Toji Suzuhara

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Toji Suzuhara
鈴原 トウジ
Rank / Title	Fourth Children
Affiliation(s)	Nerv
National Heritage	Japanese
Relations	Sakura Suzuhara (Sister), Father, Grandfather
Age	14
Birthday	12/26/2001
Height	156cm
Seiyū	Tomokazu Seki
Voice Actor	(English): Brett Weaver, Joe Pisano, Michael O'Connor, Justin Cook, Johnny Yong Bosch (Netflix) (Italian): Corrado Conforti (Brazilian): Vagner Fagundes (French): Olivier Korol (German): Julien Haggége , Volkmar Leif Gilbert (Netflix)

Toji Suzuhara is Shinji Ikari's classmate and later friend; their mutual friend is Kensuke Aida. Like all potential Children, Toji is kept with the others for his own protection, in the same school classroom. In relation to this fact, his mother is deceased; he is said to live with his sister, father and grandfather.

Character Summary

First Appearances

Main Article: Episode 03, Episode 04

When first appearing, Toji has gotten back from treating his sister, who was was crushed under a pile of debris during Eva-01’s battle with Sachiel. Conversing with Kensuke, he says that since his grandfather and father work in the labs, he was left to take care of her. Angry at the pilot who supposedly caused this, he discovers that Shinji Ikari - the new transfer student - was the pilot. After school, he swings a punch at Shinji, saying he had to work out his own anger. When Shinji replies that he was forced to, Toji storms back, picks him up in further anger, and drops him.

Later, as Tokyo-3 takes shelter from Shamshel, Toji and Kensuke manage to sneak out to catch a glimpse of the battle. When Shinji is shown to be losing the fight, Kensuke remarks to Toji on "badly being beaten up must really messed him up", to which Toji shuts him down. Nearing the end of the battle, Eva-01 is flung across the hillside where the two are standing. Noticing them, Captain Misato Katsuragi orders the two to enter the Entry Plug for protection. As the two start to see Shinji in his element, he sprints into action, stabbing the Core of the angel is a blistering scream of determined rage. Once the angel dies, Shinji breaks down in tears, leaving Toji to witness it all.

A while after the battle has ended, Toji - despite denying it - seeks to apologize to Shinji. He gets his phone number from Kensuke. He attempts, but hangs up.

A few days later, Toji and Kensuke visit the apartment of Shinj, who has been absent from school since his fight with Shamshel. Unaware that Shinji has disappeared, the two are greeted by Misato, who tells them that he's been training at HQ. After she closes the door, the two comment on how hot she looked.

Later, once Shinji is brought back by Nerv officials and deciding to go to his old life, Toji and Kensuke arrive to say bye to him before he goes. With a prompt from Kensuke, Toji pleads for Shinji to punch him back, and to not hold back. Shinji agrees and lands one right across his face. With a smile, Toji tells him how he wanted to make up for punching him seeing as how he suffered in the Eva, vowing to defend anyone who mistreats him.

Friends With Shinji

Main Articles: Episode 05 to Episode 17

Once Shinji decides to stay in Tokyo-3, he becomes close to Toji, as well as Kensuke. Throughout most of the action arc, the three are seen joking or teasing each other (Toji and Kensuke making fun of Shinji for supposedly gawking at Rei in her swimsuit) to them joining a special trip to meet the pilot of Unit-02. Toji, along with Kensuke, still retains a crush on Misato, which is shown rather blatantly whenever they're around her.

Later in the series, he and Shinji deliver class printouts to Rei, to which Toji reacts in shock of the messiness of Rei's room. As Shinji starts to clean up (Toji opts out saying it's not "manly" to clean up), Toji comments on how much he's seen Shinji change, saying his perception Shinji was envisioning him as "A jerk," who "didn't seem like [he'd] do something for others."

Later, walking away from Rei's room, Toji comments on how weird Eva pilots are, saying this with Rei's awkward reaction to Shinji cleaning her room still fresh in his mind.

The Fourth Child

Main Articles: Episode 17, Episode 18, Episode 19

With the completion of Eva Unit-03, Toji is chosen to be the fourth child. He accepts on the condition that his sister be transferred to the hospital at Nerv headquarters, and became listless and remote before his test. He is shown to be solemn about this, afraid about what's to come.

Things go horribly wrong during the activation test where it's discovered that the angel Bardiel has infected the unit, and reclassified as angel. Shinji, unaware that Toji's inside the entry plug, refuses to fight. However, forced by the Dummy System, Shinji is forced to completely destroy both the Eva and Entry Plug.

After Eva-03 was infected by Bardiel and destroyed by Eva-01, her Entry Plug was crushed. Toji survived that incident, but lost his leg. He is visited by the class rep Hikari Horaki, and tells her to inform his sister that he's alright

Toji left with the rest of Tokyo-3’s remaining citizens after the city was destroyed by Eva 00’s detonation in Episode 23. His only other appearances after this were as part of Instrumentality in Episode 25 and Episode 26.

In Rebuild of Evangelion

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Toji is seen in much the same role in Evangelion 1.0, beating up Shinji for causing his sister's injuries in the Sachiel battle. However, following the battle with Shamshel, Toji allows Shinji to punch him back- and Shinji does so, harder than expected. Toji and Kensuke send Shinji messages of encouragement prior to Operation Yashima at the end of 1.0. By Evangelion 2.0, it is evident that Toji and Kensuke have become close friends with Shinji, and accompany him often. In a major departure from the series, Asuka, not Toji, pilots the infected Eva-03; instead of being the pilot of the doomed Eva, Toji visits his sister on the day of her release from the hospital. In 2.0, Toji is last seen with Kensuke and Pen-Pen while shielding Hikari from missile explosions during the battle with Zeruel. Sometime near the middle of 3.0, Shinji is given a change of shirt that has a name-tag bearing Toji's surname on it. In addition, Toji's sister does not mention her older brother for any of the time that we see her onscreen.

