Written by: Carl Horn
Source: Originally published in the Viz second edition of Neon Genesis Evangelion Vol. 5
Dated: July 2004
The two years Sadamoto refers to was the wait readers originally had in Japan between Vol.4 and Vol. 5. Stages 27, 28, and 29 appeared in the January, March, and May 1998 issues of SHONEN ACE magazine, followed by more than a year's hiatus before, in an incredible effort, the artist actually managed to produce Stages 30-33 in four consecutive issues between July and October of 1999.
The truant nature of EVANGELION is a tradition that has continued well into this very day, with recent issues of SHONEN ACE again missing the EVA manga but instead featuring increasingly elaborate giveaways such as matching Rei and Asuka cell-phone cleaners and a folding 1/2 scale pasteboard standee of the Second Child possessing a better personality than the actual article.
Thus far these trinkets have bought off mob violence, and Japanese fans are looking forward to the tenth anniversary of the EVANGELION manga itself in February 2005. Sadamoto may be celebrate it in SHONEN ACE with a special event; perhaps, it is even rumored, an actual new installment of the story.