Neon Genesis EVANGELION [3 Years After] -ANIMA- (alternatively shortened to Neon Genesis Evangelion -ANIMA- or simply Evangelion -ANIMA-) is a Light Novel series written by Ikuto Yamashita, set in the same world as Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was serialized in Dengeki Hobby magazine from 2008 to 2013 and compiled into five volumes.
As the title suggests, it follows an Alternate Continuity and is set three years after the events of the original story, albeit following a different ending. Due to Kaji leaking the Mass Produced Evangelion's attack by SEELE to NERV, SEELE's goals of Human Instrumentality are thwarted. However, in the three years following SEELE's failure, trouble starts to rear its ugly head in the form of one of Rei's clones going rogue and the appearance of a black Evangelion unit.
The initial announcement was presented in the November 2007 issue, with a short introduction by and interview with Ikuto Yamashita in December 2007. The first chapter was published in the January 2008 issue. The chapters are accompanied by numerous illustrations of the characters and many redesigned and upgraded Evas. On a side note, those designs use a lot of scrapped ideas from Neon Genesis Evangelion Proposal as well as "foreshadow" the Evangelion designs used for the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy.
ANIMA is advertised as "Ikuto Yamashita presents," and he is credited as the supervisor of the entire work, mecha designer, and illustrator. Character design and character illustrations are done by Hiroyuki Utatane, with coloring by Ryou Ramiya. The series also features additional mechanical designs by Seiji Kio and, in a few issues, models built by some of the Dengeki Hobby modelers as well as Bandai prototypes. The Chōgōkin Super Evangelion toy was finally released in March 2010 after more than 2 years of development by Bandai and supervision by Yamashita.
In the June 2010 issue of Dengeki Hobby Magazine the Neon Genesis Evangelion -ANIMA- Visual Book was announced for release in the summer. The August issue of Dengeki Hobby dated the book for a July 24, 2010 release, costing 2,000 yen. It was subsequently delayed until August 11.
To commemorate the series' 10th anniversary, ANIMA received a full print volume release, split into three books. The first two books were released simultaneously in Japan on November 30th, 2017. The third volume was released on March 17, 2018.
On January 11, 2019, Seven Seas Entertainment announced they had licensed ANIMA for an English language release. The first volume of the series was released early digitally on August 15, 2019 and in print on October 29, 2019. All volumes have since been released, with Volume 5 released on August 3, 2021.
Spoilers for the anime will be unmarked.
Evangelion -ANIMA- contains the following tropes:
- Adaptational Badass:
- Between Kaji leaking SEELE's plan of attacking NERV with the Mass Produced Evangelions and the three year timeskip, the original Children trio (Shinji, Asuka and Rei) have all grown to become even better pilots than they were when they had to deal with the Angels. Special mentions also go to other characters such as Hikari, who is now an EVA pilot, albeit Brainwashed and Crazy.
- The Evangelions themselves are stronger as well. In particular is Evangelion Unit-01, which upgrades into the "Super Evangelion" when Shinji merges with it.
- Adaptation Deviation: Certain events from the anime such as Kaji being shot or Unit-00 being destroyed did not occur in -ANIMA-, which plays into how NERV is able to repel the MP EVAs attack after being forewarned by Kaji.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: Subverted. Despite the official explanation why children are the only ones capable of piloting the Evangelions, Shinji and Asuka are still piloting theirs when they're nearing adulthood. This is due to the souls inside the EVAs recognizing Shinji and Asuka, their original pilots and children.
- Alternate Timeline: It's described as such in the official summary of the series. The events of Episodes 25 and 26, and the End of Evangelion never happening due to Kaji not being shot and leaking the assault of the Mass Produced EVAs ahead of time is the major point of divergence that allows the plot to occur.
- Ascended Extra: Certain characters from the original series are given greater focus. In particular are Toji, who goes from washout Eva pilot to liaison for the other pilots and later on is promoted to Deputy Commander under Misato, Maya who goes from goes from meek bridge technician to replacing Dr Akagi as head of Engineering and Science, and Hikari who goes from merely a friend of the pilots and their class rep to becoming an Eva pilot herself.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Hikari, the trio's classmate and class representative, became an EVA pilot for the European army at some point and got herself brainwashed. Thankfully, they get better.
