Misato's Fan Service Center: Book 1, Issue 5

To Whom It May Concern,

Having been around for almost three decades now, and having read comics for a little over two, I can say (with some pride) that I have a knack for sensing greatness and being there at its inception. Yep, I was there at the beginning of Chaykin's American Flagg and Moore's Swamp Thing. I was there for Milligan's Shade, The Changing Man and recently Morrison's JLA.

And now I'm here for Neon Genesis Evangelion. I started watching the anime series when it was first introduced here in the U.S. Sure, the mecha are intriguing and the action is great, but more importantly, I'm captivated by its depth of characterization, its multi-layered plot lines, its overtones of conspiracy, and its outright mysteries. I figured the manga would add details to the story, and so far I haven't been wrong.

I know the anime was twenty-six episodes. It seems that at the current pace (I estimate about five issues per episode), it will take almost eleven years to finish this run! Any chance of bunching the manga issues together to speed up distribution? Was the manga done before the series?

Also, I work in the children's hospital in Hartford as a resident and we could sure use help decorating the place. Any promotional material for the series (posters, etc.) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for bringing the series to the U.S. Viz has always delivered the goods.

Andrew J. Capraro
Manchester, CT

You're placing Eva in good company—toujours l'audace! I collected American Flagg as a kid, and there was a certain thrill to getting away with buying it when I was thirteen. I still think Chaykin's use of layout is something to be admired. I've read Morrison's JLA and agree that he knows superheroes as they should be. For a somewhat darker turn on the subject, there's also his Flex Mentallo mini-series for Vertigo. Mr. Brown in our Viz Shop-By-Mail department turned me on to it (groovy, man), and we both agree it's a classic.

The projected length of the Eva manga... you didn't just fall off the daikon truck. As Gainax's Hiroyuki Yamaga (director of Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise) addressed the same sharp-eyed query by Kiyoshi Okuma at last March's Fanime Con: "That's a reeeeal good question." But not to worry—the situation isn't quite like that; it actually works out to less than three issues per episode overall. Sadamoto, who, it must be remembered, is a co-creator of the original Eva story, stretches out or shrinks the events portrayed in the anime as he sees fit, and, as you've already noticed, he also depicts things that never happened in the anime at all. That's the real fun of the manga: it's full of surprises, even if you're lucky enough to have seen the whole of the anime. And yes, the manga began a good half-year before the series first aired. As for bundling, there will be at least one more double-length issue in the very near future.

I worked as an assistant in the pediatrics ward of my local hospital when I was in high school, and I always remember that the children were the best-natured of all the patients, even when they were seriously ill. I think that helped them get better, although it's never easy to be sick. Eva in some ways is a not inappropriate request, as its "Children" do spend a lot of time in the hospital! The truth is, though, that we don't have a lot of promotional material for Eva on hand, although we'll certainly see what we can do. For now, though, we're going to send some posters from the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z manga ("Thanks for the letter! And if you like Eva, check out—"), to be released by Viz in March.

So you're both a medical man and a manga fan... a grand tradition started by Osamu Tezuka himself!

Dear Mr. Carl Gustav Horn,

Greetings and konnichiwa from the Philippines! Don't be surprised— here in the Philippines, the hit series Neon Genesis Evangelion he's well-known. and being one who knows, I would like to express my thanks to you and to Viz Comics for releasing the English version of the comic, and not only that, releasing it in the two versions: the regular and Special Collector's Edition. you will surely go down in history for being the first horn company to release the manga in its right-to-left format, and the very first to translate the Comic version of the hit Japanese animated series of the nineties! more power! Keep up the good work!

I have been a fanatical fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion since last year, 1996. I've been collecting two copies each of the English- subtitled version of the video: one for my collection, and the other for sharing with my friends. I know it's expensive, but it is all worth it. I'm proud to be a fan of Eva, both in its anime and comic versions.

Thanks,
John Jasper Guce
Makati City, Philippines

Our first letter from "the lands without," as they would put it in the movie Alphaville, which I suspect may have been an influence on the anime version of Evangelion. Thank you very much for your compliments. Although we can't lay credit to being the first foreign company to release a manga in its original orientation, we're pretty certain we are the first to release it in both the Japanese and Western orientation simultaneously, giving readers a choice. As for myself, this is the first time I've ever edited a manga. It's still a learning process, but I'm giving it my best attention. And I certainly don't forget that this is the creation of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and Gainax and that my job is to pass it along to you, our English-language readers, in good order.

I don't want to sound like I'm running for Mayor, but I want to acknowledge the Filipino presence in anime and SF, especially after Johnny Rico was ethnically cleansed not once but twice in two different versions of Starship Troopers. In addition to the current big budget live-action film, some may know that a Starship Troopers anime OAV series existed in Japan in the late 1980s. Unlike in the film, The anime's mobile infantry was outfitted in the power armor suits that Robert A. Heinlein invented in his original 1959 novel— which in translation certainly influenced the anime and manga industry. But neither adaptation of Starship Troopers portrayed its hero as a native of the Philippines as in the original story.

I think the long-standing interest in anime and manga in the Philippines is well-known. there is even the case of the 1970s robot anime TV show broadcast in the United States as Voltus 5. Bob Johnson mentioned in his article "Super Robots Invade the U.S.!" (Appearing in Markalite Vol. 1, No. 1) that this same show was banned under the regime of Ferdinand Marcos. The official reason was concern that its child audience would come to regard machines (i.e., robots) as their heroes, rather than human beings. But Johnson said that a more likely reason may have been "that the plot (of the show) centered on an oppressed people's rebellion against an elite royal family."

A woman I know from the Philippines confirmed this story, and informed me that the show was brought back after the 1986 revolution. One more shout-out I'd like to give while we're thinking about this point of the world goes, as always, to Matt Anacleto, whose dad emigrated from the Philippines and became a farmer in Gilroy, California. His son co-founded Animag, the first anime fanzine with professional production values. many of Animerica's staff worked on it, years ago. But even more importantly, Matt's a real man who "still fights, living in the nineties."

By the way, Mr. Guce gave us some titles for the Eva letters column, but they're classified at too high a level to be printed here. Meaning, we haven't decided on a winner yet, so please keep those entries coming! (By the way, if two or more people come up with the winning title, the winner will be the one whose letter has the earliest postmark.) We've gotten letters just in the past eleven days from Daniel Snyder of Berkeley, CA, Jason Green of Fairview Heights, IL, Mike Lombardi of Bowie, MD, Ryan Becker of Merritt Island, FL, Jeff Gaskell of Honolulu, HI, Tim Patterson of Brooklyn, NY, Charles Buck of Idamay, WV, Karen Luk of Fremont, CA, and Rob Haney (whose address, in keeping with the general tone of NERV, was mysteriously withheld). Thanks to all of you for writing. I hope to expand the letters column soon and get to yours (please bear in mind that letters may be edited for length). If you draw, don't forget we're looking forward to printing black-and-white fan art, too!

Carl Gustav Horn