Neon Genesis Evangelion Academy: Record of Heaven's Descent
| 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン 学園堕天録 Shin Seiki Evangelion Gakuen Datenroku | |
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| Author: | Min Min (眠民) |
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| Publish date: | September '07 |
Neon Genesis Evangelion Academy: The Records of Heaven's Descent (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン 学園堕天録) is an officially licensed manga spin-off of Neon Genesis Evangelion. It is authored by Min Min and published in Asuka magazine.
The story starts with Shinji losing a coin beneath a vending machine, when he seeks to retrieve it he discovers a marble-like stone which is later revealed to be a core. The core Shinji discovers acts as a key into a secret organisation of students (Asuka, Rei, Kaworu) within the school he goes to, Nerv Foundation Academy, who battle the Angels (who seek the cores for themselves).
The cores are needed to sustain the "World Tree," which has been withering. If the World Tree were to die all forms of existence would become one, and worlds would merge into one as well.
The Angels, in competition with the Guardians (Shinji, Kaworu, Rei, and Asuka), who seek to wipe them from existence. Though they are in competition with the Guardians, the Angels are revealed by Makoto de Nuevo to be one of the things that holds the world together, much like the cores. These Angels must take over the body of a human or animal in order to exist in the world. Otherwise they exist only as a mind.
Story Overview
Volume 1
Shinji finds a reddish orb-like object under a vending machine one night, which is later revealed to be a core. He then sees Rei Aynami, a girl from his class, with a boy he doesn't recognize.
The next morning at school a new transfer student is introduced to Shinji's class. It is Kaworu Nagisa, the boy he saw with Rei the previous night.
Kensuke also shows Shinji a website describing a prophecy that fortells the world's destruction. Kensuke says that date of destruction will happen this year.
After school Shinji follows Rei and Kaworu, but soon loses sight of them. But out of nowhere Rei runs into his path, holding an object that looks like the Lance of Longinus. She hurls it at a crow (who is summoning up a ball of energy to be used as an attack), destroying it. A core like the one Shinji found falls from the crow and is retrieved.
A second Angel, called Ramiel, attacks Kaworu, Rei, and Shinji at that same scene. Kaworu is badly injured from pushing Shinji out of the way of falling rocks during the battle, and Shinji tries to wake him. As Ramiel flys towards him, Shinji screams and a bright light radiates from his body, which appears to eliminate the Angel. After, Shinji wakes up in Nerv Foundation Academy's infirmary, and is taken to Nerv headquarters by Rei. He is told that he will battle with the Guardians (Kaworu, Rei, and Asuka), though Shinji is hesitant to accept this.
Later, Ramiel gets a new body and attacks Shinji while he's walking home from school. Asuka appears to help him. As Asuka is distracted by Shinji, Ramiel take the opportunity to attack her. Shinji uses his Eva gun successfully and stops Ramiel's attack. Kaworu and Rei show up. Kaworu defeats the Angel and retrieves its core.
Volume 2
After fully understanding the gravity of his actions with the Guardians, Shinji doesn't know if he wants to fight, and starts to feel awkward around Kaworu. Kaworu stays the night at Shinji's house and is able to reassure him while fixing their friendship. Shinji later meets up with Rei, which causes him to examine why he wants to fight with the Guardians. He agrees with himself that he wants to fight so he can live happily with the people he has come to know and like.
Kensuke is given a game by a developper from GNX games. He is told to spread it to all the school's computers so it can be beta-tested. Kensuke does so before going missing, and soon students playing the game fall unconscious.
It is revealed that the developper of the game is an Angel, and that he implanted an Angel named Iruel into the game to allow it to exist. He says the point of the game is to establish a link to Nerv headquarters.
Kaji reveals that Shinji was placed in an orphanage after his mother was killed. Since then, neither Kaji nor Shinji have heard from Shinji's father, and believe him to be dead or overseas.
Volume 3
Shinji meets his father, who is unusually cold towards him. After this, Shinji falls under Nerv's custody and will leave the apartment he lives in with Kaji.
Kaji creates an article on what he believes Nerv is doing, which includes his hypothesis on the Angels. He questions the ethics of Nerv when Misato calls him to tell him Shinji won't be living with him anymore.
After Nerv found that there's an Angel in the game Kensuke spread around the school (called "Apocalypse of Night"), the Guardians train in a simulated world.
Toji and Hikari follow Kensuke to the school, where they witness Iruel materializing out of the computer. Kaji witnesses Kaworu and Rei fighting children controlled by Angels. Kaji, Toji, and Hikari are later caught by two other Angels and tied up.
After training, Shinji and Asuka enter a virtual world connected to the game that would allow them to find the Angel and retrieve its core. However, once in the virtual world, Asuka falls prey to a bug in the game and is separated from Shinji. Iruel poses as Asuka's parents, and it is revealed that Asuka was forced to kill them when they became Angels. Shinji is able to break Asuka out of the bug, and Iruel reveals itself to them.
Manga vs. Anime
The manga uses elements from the television series in new ways, while adding new ideas. The above about the use of cores and the World Tree being some examples of many.
'Evas' come in pods that get written into their DNA. They must focus their thoughts on their right hands to summon their Eva which varies as weapons depending on the character. Kaworu has a long sword with lettering on the hilt, Rei wields the Lance of Longinus, Asuka uses a whip and Shinji has a gun.
The Evas were created with Yui Ikari's biological data as the foundation. That is why Shinji is able to call forth an Eva without formal training. It is similar to Shinji's ability to sync with Unit-01 without prior training because its core contains his mother's soul.
Yui was killed during what members of the original Nerv organization refer to as the "tragedy." The events surrounding the tragedy have not been revealed yet. All that is known about Yui's death is that she told Gendo she had to do something, and would not escape the organization's building with him.
The Guardians attend a Catholic school called Nerv Foundation Academy. Shinji, Asuka, Rei and Kaworu's homeroom teacher is Misato Katsuragi.
Shinji does not live with his father, Gendo Ikari. He lives in an apartment with Kaji Ryoji, who says he is Shinji's guardian because Gendo is overseas. Yui Ikari is deceased, however.
Kaworu's body is unable to heal on it's own. He must be fixed with new body parts if they are damaged. Rei's body can heal on it's own, however. She is often seen with bandages while Shinji has noted that Kaworu never has any scars.
Current EvaGeeks articles on the manga volumes:
