Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days Vol. #02

By Eduardo M. Chavez     September 27, 2006
Release Date: September 01, 2006



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Hayashi Fumino
Translated by:Kaoru Bertrand
Adapted by:

What They Say


The Review
An aspect of NGE that is often forgotten happens to be the relationships. We remember the individual characters; their accomplishments and their downfalls. We remember the great battles and the impact these had on te country. But we remember the heartfelt moments. Do we even take time to imagine these characters in a different light? What if they were not primarily pilots? What if EVA was more of a soap opera than it already is?

We would possibly get Angelic Days. This is basically a middle school romance manga gone wrong. Everyone is caught up in a crush of some sort. And in typical gakuen romance style no one has the courage to say anything or act on their feelings. What the characters here do is get very introverted. They struggle for affection and they try hard to find it either through their friends or the brief moments they spend with their crushes. But there is much more adversity to go through than just mixed signals. There is a war about to break and these kids need to collect all their strength to protect their loved ones and their city when the Angels come down from above. This latest chapter of Angelic Days slowly and evasively introduces the concept of NERV and their great plans. While the teens are pre-occupied with their budding romance lives, there is rumbling within the adult world of some eminent danger descending on Neo-Tokyo 3. As a reader, I almost felt that the danger was much more tangible from the adults and perceived mature characters in this story, than from any aliens. The deception, manipulation and the illusive behavior the adult characters portray make me wish I could not see their world. Hayashi's storytelling makes me long for the honesty and naivety that the kids show time and time again as they work their way from being kids to being young adults She gives me an understanding as to why one would consider those tender moments "angelic days". And, I almost begin to appreciate this version of the property for its own merits.

Nevertheless, I cannot get over how contrived the tech-action is. I don't feel the manga is very comfortable with the genre. I also cannot get over the inconsistent art. Hayashi has a hard time maintaining her sense of form. Shapes change radically and even the simplest designs differ from one page to another. Angelic Days feels entire based on inconsistencies. If she wanted awkward sci-fi drama the mangaka should have reinforced that with more NERV. If she wanted to create a shojo romance, then we could have had an NGE just about that. And if she wanted to take on a property like this, with characters known the world over, she possibly could have drawn them better. Angelic Days does not get the character structure very well. Maybe it�s supposed to be a different take, an ideal love pentagon take, on the EVA property. However, it just doesn't do the characters justice. If this were the only EVA, I'd rather be killed by an Angel.