Review Date: July 20th, 2004

Year: 2004
Written by: Kazuhisa Fujie & Martin Foster
Published by: DH Publishing & Cocoro Books

Being the very first item I got supplied for review by a company, I was quite excited and eager about the opportunity to review and promote this book. I say "was" because I am no longer eager to sing any praise for the authors of this book. I thank publications director Clive France greatly for his time and assistance in reviewing this book. But unfortunately, I simply cannot say a single good thing about this book.

A month or so back I recieved proofs of the book. I was instantly aware of numerous errors. Many of them were simple publishing errors... grammar, spelling, etc. However there were other errors so incredibly ludicrous and agregious that I questioned the competancy of the writers. The faults and failures of this book can probably be summed up by the following three reasons.

1. The writing of this book was most likely rushed.
2. The writers aren't that exceptionally skilled at writing.
3. The writers don't know a flip about Eva, and are simply writing because they are paid to do so.

I'll give you a small taste of a few of the errors that irritated me. And I use the term "irritated" here liberally. Actually... I think I'll put it into context for you. I was so "irritated" with this book while reading it initially that I simply couldn't go any further. I was too thouroghly agravated and frustrated that I tossed it in a corner for a week and refused to read it.

Ok, so here are some errors within the book. The authors suggest that LCL can melt objects. They list Kensuke as the Fourth Child and pilot of Eva 03. They refer to the AT Field at times as an "AC Field". They at serveral points confuse Unit numbers. Ramiel is refered to as an octagon, rather than an Octahedron. The Authors confuse Central and Terminal Dogma at several points. The authors refer to the First Impact as the extinction of the dinosaurs. Etc, etc, etc.

And these are just a few of the errors from 30 or so pages of a 180 page book. And those are only the obvious ones, there are numerous errors related to understanding and comprehension. And then there are the errors of just plain bad judgement, such as stating that the key reason for Evangelion's success was the female characters appealing to "stay at home otaku". In fact, the psychological concepts, religious influence, references to older anime, and inner demons of director Anno were completely ignored.

Speaking of ignored... the authors obviously never read Anno's confession letter which spelled out Shinji's character. In fact, their analysis of Shinji runs completely counter to Anno's (and other production members') explanation of Shinji's character.

I simply cannot endorse this book. It simply serves to purport bogus and debunked theories. If you're a newer fan, you'll simply become more confused with the Eva series. If you're an older fan, you'll simply be iritated. In either case, your money would probably be better spent on something else. Take it from me. I could barely get through this book because of the sheer pain it inspired.

Do not buy this book. You have been warned.