Just read the first book in the Neon Genesis Evangelion series by Funino Hayashi (English version published by ADV). I found it a little creepy, probably intentionally so.
It’s an interesting mix of a standard teenage soap-opera and science fiction. I suspect there’s more SF to come in subsequent volumes; this one is mainly teen soap, except for the suggestion that the class the main characters all find themselves in is not a coincidental mix: they’re all being groomed for some purpose and are all being called into a lab for exams.
I found this creepy because it suggested they were going to be experimented on, although the attraction page for Volume 2 revealed that it’s not quite that creepy after all. Seems as though they’re all going to be controlling giant robots or something. Whatever the story is on an SF level, the dynamics set up among the characters in the first volume promise to keep the teen-soap element in play.
The main characters are Shinji and his female friend Asuka, who insists she has no romantic interest in Shinji — but then flashes hot with jealousy when a transfer student, Rei, reveals that she’s falling for Shinji. Other subplots are in a similar vein.
It’s fairly standard manga material, but it kept my interest enough that I’m planning on picking up the second volume.