Toji returns in Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time. He works as a doctor in the survivor's village, and married Hikari Horaki, with whom he has had a child, Tsubame. He and Hikari survived Third Impact together with Kensuke's help and "had to grow up quickly". He does not show any resentment to Shinji, and is very helpful and supportive of him, guiding him in his recovery, same as Kensuke, also present in the village. He is however puzzled at Rei, not initially realizing she is not the same Rei they knew, calling her "lookalike". When the Wunder arrives to pickup Asuka, he insists that Shinji stay there and live with them.

In Other Media

In the Manga

Toji is depicted with light brown hair color in the Manga. In addition, Shinji goes into the Bardiel battle knowing that Toji is the pilot of the infected Eva-03. Unlike his anime counterpart, who survives with the loss of a leg, Toji dies when Eva-01 crushes the Entry Plug.

Notes

• 

  Early sketches of Toji, Kensuke and Shinji

  Toji is named after one of the main characters in the novel The Fascism of Love and Fantasy (Ai to Gensou no Fascism) by Ryu Murakami.
• Toji's voice was recast twice, for unspecified reasons, for the original ADV English dub of the series. He was voiced by Joe Pisano from his first appearance in Episode 3 to Episode 18, by Michael O'Connor in Episode 19 and Episode 20, and Brett Weaver in Episode 26. Weaver reprised the role in Evangelion: Death and Rebirth.
• In two of the Super Robot Wars game series featuring Evangelion, Toji can be unlocked as a playable character, even after the events of Episode 18. However, the player might have to fulfill certain conditions to unlock him. Toji continues to pilot Unit-03 if he is unlocked. In Super Robot Wars MX for the PS2, he automatically joins in the course of the game without requirements, owing to some crossover storyline help from the RahXephon.
• Toji is originally from Osaka, and thus in the original Japanese version, he speaks with a Kansai accent as Osaka is located in the region. English dubs of various anime series sometimes try to represent an Osakan accent with a comparable English accent, such as a Brooklyn accent for Meowth in Pokémon, or a Southern accent for Ayumu Kasuga in Azumanga Daioh. The official English dub of Evangelion did not try to give Toji a particular accent, instead, he just speaks more casually than other characters. His voice actor Tomokazu Seiki is from the Asakusa district of Tokyo, however, and had difficulty in portraying the dialect.
• Toji seems to have been majorly influenced by Anno's father. The loss of his leg inspired Toji's own, as Anno was not allowed to kill him.
• Although he's not shown to be physically active, early plans make mention of Shinji being good at sports and dedicated in physical education class as part of overall passivity. In an earlier Episode 05 draft, a scene was included with him playing basketball with Toji, and beating him, driving the attention of his female classmates. Kensuke would also comment Shinji didn't seem like such a "sports freak". However, this was deleted as the writers realized they didn't want to make Shinji seem too perfect, and him being oblivious to their attentions also made him more grounded. A scene where he is cheered by his classmates and seen as attractive and popular is retained afterwards. When Toji plays alone later in Episode 17, this was originally meant as a callback to this scene, and also to show Toji's self-doubt as he recognized he wasn't actually that good at sports.
• The name "Toji Suzuhara" was taken from Ryu Murakami’s novel Ai to Gensou no Fascism (The Fascism of Love and Fantasy). Toji Suzuhara, the main character, is a dictator seeking to reform Japan and free it from an international conspiracy.
• Although Toji has a regular school uniform, he wears a tracksuit most of the time he's seen in or out of school. A possible explanation is quoted in this forum post, which posits that Toji was a transfer student from the Kansai region who did not have to wear a school uniform until he got his Tokyo-3 school uniform, and later took advantage of the exception made for him by continuing to wear the tracksuit.
• The coloration of Toji's usual outfit strongly resembles the color scheme of Eva-03, perhaps foreshadowing (along with just about every other hint) that he was the pilot.
• In Episode 03 Misato brings up Toji's I.D. info on her computer:
  • Toji Suzuhara is originally from Sakai (in Osaka prefecture, explaining his Osakan accent in the original Japanese dub), and his blood type is B+. However, on the screen that is brought up two separate dates are listed as his birthday: December 26th, 2001, and July 28th, 2001. Like Kensuke but unlike other Evangelion characters, he does not share his birthday with his voice actor, Tomokazu Seki (whose birthday is September 8th).

References

Characters

Main characters: Shinji Ikari | Rei Ayanami | Asuka Langley Soryu

Nerv staff: Misato Katsuragi | Gendo Ikari | Ritsuko Akagi | Kozo Fuyutsuki | Ryoji Kaji | Maya Ibuki | Makoto Hyuga | Shigeru Aoba

Classmates: Toji Suzuhara | Kensuke Aida | Hikari Horaki

Other characters: Kaworu Nagisa | Yui Ikari | Naoko Akagi | Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu | Dr. Katsuragi | Mr. Langley | Keel Lorenz | Pen Pen

Rebuild of Evangelion: Asuka Shikinami Langley | Mari Makinami Illustrious | Sakura Suzuhara | Ryoji Kaji (Jr)

Miscellaneous: Minor Characters | Minor Characters (Rebuild) | Extracanonical Characters

Theory and Analysis: Name Origins (Warships) | Designs | Relationships | Profiles

Resources: 2015: The Last Year of Ryohji Kaji