Since this thread is more general opinion than in depth discussion, I've moved it out to the Chit-Chat section. If things start getting heavy, we can always decamp again. - OMF
Well, the final stage of Sadamoto's manga (which ran from 11 months before the show aired until just about today or yesterday) has finally been released so I guess it's about time I ask the big question:
In the end, which was truly better: Evangelion the anime or Evangelion the manga?
A lot of people here have really developed opinions on both versions so I thought it'd be interesting to see what people thought whether Anno or Sadamoto did it best?
Personally, I can't say due to watching only just over half the anime and reading one or two chapters of the manga but I'm really interested to see what you guys think. Have fun!
So which was better: EVA Anime vs EVA Manga?
Moderator: Board Staff
- FrDougal9000
- Tunniel
- Age: 28
- Posts: 199
- Joined: May 11, 2013
- Location: Cork, Ireland
- Gender: Male
So which was better: EVA Anime vs EVA Manga?
Pen-Pen died for your sins!
Yeah, it's best if you finish both the anime and manga because of spoilers, but I will say that though I love both the anime and manga to death, I think I'd have to go with the manga.
And I mean that in the most sexually painful way possible.
If a man talks and a woman's not around to hear it, is he still wrong?
"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." --Albert Camus
[size=75][color=darkblue]
If a man talks and a woman's not around to hear it, is he still wrong?
"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." --Albert Camus
[size=75][color=darkblue]
- FrDougal9000
- Tunniel
- Age: 28
- Posts: 199
- Joined: May 11, 2013
- Location: Cork, Ireland
- Gender: Male
Chrad wrote:I suggest you finish watching the original Eva series, new production episodes and The End of Evangelion before continuing to post on this forum. Spoilers are everywhere. Also, you should because it's amazing, and what are you waiting for?
Believe me, if I could, I would. I'm currently waiting on the first two Platinum volumes (since YT copyright for the first few episodes is a pain!) and I'll tackle the rest of the episodes from there. In any case, I know about the plot of the show in general and have watched EoE and episodes 9-15, 20-26 (NPC versions) so my estimation was a little bit off but hopefully, you get where I'm coming from!
Pen-Pen died for your sins!
- pwhodges
- A Lilin in Wonderland
- Age: 77
- Posts: 11035
- Joined: Nov 18, 2012
- Location: Oxford, UK
- Contact:
I've not yet finished digesting the ending of the manga; but I wouldn't like to be without either. If only one existed, it would be praised, whichever one it was.
"Being human, having your health; that's what's important." (from: Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi )
"As long as we're all living, and as long as we're all having fun, that should do it, right?" (from: The Eccentric Family )
Avatar: The end of the journey (details); Past avatars.
Before 3.0+1.0 there was Afterwards... my post-Q Evangelion fanfic (discussion)
"As long as we're all living, and as long as we're all having fun, that should do it, right?" (from: The Eccentric Family )
Avatar: The end of the journey (details); Past avatars.
Before 3.0+1.0 there was Afterwards... my post-Q Evangelion fanfic (discussion)
- SimplyMason0
- Shamshel
- Age: 32
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Feb 27, 2013
- Gender: Male
The anime has A LOT more depth.
The manga isn't ment for challenging Anno. It was just ment to advertise and be a decent read but still inferior to original. However it does have somethings I felt did better and worse.
+Kaworu
+++The Dummy Plug arc(far more satisfying)
+Rei focus
+Asuka is more likable and cuter
+It gave Fuyutsuki some random depth
+Shinji is different. While he is edgy, he is still an interesting character. He pretty much takes pages from Asuka. However this sacrifices a few things.
+Depth on Shinji's foster parents
-Gendo is much more of an asshole.
-Asuka doesn't have the same relationship as Shinji. While its friendlier, it goes nowhere. She is almost a minor character.
-Stuff was added in Asuka's story to make it more traumatic. She is much more stable and it goes nowhere. Not sure if the math fits or even intentional.
-Some scenes feel like a mockery of the original. The power out chapter more specifically.
-Toji gets the worst fate in the manga. Dear lord. He is much more kindhearted than the original, forced himself to take a dangerous job for his little sister, dies because of a stupid mistake and STAYS dead either forgotten or reported missing by his friends and family. Freaking tragedy man. Even Anno spared him TWICE.
-The ending was crap
-It took 17 years to make!
