I am continuing to work my way through the extended Evanglion world, and did not quite know what to expect with this one. Inspired from a beloved scene in the original series where there were no angels, our main trio (Shinji, Asuka, and Rei) are running to school and faced with what seems like a much more normal life. I know there are quite a few volumes in this series, so it was not immediately clear what the plot driver would be here. Even in fan-service-laden harems, there is usually something to keep everyone moving forward. Right?

This Omnibus contained the first three manga, which is good, since after just the first manga, it was not really clear what was the hook here (again, besides pure fan-service). The second manga delivered some better moments (and of course, contrived visits to the beach), and while still falling short of a good hook, showed signs of life. The manga is at its best when there are allusions to events from the main series, but take a much different turn. Some of these are very successful, for example, the power outage that is resolved by a group bike generator marathon. Others do not quite hit the mark (the initial something goes wrong with Rei’s sync feel empty without any real explanation as to why we are in plugs). These have been fun enough overall to stay engaged, but I hope there is some better hook down the line.

One final positive note, I think a lot of the characters are fun in their re-imagined format. Misato is fun as homeroom teacher and her bumbling nature is equally fitted for this world with lower stakes. Full on socially awkward Gendo is excellent, and he becomes the highlight of many of the scenes he is in. An earlier introduction of Kaworu mirrors the re-imagined movie series and main series manga and it continues to be great to give him more time in the story (and mission yaoi is entertaining). Rei and Asuka fair a little worse though. Without the Eva piloting, and Rei acting a bit more assertive very early on, the comparison between the two reduces to one of physical comparisons and bust size, which is not particularly interesting nor deep.

Given that I like to finish what I start, I am on the train for the whole ride, so I only hope it goes from just a midly entertaining ride to something a bit more.