After binge watching the anime (and loving it) I've decided to give this manga a try. Regrettable decision.

Don't get me wrong, it isn't a bad manga. But it pales out in comparison with the anime. It's fine to change a story to adapt it to a new medium, as long as you don't kill it in the process.

Story - 6/10. Why are the children fighting? Why can't adults do it? What's APE up to? What's the message this manga tries to convey? The anime already had some problems with rushed plot, but here it becomes almost nonsensical. And a good chunk of the original message (love, trust, bonding, finding yourself in the eyes of your lover) is lost. And let's not talk about the ending, that while happier is by no means satisfactory.

Art - 9/10. Rushed in a lot of parts, but still pleasing to the eyes. I think it's great they gave it some "ecchi treatment" though, with plenty shots of the girls. (Specially Zero Two and Ichigo.)

Character - 6/10. Mitsuru and Kokoro's relationship was never fleshed out, so Kokoro's motivations, crime and punishment were never fleshed out either. Goro, Futoshi, Miku, and Zorome might as well not be there, and the story would still go on. Ikuno got some spotlight but it felt rather irrelevant. Oddly enough Hiro got a mixed blessing, since he's a bit more decisive but loses character development in the process. Zero Two got it the hardest though, I won't spoil it but TL;DR: all that femme fatale aura is broken.

Enjoyment - 6/10. I'm trying to be fair here - I could see myself reading this again in the future, but there's more interesting stuff out there.

Overall - (6+9+6+6*2)/5 = 6.6/10, rounded up to 7/10. I definitively do NOT recommend it if you enjoyed the anime, but if you're into some generic mecha action you might like it better.