What is the Evangelion manga by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto?

The Evangelion manga is written and drawn by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, the anime's character designer, and it began serialisation in Monthly Shonen Ace in December 1994, months before the television series aired. It was conceived as a companion that would build interest in the anime, but Sadamoto worked at his own pace, and the manga outlived the series, the films and most of the franchise's first era.

The complete run fills 14 collected volumes, published by Kadokawa in Japan between 1995 and 2014. The story follows the same spine as the anime, Shinji's arrival in Tokyo-3, the Angel battles, and the collapse toward Instrumentality, but scenes are reordered, motivations are clarified in prose-friendly ways, and several characters receive different weight, including a substantially expanded role for Kaji and a different treatment of Kaworu.

In English, Viz Media published the series in multiple formats, including single volumes and later 3-in-1 omnibus editions that pair Sadamoto's colour pages with larger trim. Japanese editions reward close looking: the tankobon covers form a consistent design system of character portraits, and first printings carry the obi strips and advertising inserts that later printings drop.

Because the manga ended in 2013, after the Rebuild films had begun, it stands as the third complete telling of the core story, distinct from both the television ending and the films. Readers who come from the anime should expect the same events to feel quieter, sadder and more novelistic, with Sadamoto's clean line doing work the anime did with editing and sound.