It's been more than seven years since they launched a spin-off "Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project," and perhaps not many people expected this romantic comedy version of "Evangelion" would continue so long. Now with the twelfth installment published in Japan (which I believe will be translated into English sooner or later), the series is likely to go on at least for some time. To me, the reason for the popularity is rather simple: its artwork, including fan service.
Not much happens in the tenth volume, which is about the high school students of Class 2-A including Asuka, Rei and Shinji, and their fun activities. They are doing sports festival (with Shinji in cosplay) and all-girl band (with Shinji as a keyboardist in women's clothes ... I'm not kidding). One day Rei catches a cold and Shinji visits her. Also, there's a "let's take a bath" episode, a kind of staple in Japanese manga/anime these days.
Don't get me wrong. I like all these things. Osamu Takahashi's illustration was pretty impressive when the series started in 2005, and he is getting even better now, with rich facial expressions of characters. Unfortunately, it is obvious that he is running out of ideas for story. Things are getting a bit silly when characters keep slipping, stumbling and falling in an embarrassing fashion.
I like the series and will keep buying it. So, here's what I want to say to the creator, who is clearly talented; please do something different for the next volume.