How are the storylines related? Are they identical?
Edit: And could someone please explain the end? I can't find good spoilers.

There are times when you will miss what you never had. I wonder how you will find what you so desperately need.

Anime came first. then the manga which was a slight re-imagining of the original. then you have the spin-off/alternate universe manga based on the franchise

I thought the anime and manga had the same storyline. There weren't too many differences from I saw.

Quote from Casey D. Geek

How are the storylines related? Are they identical?
Edit: And could someone please explain the end? I can't find good spoilers.

Which ending do you want? End of the anime series or end of eva film?

Quote from Damnedman

I thought the anime and manga had the same storyline. There weren't too many differences from I saw.

Quote from Casey D. Geek

How are the storylines related? Are they identical?
Edit: And could someone please explain the end? I can't find good spoilers.

Which ending do you want? End of the anime series or end of eva film?

Whichever one explains more.

There are times when you will miss what you never had. I wonder how you will find what you so desperately need.

Quote from Casey D. Geek

Quote from Damnedman

I thought the anime and manga had the same storyline. There weren't too many differences from I saw.

Quote from Casey D. Geek

How are the storylines related? Are they identical?
Edit: And could someone please explain the end? I can't find good spoilers.

Which ending do you want? End of the anime series or end of eva film?

Whichever one explains more.

Well, the endings are completely different... At the end of the series, they ran out of budget so they came up with some derpy ending.

In End of Evangelion,

SEELE decided that they weren't going to take Gendo's bs anymore. This results in most of the people in NERV dying. Gendo escapes to some bizarre place with Rei and attempted to create the third impact but loses control to Rei who becomes some kinda godlike entity. She then fuses with Shinji's eva unit with him still inside and becomes the Tree of Life or something. The choice is then up to Shinji as to whether or not the instrumentality project is completed. He rejects it and everyone turns into the LCL (that juice thing inside the pilot thing in eva). In the end only Shinji and Asuka survives, so Shinji strangles Asuka.

TL;DR Rei becomes some godlike thing and turns everyone on Earth into orange juice, except Shinji who decides to be a douchbag and kill the only other surviving person on the planet

If this made no sense whatsoever go watch the movie. It is trippy to say the least.

...that is nuts. Let's hope the manga has a better ending, although at the speed it's going, it will probably nevver be completed.

There are times when you will miss what you never had. I wonder how you will find what you so desperately need.

ok...
so its 10+years since i saw it now
but as i remember it
shinji did not kill asuka in the end
he was never able to do it
as with everything else he tries to do...he fails hard at it
atleast thats how i remember the movie ending

the manga is kind of a letdown in many ways
just as the new movie series is

it changes around things
characters behave very diffrent
and bcoz of that when things happen in the world...it does not create the same feeling
and in some cases ruins some characters alltogether... Asuka in the new movies is a good example of this

the sad truth is that eva is just MONEY these days
they dont really care if its good anymore
they know its going to sell

and dont blame the budget on that tv ending
im pretty sure Gainax were happy with that crap...they were going to for artistic~weird and ppl just hated it

Quote from TaoPaiPai

ok...
so its 10+years since i saw it now
but as i remember it
shinji did not kill asuka in the end
he was never able to do it
as with everything else he tries to do...he fails hard at it
atleast thats how i remember the movie ending

the manga is kind of a letdown in many ways
just as the new movie series is

it changes around things
characters behave very diffrent
and bcoz of that when things happen in the world...it does not create the same feeling
and in some cases ruins some characters alltogether... Asuka in the new movies is a good example of this

the sad truth is that eva is just MONEY these days
they dont really care if its good anymore
they know its going to sell

and dont blame the budget on that tv ending
im pretty sure Gainax were happy with that crap...they were going to for artistic~weird and ppl just hated it

Shinji did kill Asuka...

she was bug-eyed and staring at nothing in the end... and I'm pretty sure that when your budget only let's you do still-frames, you would try to pass off whatever you produce as "artistic".

Nah, he didn't kill her in the end. Actually, you couldn't be more wrong.

Asuka was neither "bug-eyed" or 'staring aimlessly' as she clearly fixed her focus on Shinji, who released his grip on her neck upon the touch of her hand on his face. Then, she delivered the final, perhaps, most ambiguous line of the film as Shinji's tears fall on her chest : "How disgusting."

Unless there is another version of End of Evangelion that I'm not aware of, that's exactly how it ends. And of course, either way, it's a strange and somewhat unfulfilling end to an otherwise magnificent series.

Although, in retrospect, what would be a good ending for Evangelion, I wonder? From the beginning, was there really ever a route available that allowed Shinji and those around him to be smiling and happy at the final curtain call?

There wasn't. If there was, it wouldn't be nearly as interesting, and would muddy the plot into something it was never meant to be. In that regard, The End of Evangelion could be considered a triumph as it delivered the miserable story full of miserable characters to a miserable, most fitting end.

To those who criticize this end, I ask: What did you want? A contemptuous question it may seem, however, I can assure there is no contempt in those words. I only wish to know. Who knows? I might agree.

You can say that the anime + D&R + EoE are in one universe, the manga is in a second, and the rebuild movies are in a third. The manga was published before the anime, but the anime was in production before the manga, and the manga existed to promote the anime. The anime had money constraints and wasn't that popular, so Anno couldn't exactly do what he wanted with the anime. I believe that's what the rebuild movies are for, for him to do what he originally wanted to with Eva (but it seems more like a sequel). The manga explores Eva differently, and it seems like one volume comes out every year. Maybe it will have a happier ending. The storyline for the anime and manga are similar, but there are some striking differences in the manga, such as Toji dying, Gendou eating Adam to fuse with him, the Evas being less biological/human, Kaoru appearing earlier and fighting in Unit 2 against the Angel that mind-rapes Asuke, and Asuka not being killed by the MP Evas. Also I just finished re-watching the series and episodes 25 and 26 do have a few scenes from EoE, so the theory that those episodes are what's going on inside Shinji's head during 3rd Impact has footing. I would suggest people watch the anime first because the manga is based on the anime, not the other way around, then watch D&B and E&E, and finally watch the rebuild movies.

You could also read Ikari Rasing Project and Girlfriend of Steele, and doujin like Re-Take. Re-Take goes into alternate dimensions more, dimensions created by God-Shinji to try and change what happened in the anime and get a happy ending. I always thought he could create alternate dimentions over and over again until he got the ending he wanted, which is why rebuild being a sequel makes sense to me (and some of the scenes and dialogue in the films).