"This is where things get interesting." by V. Krätke (Netherlands) on Mar 11, 2006

In this volume, the manga begins to show some significant differences compared to the events in the TV series. Most people reading the manga will have seen the immensely popular TV series first. That was the case for me as well. Throughout the first four volumes of the manga, I kept wondering if I was really committed enough to buy what was essentially the same story from the TV series all over again. I really liked Sadamoto's black-and-white art, but the differences between the events in the manga and those in the anime were minimal at best up to this point. So I'm glad to see the manga starting to add its own twists to the story. This volume gives us a different take on some key events from the anime and skips some filler battles in the process. In fact, the battles against the Angels sort of fade into the background during this volume. Character interaction and some glimpses at the shadowy conspiracy behind everything are the driving force of this volume. Sadamoto's art is as solid as ever, and he gives us a pretty good handle on what makes his characters tick. All things considered, this fifth book is a pretty good read. Devoted Evangelion junkies will eat up new manga volumes without blinking, but the fifth might just be the one to win over the less fanatic readers as well.