Neon Genesis Evangelion was created after a meeting between Hideaki Anno and King Records. Although the anime series was conceived before the manga, due to production delays the manga was released first, in the third issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Shōnen Ace on December 26, 1994, to spread public interest in the upcoming TV series while it was still under production. Due to severe production delays, the anime ultimately aired a full 10 months after the manga first appeared in Shōnen Ace. When the series finally appeared on TV in October 1995, Sadamoto's manga storyline had completed what would later become volumes 1 to 3, matching the storyline of episodes 5 and 6 of the TV series. The anime rapidly outpaced the manga, to the point that the chapters comprising volume 4 were not released until over a year after the TV series had finished airing. Despite an ostensible publishing schedule of one "stage" each month in Shōnen Ace, Sadamoto's actual publication schedule was irregular as he divided his time between other projects, releasing a new volume roughly every year and a half. For example, between the publication in Japan of volume 4 and volume 5, two years elapsed. While the manga ran for more than 18 years, only 14 volumes were published. In 2008, it was announced that the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga was approaching its conclusion. In July 2009, it was moved to a new Kadokawa Shoten seinen magazine, Young Ace, where it was published until the February 2010 issue. At that point Sadamoto stopped writing the manga, putting the publication on hiatus in order to work on the latest Rebuild of Evangelion film. The December 2010 issue of Young Ace announced that the manga would resume that winter ; the April 2011 issue announced the next stage would be published April 4, 2011. On February 12, 2012, half of the 90th Stage was published, telling different events from the ones seen in episode 26 from The End of Evangelion. This was reportedly the final chapter. On May 2, 2012, Kadokawa Shoten announced that the 13th volume of the manga would be released on November 2, 2012, with ANN noting that "neither Sadamoto nor Kadokawa has confirmed that the 13th manga volume is still the final one." In April 2013 Kadokawa Shoten announced that the manga would end in two more chapters. The last chapter was published on June 4, 2013, and the 14th and last volume was released on November 20, 2014.
Plot
Characters
Sadamoto was the original character designer for the anime with Hideaki Anno as the supervisor. His manga versions of the characters and plot often differ in subtle ways from the TV series by Gainax. ;Shinji Ikari ;Rei Ayanami ;Asuka Langley Soryu ;Kaworu Nagisa ;Toji Suzuhara ;Ryoji Kaji ;Yui Ikari/Unit 01
Reception
With the success of the anime, the manga has also become a commercial success; the first 10 volumes have sold over 15 million copies, and the 11th volume reached #1 on the Tohan charts, taking the total to over 17 million. In particular, as the manga drew closer to its conclusion, attention surrounding it reached new heights, with the 11th volume staying on top of the Japanese Comic Ranking charts for 4 straight weeks, a remarkable achievement even for a long-running series. It won the 1996 Comicker fan manga poll. Volume 12 opened at #1 on Oricon's manga rankings and has sold over 600,000 copies. As of October 2012, the series has sold over 23 million copies in 15 countries. Unlike it is sometimes assumed, the manga is in fact not the original version of the story, but instead it was created as a supplemental designed to promote the TV series. Sadamoto has also repeatedly stated that the manga is his own individual work and should never be used as reference for anything in the anime. He has also denied links to the Rebuild movies, specifying that the bonus chapter featuring Mari is fanservice.
English release
Viz claims that its releases of Evangelion were the first releases of an unflipped manga in English. In August 2011, Viz announced that the manga would be serialized at $1 a chapter online and through its Apple apps.
