Neon Genesis Evangelion: Gakuen Datenroku

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Gakuen Datenroku (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン 学園堕天録) is a 2007-launched manga series by Ming Ming based on the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. It was serialized in the shōjo manga magazine Monthly Asuka between 2007 and 2009, published by Kadokawa Shoten, and is also available in the PlayStation Store. It has been collected in four volumes.

Many of the main characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion return, including Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Kaworu Nagisa, Asuka Langley Soryu, Toji Suzuhara, Misato Katsuragi, and Kensuke Aida. Though the series uses the same characters, the story and setting differ greatly from previous manga and anime series in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise.

Dark Horse Comics has recently announced that it has acquired the rights to distribute an official English translation of the series, starting in August 2010. The English-language translation of the title will be "Neon Genesis Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse".

Plot
Shinji Ikari attends the NERV Foundation Academy and lives a relatively boring but peaceful life. During a typical outing at night to a nearby vending machine, he witnesses Rei Ayanami and another boy he has never seen before fleeing from the scene of a violent explosion. Startled by the incident, he accidentally finds an unusual gem.

The next day, he meets Kaworu Nagisa, a transfer student to the NERV Foundation Academy and the same boy Shinji had seen the previous night. When Shinji tries to discover the truth behind Rei's relationship with Kaworu, he soon finds himself forcibly recruited to assist them and Asuka Langley Soryu fight against "Angels", beings who wish to destroy humanity by obtaining "Cores", one of which is the gem found by Shinji.

Shinji soon receives an "EVA", the manifestation of the most powerful form of his will, in order to combat the Angels. Accompanying the group on their nightly patrols around the city and investigating strange phenomena, Shinji must protect civilians who are disappearing, though in reality have been killed by Angels and their bodies used as vessels, all without revealing the truth to his friends.

Characters

 * Shinji Ikari
 * The protagonist, Shinji lives a relatively peaceful but boring life attending a local Catholic school. His mother died when he was a child and his father works abroad, so Shinji's legal guardian is Kaji, one of his father's former subordinates. He finds his life changed forever when he becomes involved with Rei Ayanami and Kaworu Nagisa as they hunt the "Angels" and capture them. He apparently has mysterious powers of his own, which allow him to drive off Ramiel, the first Angel he encounters. His Eva weapon manifested itself as a gun. Shinji appears to have a crush on Rei, although his friendship with Kaworu could be called more than that, since they both have blushed in the presence of each other, and since both of them care about the other's opinion and well-being.


 * Rei Ayanami
 * A beautiful, but distant girl described by Toji to be classy, but gloomy and is admired by Shinji. Most people in the class consider her an oddball, though she is exceptionally talented at anything she is told to do, especially if Asuka tells her that it is a "mission". Rei leads a secret life, working as a Shamash Guardian for a group hidden in the school, to fight against Angels. She wields the Lance of Longinus in combat. As revealed in chapter eight, she is an "artificially created child", meaning that she has no parents, and she has spent most of her life in a facility.


 * Kaworu Nagisa
 * A transfer student who takes an interest in Shinji, who is suspicious of his relationship with Rei. With Rei, Kaworu secretly fights against Angels and has the ability to generate an AT Field to defend against attackers and his Eva manifests as a sword. He uses the name Tabris to play online games. He, as revealed in chapter eight, is an "artificially created child" and has spent all of his life until now in facilities. He is ignorant of many social customs, and considers himself to be close friends with Shinji.


 * Asuka Langley Soryu
 * Asuka is considered to be an attractive and stylish foreign student by the children in Shinji's class. She is also involved with the Shamash Guardians fighting against Angels and appears to be on relatively good terms with Kaworu and Rei. She is apparently outspoken and has little patience for novices like Shinji, though does not display these aspects of her personality with her classmates. Asuka wields a whip when fighting against angels and is proud of her abilities. As revealed in chapter eight she is the only one out of the three (Kaworu, Rei, and herself) who has parents, and unlike the other children, she has been enrolled in school prior to her assignment as a Shamash Guardian.


 * Toji Suzuhara, Kensuke Aida, and Hikari Horaki
 * Toji and Kensuke are Shinji's friends. Kensuke is a conspiracy fanatic and has knowledge about supposed prophecies involving Angels and the destruction of the world while Toji is more sceptical of these claims. They take an interest in the girls in the class, commenting on both Rei and Asuka, and enjoy playing MMORGs. Hikari is the class representative of Shinji's class. Kensuke has recently been controlled by Iruel into freeing her from the computer which he succeeds at in Chapter 14.


