Author: Carl Horn
Source: Anime on DVD via The Evangelion Mailing List
Dated: Circa July 4, 2003
I did take the opportunity to ask Mr. Sadamoto about his plans for the EVANGELION manga. He said that the current thinking—which, he wished to emphasize, is not a hard-and-fast plan—is that it will be an eleven-volume series (Vol. 8 is out in Japan, and Vol. 9 has just begun in SHONEN ACE monthly magazine, home of the EVA manga). This would mean the manga might end somewhere between the summer of 2005 and early 2006.
While of course I was asking as editor of the English-language edition of the manga, I didn't want to make more than a gentle interrogation—not only because Mr. Sadamoto hasn't been a con guest here since the first Bush presidency, but because I sensed there was a little absurdity to asking purely as an American fan, since in terms of frequency of publication, we've never been much worse off than the Japanese fans—that is, EVA is a monthly in Japan just like it used to be in America, but for the last four volumes it didn't necessariily come out every month of the year—again, just like it used to be in America.
So, because I am both a tremendous fan of EVA and the editor, I accept the situation and am of course grateful to have the opportunity to work on it in the first place. I personally would like to find some monthly venue for EVA, even if it is impossible to have it out every month (again, because Mr. Sadamoto doesn't put it out every month himself).
So in theory we could take Vol. 8 and split it up into four to seven monthly issues in the U.S. comics format (i.e., the traditional way we did EVA). When you look at that format from the newer thinking—to publish whole graphic novel series as periodicals, not mere "excerpts" of GNs as are the monthly comics—it doesn't seem very progressive, and could be said to cheat the customer.
However, it seems to me there is a difference between releasing a manga series which in Japan is already complete or well near completion, and releasing one which is still in an earlier stage and not expected to be complete for some time. When Viz began to publish the EVA manga in 1997, for example, Mr. Sadamoto was only near the end of Vol. 4 in SHONEN ACE. And since Vol. 4 is a re-interpretation of episode 9 of the anime, it was reasonable to conclude he wasn't even half-way yet to the end; which turned out to be true, of course.
So: I can definitely see the logic of releasing, say, a BANANA FISH, a lengthy series finished years ago in Japan, as a periodical GN-only (we intend to continue it on this basis in the near future; I regret that I don't yet have any details). But there was nothing necessarily illogical about releasing EVANGELION, itself a monthly and incomplete in Japan, as a monthly comic here. Furthermore, as you know, reader response and interaction has always been good on EVA, and I enjoyed developing "Misato's Fan Service Center," the FX glossaries, and the "Dossier" section, because I wanted to get the most out of what was, after all, only 24 pages of story an issue (again, the same page count as you'd get in an issue of SHONEN ACE).
In my opinion the quality of the EVANGELION monthly comic as a *format* was in a large part due to the many readers who took the time to support it with letters, fan art, even mix CDs of "music to listen to/watch EVA by" (a favorite of mine, since I was always calling EVA the Nirvana or NIN of anime). So if there are delays in releasing more EVA in English, I don't regret it just in some abstract way—I'm sorry because I'm also a fan and I very much appreciate what other fans have brought to the U.S. edition.
Now, I could advocate that we make an exception for EVA and continue to release this title at least in the monthly comic book format. But at this point it becomes an issue of equity towards the designers. A typical monthly issue of EVA, with its letters column, info, and so forth, may present nearly as much layout work for the designer as a whole EVA graphic novel. And of course, a monthly issue of EVA has the same amount of work as a graphic novel when it comes to designing the color covers. Back when doing manga as a monthly U.S. comics book was the normal model, putting this work into publishing a 24-page installment seemed OK (although of course, it has always been extra work too for Carolina Ugalde, Benjamin Wright, and the other designers who have worked on it so well over the years).
But when the model is to do graphic novels, you can see it would be both unfair and unreasonable to continue with a monthly comic if it literally takes five times as much design work as a whole graphic novel, and when there are many other manga titles for which they have responsibility as well. And again, we can't really get the story out faster than it comes out in Japan—we can only, for a few months, give the illusion of it coming out faster. One partial solution to the issues would be to release it as it is in Japan, as one story within an anthology magazine. We don't presently have such a magazine where EVA's format would fit in, however—although of course a long-term goal is to create a U.S. manga market where we can have a good selection of anthology magazines, as well as graphic novels (in other words, to have a U.S. manga market more like Japan's).
What is likely to happen with the EVANGELION manga, then, is that the first seven volumes will be re-released on a regular schedule in the new $9.95 format (I intend to go back and add a few bonus features to them, as well as include the ones that were in the original GN editions), with an eye to leading into Vol. 8 either at the end of the new #1-7's release, or somewhere within that release, depending on when Vol. 9 is slated to be available in Japan...Because only one EVA GN has come out a year on average in Japan since after Vol. 4, we face the challenge of trying to avoid more than a once-a-year appearance...although, again, it's not necessarily so different from the situation the Japanese fans themselves face. Mr. Sadamoto himself said he gets the "when's it going to be finished" question all the time.
However, even in Japan people haven't lost their fascination with EVANGELION, which I truly believe is the greatest anime TV series ever made ("greatest"—not necessarily the most influential, most consistent, or most satisfying—I've said that EVANGELION is much more interesting for its "failures" than most anime are for their "successes") and in America, the response and discussion I've seen at recent EVA convention panels is still tremendous.
I don't want to take such "patience" for granted, but at the same time it gives me confidence that America's encounter with EVANGELION has just begun. I'm very excited about reaching a whole new audience in the bookstores through a future re-release; there is the prospect of an EVA live-action film being made in the U.S.; and finally, we haven't even yet gotten to the point here where the Japanese fans were in 1995—that is, being able to see the series on nationwide television. If ADV Films's Anime Network (a concept I urge you to support: http://www.theanimenetwork.com/) can spread throughout the U.S., we will get that, too.
Having said that, I do want to thank you for your patience, and also your understanding in this matter. I hope that you will look forward to continuing with the English edition of the manga as much as I am.
—Carl Horn
Manga Editor, NEON GENESIS EVANGELION
Viz, LLC