[EVA] Manga Stage 75

[M]

> Sadamoto brilliantly managed in a single stage to give a consistent
> reason why Shinji should be miserable as he is in the movies.
> <snip>
> Shinji testifies once again that he is willing to go against danger to
> protect loved ones (as opposed to doing it for the greater cause,
> as he points out to Misato), but he's finding a hard time doing so
> when his loved ones are dying around him or ceasing to be
> the way he knew them.
> <snip>
>  We had wondered how Sadamoto would've handled the
> Beginning of the End, and now we know. Great stage.

As you say, Sadamoto seems to be changing details and sequences but  
still keeping the main story more or less the same.  All other  
changes aside, I think the defining difference between the manga and  
the anime can be summed up as the character of the protagonist, which  
is:

Anime-Shinji = Anno

Manga-Shinji = Sadamoto
(or at least how Sadamoto sees himself thinking/behaving under  
similar circumstances)

Anno =! Sadamoto

Therefore,

Anime-Shinji =! Manga-Shinji
(and thus Anime =! Manga)

And given the difference in character between anime-Shinji (weak,  
passive, self pity, running away) and manga-Shinji (shows backbone,  
thinks about others, willing to go against danger to protect what he  
loves), we can further hypothesize that in terms of personal  
character/humanity:

Sadamoto ≥ Anno

I think the manga has to be read and interpreted from this viewpoint  
rather than compared to the anime, since they are essentially  
different stories using the same setting and flow of events rather  
than simply an "original" and a "remake/bastardization".  Especially  
since the two works were developed concurrently, and the manga even  
led the anime for a short time.

Also, Sadamoto was more important to the anime storyline than most  
people are aware.  He was not just a character designer and  
occasional collaborator or sounding board.  Had it not been for  
Sadamoto, the anime as we know it would be completely different, and  
would not even have been named "Evangelion".

"M"