The portrayal of Shinji is much more interesting knowing it was made right after the anime and aired before the show. While it didn't effect the anime harshly. Its quite interesting to think what the artist was going for since the anime wasn't even made yet.
While it may be justified since the manga has a really tight scheduled, I think some things could have been done better. If it was the same thing, I wouldn't even read it. It was a decent read despite its ending and flaws. Its FAR from challenging the original. I was more interested with it than Rebuild.
Its fucking better than Re-take I can tell you that.
The manga isn't ment for challenging Anno. It was just ment to advertise and be a decent read but still inferior to original. However it does have somethings I felt did better and worse.
+Kaworu
+++The Dummy Plug arc(far more satisfying)
+Rei focus
+Asuka is more likable and cuter
+It gave Fuyutsuki some random depth
+Shinji is different. While he is edgy, he is still an interesting character. He pretty much takes pages from Asuka. However this sacrifices a few things.
+Depth on Shinji's foster parents
-Gendo is much more of an asshole.
-Asuka doesn't have the same relationship as Shinji. While its friendlier, it goes nowhere. She is almost a minor character.
-Stuff was added in Asuka's story to make it more traumatic. She is much more stable and it goes nowhere. Not sure if the math fits or even intentional.
-Some scenes feel like a mockery of the original. The power out chapter more specifically.
-Toji gets the worst fate in the manga. Dear lord. He is much more kindhearted than the original, forced himself to take a dangerous job for his little sister, dies because of a stupid mistake and STAYS dead either forgotten or reported missing by his friends and family. Freaking tragedy man. Even Anno spared him TWICE.
-The ending was crap
-It took 17 years to make!
The portrayal of Shinji is much more interesting knowing it was made right after the anime and aired before the show. While it didn't effect the anime harshly. Its quite interesting to think what the artist was going for since the anime wasn't even made yet.
While it may be justified since the manga has a really tight scheduled, I think some things could have been done better. If it was the same thing, I wouldn't even read it. It was a decent read despite its ending and flaws. Its FAR from challenging the original. I was more interested with it than Rebuild.
Its fucking better than Re-take I can tell you that.
Don't want to be a dick but i seriously don't see the need for the question. The anime NGE has always been the original and the trailblazer, the manga is somewhat good too, but it's just not the same.
"Every line is a joy" -Kaworu Nagisa.
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I read like eleven volumes a couple of years back and recently grabbed the first omnibus release of the manga, which has three volumes' worth. It's objectively inferior to the anime. I don't say that lightly. That said, it's not much worse, it's just clearly not quite as good. I still give it a 7/10, though. The anime's a 9/10 (EoE 10/10).
Going through the manga until I get sick of it (ended up being the end of stage 7):
It starts with a monologue by Shinji introducing us to his character. It's not badly-done, but it's unnecessary and feels cheap. It was probably because it was originally an advertisement for the anime. The shot of fish swimming with Sachiel was nice. The focus on him not getting through on the phone was better in the anime, it introduced themes of communication right at the start and had more of an "unwanted"/"ignored" feel. Sachiel's foot stomping near Shinji was a great cut with impact that isn't in the manga. You don't get the same sense when Sachiel almost attacks the car they're in later. I can't honestly say Rei turning up in Unit-01 made much of a difference. The ending to chapter 1 where they're walking into a bright corridor is cheesy and weird. Even with the narration saying "well, this isn't gonna be good", it was still... weird.
Misato and Shinji's interactions are cheesier and more "guh-haw" comedy-style. It felt like the naturally funny interactions of two real people in the anime (in the relatively serious first few episodes, anyway).
With Sachiel's fight, look at the Evageeks commentary project's commentary on the first few episodes. All the detail about Sachiel learning and adapting and developing new powers simply isn't there.
Misato never gets irritated and tells Shinji to pilot. This is clearly simplifying the drama and her character. There's no shot of Rei's blood on Shinji's hand.
Shinji vs Sachiel is pretty good. Shinji's vision of his mother is neat, that's a good alternate idea and I like that sort of experimentation. I didn't get quite the same sense of brutality from Yui vs Sachiel. On page 135 there's a nice panel of Eva-01 leaping up with the moon in the background. I like it.
Stage 6 title page. Rei is wearing bandages on top of her clothes, dafuq?
Shinji and Misato's comedy interaction is, again, cartoonish and unfitting.