- Canon Immigrant: Zigzagged. One of the EVA pilots in -ANIMA- is named Mari and looks to be a younger version of Mari Makinami Illustrious from the Rebuild continuity, but is apparently an Artificial Human created by the NERV US Branch.
- Dark Is Evil: Armaros, the so-called "god of Evangelions" is a jet-black Evangelion, extraordinarily powerful and is the Big Bad of the Light Novel series.
- Denser and Wackier: -ANIMA- as a whole definitely leans somewhat towards more lighthearted and over-the-top and off-the-wall scenarios when compared to the original Evangelion's more grounded take on sci-fi and serious character drama.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Big Bad Armaros. Whatever the hell it is, it's just as alien, if not more so, than the Angels. Even stranger still is the fact that Armaros is a seemingly sentient Evangelion that doesn't have a soul in its core, much less a pilot.
- Fusion Dance: On two occasions.
- Shinji is nearly killed after Rei Quatre shoots Unit-01 point blank. In order to save his life, Yui willingly relinquishes control of the EVA to Shinji and seemingly passes on, causing Shinji and his EVA to merge and create the aptly-named Super Evangelion.
- During her fight with Armaros, Asuka and her EVA get infected by unknown alien organisms, resulting in the two being fused and creating Crimson A1—a literal Human-Evangelion hybrid with Asuka's face and the mentality of a child.
- Generation Xerox:
- It's noted by a few characters and fans that Shinji has grown up to look quite a bit like Kaji and now sports a small ponytail.
- She was already this to begin with, but three years of growing up has led Rei to resembling Yui Ikari more and more, something that causes her to distance herself from Shinji out of fear that she might end up becoming Yui herself.
- Gratuitous French: The Reis are given French numerical designators to tell them apart, resulting in Rei Trois, Quatre, Cinq and Six.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: The Rei clones all undergo something akin to this, Rei Quatre most of all. As a result of the mental contamination, each clone began to act independently, with Rei Quatre going rogue for unknown reasons.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Asuka is still the hot-tempered, abrasive Fiery Red Head we know from the series proper, but she's grown in three years and now shows that she cares for the well being of her fellow pilots and works better with her team.
- Older and Wiser: Unlike three years ago, where he was practically struggling to catch up and getting caught in several bad circumstances, Shinji has had ample time to grow up and become much more confident in his abilities as an EVA pilot. He's even become The Leader of the EVA pilots.
- Point of Divergence: Kaji not being shot and warning NERV about SEELE's assault ahead of time is what causes the events of the anime to derail completely and allow what follows in the Light Novel to occur.
- Serial Escalation: This series is essentially what Evangelion would have been if Hideaki Anno wrote the series in a manner akin to Gundam, with nearly every EVA getting some sort of upgrade and fights taking place all the way to outer space. At one point, the heroes and the Big Bad duke it out on the freaking moon.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Numerous characters who kick it in some manner or another in the original series are alive and well here. Kaji's survival is essentially what kickstarts the plot of -ANIMA-.
- Time Skip: Exactly What It Says on the Tin, since the story starts three years after the events of the original series, albeit following a different set of circumstances.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Both Ritsuko Akagi and Gendo Ikari go missing between the battle with SEELE and the events of -ANIMA- and their current whereabouts unknown.
- You Are in Command Now: After Gendo's disappearance and successfully stopping Human Instrumentality from occurring, Misato is promoted to Major General and the Commander of the NERV Japan Branch.
- You Are Number 6: To differentiate Rei and her clones, they're given a "number." The Rei readers know of, Rei III, is called "Rei No. Trois" or Rei "Three." The clone that goes rogue is called Rei Quatre, or Rei "Four." Special mentions go to the sixth clone of Rei, who is literally called "Rei Six."
