening, Part 2 (覚醒・後編 / Kakusei, Kōhen)
Zeruel gets back up to counter attack Eva-01, but its arm attack is deflected, and Eva-01 throws the shreds of Zeruel's arm back at him, tears through his A.T. Field, and finally causes the Angel to bleed. Eva-01 presses its attack and get down on all fours, looking like some sort of primal/feral beast. It runs up to Zeruel, and as Zeruel charges an eye beam, Eva-01 slams its hand onto Zeruel's face and begins pulling at it and gnawing on the exposed flesh.As the bridge crew watch helplessly in the distance at what's happening, Eva-01 devours Zeruel's S² Engine, and howls into the night sky triumphantly. Ritsuko explains that the restraints on Eva-01 are going, and explains that the armor is not to protect the Evangelion, it is to protect them from the Evangelions, but now Eva-01 has revered that process, putting it beyond their control. Kaji watches and says that SEELE can no longer stay quiet, and Fuyutsuki, in the Commander's office asks Gendo if this was his plan all along, to which Gendo replies that this is only where it begins.
Stage 48: Eradication (消滅 / Shōmetsu)
In the aftermath of Zeruel's attack, the Command Center has been destroyed, Eva-00 and Eva-02 are heavily damaged, and Eva-01 is restrained in nothing more than bandages and the basic cage restraints, and is completely lifeless and showing no signs of activity. Due to its awakening, the Angel intercept system had to be deployed to reign in the rampaging Evangelion, and Misato wonders if that was the system's true purpose all along.
Meanwhile, SEELE are meeting in person to discuss the events unfolding in Tokyo-3. The scenario they had planned for has been heavily diverged from, and now they are going to intervene directly. Kaji is meeting with Gendo and Fuyutsuki, also discussing how the incident will be explained to the committee. Gendo replies that Eva-01 was beyond their control, and that it will remain shut down until further notice. Kaji agrees that's the best course of action, but wonders what will be done about Shinji considering he's still trapped inside his Entry Plug. As the Misato, Ritsuko and Bridge Bunnies continue trying to free Shinji from his Entry Plug, they finally bring the visual feed online and find that Shinji has vanished. Ritsuko laments that Shinji has been absorbed by the will of the Eva, and Misato slaps her, telling her to do her job and deal with what she's created instead of just watching what's happening. Ritsuko now must formulate a plan to reconstruct Shinji from the LCL and reattach his psyche.
Elsewhere, Rei wakes up surprised that she's still alive sand senses something has happened to Shinji. Asuka is back at the apartment, upset with herself about not being able to do anything, and having to be saved, once again, by Shinji. SEELE is previewing their trump card they will sending to interfere with Gendo's plans, and simultaneously put their own plans for Instrumentality back on track, Kaworu.
Notes
- A special edition of this volume with a 'Christmas' cover came packaged with Asuka and Rei Christmas figures.
Analysis
- Kaji's explanation of what occurred after Second Impact is a unique view on the events that occurred, and show the brutality of the human spirit with the soldiers murdering kids for stealing food to survive in a time of world wide turmoil. This also gives us deeper insight into Kaji's character and motivations, by showing how the environment of Second Impact shaped him, similar to how Misato's experiences shaped her. Unfortunately, this backstory was never included in the anime series.
| 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 |
