Evangelion Unit-02

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Evangelion Unit-02
エヴァンゲリオン弐号機
Model Type	Production Model
Pilot(s)	Asuka Langley Soryu, Kaworu Nagisa (Episode 24)
Soul(s)	Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu
First Sortie	Episode 08

Profile

Evangelion Unit-02　（エヴァンゲリオン弐号機） is the third Evangelion completed, the first Production Model Evangelion. The design of Eva-02 supposedly rectifies the mistakes made during the construction of Prototype Eva-00 and Test Type Eva-01, making it the first Evangelion built specifically for combat against the Angels.

Features

Eva-02 is a Production Model Evangelion and uses the same armor arrangement as the succeeding Eva-03 and Eva-04, along with the upgraded Eva-00. All Evangelions using this arrangement have the same shoulder pylon design and five V-shaped armor plates on their torso.

This Evangelion is unique in having bluish-purple blood, blue-gray skin, and four eyes. (All other Evas possess red blood, and, for all non-Mass Production Evangelions, including Eva-00, two eyes and brown skin are the standard.) The eyes are a uniform fiery orange in color.

Although Eva-02 has a jaw and mouth, when armored these cannot open to the same extent as those on Eva-01, Eva-03 and 04, and so there is no hinged jaw piece in the helmet. Instead, the helmet has movable sections that can shift to cover or uncover the Eva's eyes. Four prominent nostril holes are located in the bulging forehead section of the helmet.

As a Production Model Evangelion, