Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project vol. 9

Why yes, this did originally come out back in August.  And yes, the reason I’m only getting around to talking about it now is because it completely slipped under my radar until I saw vol. 10 in the Dark Horse solicitations a while back.  So if nothing else, this should prove that the company’s first “Evangelion” series is not an essential purchase.  It is, however, still my guiltiest comic pleasure and a whole lot of fun.  This is in spite of the copius amounts of fanservice and sheer goofiness contained within its pages, to the point where you have to accept the fact that in just about every chapter Shinji — or Gendo — will accidentally wind up with his face in the chest or crotch of one of the female cast members.  I’ve gotten past that, and in light of the comparative awfulness of “Campus Apocalypse” the distance between volumes has made this one come off better than most.

Helping my impression in no small part is the English adaptation from Carl Horn.  Easily the best there is at what he does in this business, it’s been a long dry spell from him in my household over the past year due to the delays of the latest volume of “The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service” (currently set to arrive in April).  Though he did do the adaptation for “Campus Apocalypse,” it really felt that he was limited by the story in terms of what he could do with the script.  That’s not the case here as the comedy allows him to really cut loose here.  Though I really can’t compare this to the Japanese version, I’m willing to bet that Misato’s one-panel pirate accent, Shinji’s “Dad, I’m too young to even smell your breath,” and pretty much EVERYTHING that comes out of Gendo’s mouth isn’t a strict interpretation of the source material.  No matter.  I can’t remember the last time I laughed this much at a translation, so I’m all for letting him take as many liberties as he wants when the results are this good.