May 15, 2010
Like "Angelic Days" (Graphic Novels, "LJ" 3/15/07)a previous manga spun off of the sensational "Evangelion" animethis series is based on a videogame, which was in turn inspired by a well-remembered fantasy sequence in the "Evangelion" TV show's final episode, wherein the cast live regular junior high lives instead of the main series' postapocalyptic emotional desolation. As in "Angelic Days", the arrival of pretty transfer student Rei Ayanami shakes up the relationship between childhood friends Shinji and Askua. And as in "Angelic Days", this series can't leave it at that, bringing in a variation of the main story's sf intrigue, revolving around the Human Instrumentality Project that Shinji's parents direct, the success of which here seems to depend somehow on Shinji's emotional development. But where "Angelic Days" was a drama, this is a romantic comedy with all the stock elements, including hysterical banter and babble and a surfeit of "Love Hina"-esque compromising situations. Most changed from the original is Shinji's stern, heartless father, Gendo, who here becomes a tongue-tied goofball. VERDICT Highly derivative and contrived, but fun for teen and adult "Evangelion" fans.S.R.
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