Like the anime, the manga is focused on Shinji Ikari, a teenage boy who was recruited by his father Gendo to the shadowy organization NERV to pilot a giant bio-machine mecha named "Evangelion" into combat against beings called "Angels".

Unlike it is sometimes assumed, the manga is in fact not the original version of the story, but instead it was created as a supplemental designed to promote the TV series.

[11][better source needed][12] Sadamoto has also stated he made the manga entirely on his own, without consulting anyone, in contrast to the anime's more collaborative production, and that all differences were decided by him.

[9] He has also denied links to the Rebuild movies, specifying that the bonus chapter featuring Mari is fan service.

In July 2009, it was moved to a new Kadokawa Shoten seinen magazine, Young Ace,[19] where it was published until the February 2010 issue.

[20] At that point Sadamoto stopped writing the manga, putting the publication on hiatus in order to work on the latest Rebuild of Evangelion film.

[20] On February 12, 2012, half of the 90th Stage was published, telling different events from the ones seen in episode 26' from The End of Evangelion.

[29] His role as character designer and main manga artist was mostly taken over by Hidenori Matsubara for subsequent works like Evangelion 3.0 (-120 min.).

[36] In particular, as the manga drew closer to its conclusion, attention surrounding it reached new heights, with the 11th volume staying on top of the Japanese Comic Ranking charts for 4 straight weeks, a remarkable achievement even for a long-running series.