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For my 62nd Evangelion book review, here is Evangelion ANIMA 2, published by ASCII Media Works. This is the second volume in a series of books that will collect all the chapters of Ikuto Yamashita’s alternate ending to the Evangelion TV series. (I already covered the first volume in my previous review, so be sure to read that post first!)

This book is not available in English or French, but there are some illustrations to enjoy (the first eight pages are in full color, and then the rest of the book’s pics are in black-and-white). Still, it’s important to note that this is a light novel and not a manga, so the book mostly consists of Japanese text, and only a few of those pages include pictures. In fact, this volume has even fewer images than the previous one, so you may want to take that into consideration if you can’t read Japanese. (EDIT, March 2020: This book is now available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment! Yay! However, once again some of the illustrations are noticeably darker in the English version, which makes the details harder to see.) At any rate, the illustrations that are present still do a nice job of showcasing some of Yamashita’s ideas concerning upgrades and weapons for the Evas, including some of the wacky stuff. What kind of wacky stuff, you ask? Well, for example, a strange incident causes Asuka and Evangelion Unit-02 to merge into one being…


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…resulting in an Evangelion nicknamed “Crimson A1” that looks like a giant Asuka wearing Eva armor and high heels! Oh, and did I mention that she can fly? Yeah, wacky. Want to see more? Keep reading for the rest of the book review, plus a few more pictures!

The book has a removable dust jacket, and the alternate cover art hidden underneath has some pictures and notes about the Super Evangelion, printed in green. (EDIT, March 2020: The English version does not have a removable dust jacket, however a black-and-white version of the alternate cover art is provided at the back of the book, with the notes translated.) The Super Evangelion is basically an upgraded Unit-01 that shares a very special link with Shinji because he got merged with it at one point, although the result doesn’t look like a giant Shinji wearing fabulous shoes. I guess that’s just an Asuka thing. Anyway, here’s part of the hidden cover art:


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Want to see another full color illustration from the beginning of the book? Okay, here’s a new Eva called the Evangelion EUROII Heurtebize. The pilot of this Eva is Hikari! Take a look:


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As mentioned earlier, only the first eight pages are in full color. After that, the few remaining illustrations are in black-and-white. You can tell that they were originally in full color but got converted into black-and-white for this book, which is unfortunate because I think some information got lost because of that. (Yes, I know that the drawings in manga are usually in black-and-white, but the difference is that they were designed to be that way.) Don’t get me wrong, the pictures still look nice. I’m just saying that it’s hard to shake the feeling that something is missing from them. Anyway, here is one of those pages, so you can form your own opinion:


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Speaking of stuff missing from the artwork, Evangelion ANIMA had two main illustrators, Ikuto Yamashita and Hiroyuki Utatane. As you may recall from my previous review, the first volume of this compilation series doesn’t include any of Utatane’s drawings. Well, this second volume has the same omission, containing art by Yamashita but not Utatane. For those of you who aren’t sure what that means, Utatane did a lot of character artwork, including some of ANIMA’s infamous fan service of the female characters, but also some drawings of Kaworu and others. Maybe they’re saving his work for a later volume? At any rate, you can still find some of Utatane’s stuff in Evangelion ANIMA Visual Book.

Overall, it’s nice that Evangelion ANIMA 2 and the other books in this series will finally be compiling all of the ANIMA chapters, but it’s a bit sad that not all of the illustrations could be printed in full color, and fans of Hiroyuki Utatane’s art might be disappointed that his drawings haven’t appeared yet. Also, please note that this book is mostly text, so that might factor into your purchasing decision if you can’t read Japanese.

Anyway, if this book looks interesting to you, then please support the author by purchasing it if you can! It’s available on Amazon.co.jp (EDIT, March 2020: The book is now available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment! Check if your favorite bookstore has the English version, and if not then ask them if they can order it for you. There’s also a Kindle Edition, if you prefer that. ^_^)

Well, that’s it for my 62nd Evangelion book review. I have plenty more Evangelion books to discuss, so keep checking my blog for new reviews!

  1. amythedemisimp reblogged this from literaryeagle
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    I’m reblogging this review because I have an update… This book is now available in English from Seven Seas...
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