Maybe it's because a manga, but I didn't get the same sense of majesty from the rising buildings at all.
The classrooom lecture over shots of abandoned classrooms and stuff are nice, I really like them.
This is only tangential, but I goddamn hate Viz's approximation of Toji's accent.
His interaction with Shinji is awkward, it feels almost funny but isn't and shouldn't be. The use of the TV series' faraway cut of Shinji getting punched and then a closeup of him hitting the ground is jarring. One of the other, it's dumb to have both.
"I'll lock my heart away deeper..." For all the "Shinji is less emo in the manga" claims, he rarely if even spouts terrible lines like that in the anime. Unless you're talking hell train mildmeld sequences, but Anno's use of those to directly engage in his characters' inner thoughts and motivations is part of what makes Eva great in the first place. Actually, I have a theory about that and lame, shitty writing in anime/manga/VNs/LNs nowadays: they saw how Eva's characters talked about their inner feelings in philosophical terms and decided to do the same, totally forgetting that real people never talk like that unless they're a psychologist and that Anno got away with it once because of the magical means used to make those bizarre conversations happen in the first place. Hell, look at Evangelion 2.22, there's that weird conversation where Asuka talks to Misato, "I can actually laugh again...", which is just dumb compared to the subtleties of her character in NGE.
Anyway, as for the rest of the manga, it's just not quite as good, quite as subtle, the dialogue isn't quite as good. There are some interesting changes, but (and I haven't read the ending or even that far into Third Impact) nothing seems to have any actual consequences. The anime has better characterisation and slightly better story. Then there are lots of little things the anime does better.
The fucking volume 2 omake with Shamshel knitting a scarf for Sachiel, I goddamn love it.
Going through the manga until I get sick of it (ended up being the end of stage 7):
It starts with a monologue by Shinji introducing us to his character. It's not badly-done, but it's unnecessary and feels cheap. It was probably because it was originally an advertisement for the anime. The shot of fish swimming with Sachiel was nice. The focus on him not getting through on the phone was better in the anime, it introduced themes of communication right at the start and had more of an "unwanted"/"ignored" feel. Sachiel's foot stomping near Shinji was a great cut with impact that isn't in the manga. You don't get the same sense when Sachiel almost attacks the car they're in later. I can't honestly say Rei turning up in Unit-01 made much of a difference. The ending to chapter 1 where they're walking into a bright corridor is cheesy and weird. Even with the narration saying "well, this isn't gonna be good", it was still... weird.
Misato and Shinji's interactions are cheesier and more "guh-haw" comedy-style. It felt like the naturally funny interactions of two real people in the anime (in the relatively serious first few episodes, anyway).
With Sachiel's fight, look at the Evageeks commentary project's commentary on the first few episodes. All the detail about Sachiel learning and adapting and developing new powers simply isn't there.
Misato never gets irritated and tells Shinji to pilot. This is clearly simplifying the drama and her character. There's no shot of Rei's blood on Shinji's hand.
Shinji vs Sachiel is pretty good. Shinji's vision of his mother is neat, that's a good alternate idea and I like that sort of experimentation. I didn't get quite the same sense of brutality from Yui vs Sachiel. On page 135 there's a nice panel of Eva-01 leaping up with the moon in the background. I like it.
Stage 6 title page. Rei is wearing bandages on top of her clothes, dafuq?
Shinji and Misato's comedy interaction is, again, cartoonish and unfitting.
Maybe it's because a manga, but I didn't get the same sense of majesty from the rising buildings at all.
The classrooom lecture over shots of abandoned classrooms and stuff are nice, I really like them.
This is only tangential, but I goddamn hate Viz's approximation of Toji's accent.
His interaction with Shinji is awkward, it feels almost funny but isn't and shouldn't be. The use of the TV series' faraway cut of Shinji getting punched and then a closeup of him hitting the ground is jarring. One of the other, it's dumb to have both.
"I'll lock my heart away deeper..." For all the "Shinji is less emo in the manga" claims, he rarely if even spouts terrible lines like that in the anime. Unless you're talking hell train mildmeld sequences, but Anno's use of those to directly engage in his characters' inner thoughts and motivations is part of what makes Eva great in the first place. Actually, I have a theory about that and lame, shitty writing in anime/manga/VNs/LNs nowadays: they saw how Eva's characters talked about their inner feelings in philosophical terms and decided to do the same, totally forgetting that real people never talk like that unless they're a psychologist and that Anno got away with it once because of the magical means used to make those bizarre conversations happen in the first place. Hell, look at Evangelion 2.22, there's that weird conversation where Asuka talks to Misato, "I can actually laugh again...", which is just dumb compared to the subtleties of her character in NGE.
