Because Yahoo!/Geocities is being shut down, I gotta find a place to put all of my anime/manga reviews. Guess I can at least proofread again.
It also gives me an opportunity to bitch about capitalism online. Perhaps Yahoo! made this move because they are losing money as they compete with better companies like Google (that should give me some Ad Sense profit...don't call me a hypocrite), but it could also be corporate greed at its worst.
In all honesty, Yahoo! has a great user friendly registry service, but to pay for webspace on the Internet? If you cannot find that for free online, then there is at least one hedonistic douche bag involved.
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3
Stage 1: Angel Attack
The melancholy Shinji Ikari has been called to Tokyo 3 by his father for unknown reasons. While he's waiting for Capt. Misato Katsuragi to pick him up, a giant monster starts to attack. Misato seems to arrive at the nick of time, but the car is knocked over making them easy prey for the Angel (the official name for the monster). They are saved by a giant robot that helps by putting the car right side up. It also takes the pounding the two were meant to take, and is forced to retreat. Even after all of this, Shinji is still wondering why his father has called him, and what is the robot called the Evangelion that saved him.
If you discovered Evangelion through the anime like I did, you are immediately interested in the plot as we find out how down the character of Shinji was intended to be (My mistake, the manga came after the anime). Rei also plays a larger part than she does in the anime's first episode, and the humor is delivered a lot more openly. Not really more detailed than the anime, but a new way to look at Evangelion.
Stage 2: Reunion
Shinji and Misato finally get to the Geofront and they meet up with Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. She gives them a brief history of why the organization of Nerv exists, and gives a very insightful overview of the Evangelion. Shinji's father, Gendo, soon appears and asks Shinji to pilot the Eva. Shinji refuses despite his father calling him a coward, but the scenario may change after seeing the injured female pilot rolled out to go to battle again.
This type of issue is exactly why I'm considering not to renew my subscription. It is all talk about the background that some readers are some what familiarized with by reading the first issue. Lets just skip to the battle.
Stage 3: Unit-01, Lift Off
Being pissed off at his dad for the coward remark, seeing that Rei is helpless after a blast from the Angel has shaken the GeoFront, and the fact that Shinji was protected by the Eva are all possible reasons for why Shinji decides to pilot. I'll bet on the first possibility.
I don't know why they had to put such a small amount of info in one manga. Stage 1 was fine on its own. It was a lot of action from cover to cover. This Stage should be combined with Stage 2.