 * Misato Katsuragi, Ritsuko Akagi, and Kōzō Fuyutsuki
 * Misato is Shinji's class teacher and she and Kaji are old acquaintances, though Misato does not seem to have a positive opinion of him. Before becoming a teacher, she is worked in the same facilities as Kaji. Ritsuko works as the nurse at Shinji's school, who apparently is aware of Rei's activities involving the "Angels", and treats Rei and Shinji after their first fight with Ramiel. However, Ritsuko's actual loyalties may not live with NERV, as Kaworu remarks upon when he comes to see her. Fuyutsuki is mentioned in chapter 11 as the vice-principal of NERV Academy, and one of the teachers who is aware of the Angels.


 * Makoto Hyuga, Maya Ibuki, and Shigeru Aoba
 * Mentioned in chapter 11 as teachers at NERV Academy who are aware of the Angels. Hyuga is the current events teacher, Ibuki works as the mathematics teacher, and Aoba is employed as a chemistry teacher.


 * Kaede Agano, Satsuki Ooi, and Aoi Megumi
 * All three appear in chapter 11 and appear to be teachers in the school. When introduced, they are all dressed as nuns.


 * Ryoji Kaji
 * Shinji's guardian, a journalist and photographer, who was once a subordinate of Shinji's father. He appears to recognize Kaworu Nagisa upon their first meeting, and also has ties to Misato. He disapproves of Shinji's nightly walks, particularly in light of recent civilian disappearances.


 * Gendo Ikari
 * Shinji's father, and the commander of NERV. He's introduced at the end of chapter 11, much to Shinji's shock since Shinji had believed that his father was dead. Originally, Kaji believed that Gendo had died in a past incident when Kaji was still his subordinate, but learned his former superior was alive when Gendo requested that Kaji act as Shinji's legal guardian while Shinji attends school. He is cold and to the point, though Shinji remarks that his father was not so cold in the past, and is apparently fixated on the circumstances behind the death of his wife, Yui Ikari.


 * The Angels
 * Beings which have appeared in order to claim "Cores" embodied as small spherical objects in order to eventually destroy the humanity. Originally supporting devices for the Yggdrasil, the Angels refuse to accept their fate and escape, expressing that their motives are only to live in peace, even if meant the Yggdrasil withers and all realities are converged as a result. The Angels possess no real bodies of their own, consisting only of a consciousness, and must find vessels to inhabit and move between.


 * Ramiel
 * The first angel to appear in the series, Ramiel kills and possesses the body of a man in order to take the Core Shinji has obtained. He has the ability to generate lightning and transforms the body he possesses so that he gains wings. Though he overpowers first Rei, then Kaworu, inhibited because he was protecting Shinji, Shinji's powers suddenly awaken and he drives Ramiel away. Soon after, he possesses a young woman and approaches Shinji again with the intent of discovering the location of cores. Ramiel is eventually defeated by Asuka and Shinji and her core is removed from her host by Kaworu.


 * Shamshel
 * Appearing in chapter 10, Shamshel takes the form of a teenage girl. She addresses a fellow as-of-yet unnamed Angel as "brother" and appears to enjoy teasing him.


 * Iruel
 * Appearing in chapter 10, Ireul appears on a series of screens, possibly as a computer program. Its gender has not been specified yet, but it appears to take the form of an androgynous being wearing a mask with three reptilian eyes; two on either side of it and one in the center. It has been confirmed in Chapter 14 that Iruel has taken a female form when she escapes from her prison.


 * Leliel
 * First appearing in chapter 17, Leliel posseses a young man with pale hair and infiltrates the school while Iruel was battling against Shinji and Asuka. He finds and kills an unamed person from the school before attempting to do that same to Toji and Hikari only to have his core removed by Israfel, one of their halves then chides him for involving innocent humans and states he can remain in that form for a while.


 * Israfel
 * Unlike the other Angels, Israfel is incarnated as human twins Cecilia and Makoto de Nuovo, twin siblings who are talented singers. Though Cecilia and Makoto is seen as early as Chapter 5, their identity as Angels is unconfirmed until chapter 11 by Makoto. Cecilia was first appears in Chapter 4 as an unknown girl who Shinji rescues from Ramiel's attack before she is formally introduced along with her brother in Chapter 5. She is mostly naive to the goals of the other Angels and has even developed a huge infatuation with Shinji to the point of running away when she sees him. Her brother, on the other hand, is fully aware of their situation and is generally cold towards Shinji and tries to protect his sister. It is later revealed that their apparent other halves are still with the angels when they disable Leliel and hold a conversation with Tabris in which it is shown they view him as a traitor to them.


 * Other Angels
 * While they have not been seen yet, chapter 10 has an as-of-yet unnamed Angel in the form of a man naming himself "Mimori" and working for the game company GNX. He and Shamshel mention Leliel), whose human identity is unknown still. There are also two unknown Angels who appear to be working against the others as they saved Kaji from a group of students who where under Iruel's control.