Anyway, as for the rest of the manga, it's just not quite as good, quite as subtle, the dialogue isn't quite as good. There are some interesting changes, but (and I haven't read the ending or even that far into Third Impact) nothing seems to have any actual consequences. The anime has better characterisation and slightly better story. Then there are lots of little things the anime does better.
The fucking volume 2 omake with Shamshel knitting a scarf for Sachiel, I goddamn love it.
Qui veut faire l'ange fait la bête.
- Blue Monday
- Angel
- Age: 34
- Posts: 3363
- Joined: Jun 17, 2012
- Location: Earth-33
And when I say "technical prowess", I mean by which the series can execute a manner of things through the animated medium; be it with cuts, editing, dialogue, voice work, audio/music, etcetera... All that stuff alone propels it into a league the manga can never touch. Comparing the two is really going to be a pointless endeavour really.
Jim's take above is fairly spot-on.
Still check it out though for those that haven't.
- SimplyMason0
- Shamshel
- Age: 32
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Feb 27, 2013
- Gender: Male
Stage 6 title page. Rei is wearing bandages on top of her clothes, dafuq?
This is only tangential, but I goddamn hate Viz's approximation of Toji's accent.
To be fair, they weren't going with white hand stuff. Adding it in would be unnecessary. Then again, I thought the Misato kiss was forced in the manga since it doesn't talk about her relationship and metal state as much as the anime.
Cause it looks cute
I only saw what I think to be a fan translation, Toji was odd to read sometimes. I remember one screen with Asuka he said something long and I couldn't understand a word of what he said cause it was typed so strangely. Its like that one guy in King of the Hill, only reading.
Manga.
For me the NGE anime is a nice but uncoherent amalgamate of every judeo-christian trope Gainax could think of together with some standard storytelling devices. The manga on the other hand is wonderfully cohesive. I love the pervasive motif of the hands - it is so much more visible in the manga than in the anime. The fact that some angels have been cut makes the story flow more smoothly and finally almost everybody gets an interesting back-story.
So it's the manga for me.
BTW: NGE manga is my second beloved manga series ever (the first one being, of course, FMA).
For me the NGE anime is a nice but uncoherent amalgamate of every judeo-christian trope Gainax could think of together with some standard storytelling devices. The manga on the other hand is wonderfully cohesive. I love the pervasive motif of the hands - it is so much more visible in the manga than in the anime. The fact that some angels have been cut makes the story flow more smoothly and finally almost everybody gets an interesting back-story.
So it's the manga for me.
BTW: NGE manga is my second beloved manga series ever (the first one being, of course, FMA).
Quidquid agis, prudenter agas.
Even assuming the manga had been published on a normal schedule, it's got nothing on the anime. You can't possibly spot in it the greatness that made EVA a phenomenon. But it's nothing concerning the differences between manga & anime, it's just that the divide between still life and moving life in this case is disproportionate.
Watching the animated first step of the EVA 01 out of its cage conveys more messages than a million words, and the direction and sound departments were and are still beyond its time and media limits.
Watching the animated first step of the EVA 01 out of its cage conveys more messages than a million words, and the direction and sound departments were and are still beyond its time and media limits.
SOUND ONLY
- Giji Shinka
- Test Subject
- Age: 29
- Posts: 2816
- Joined: Jan 26, 2013
- Location: Finland
- Gender: Male
- FreakyFilmFan4ever
- (In)Sufficient Director
- Age: 36
- Posts: 9897
- Joined: Jun 09, 2009
- Location: Playing amongst the stars
- Gender: Male
- Katana
- Banned
- Age: 25
- Posts: 1238
- Joined: Feb 08, 2013
- Location: Fetus of God
- Gender: Female
- Contact:
The best thing of the manga.SPOILER: Show
You're ten years too early for her.
However NGE anime is better IMO.
This.
- Koneko_Hime
- Embryo
- Age: 32
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Jun 05, 2013
- Gender: Female
Return to “Evangelion General and Chit-Chat”
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 34 guests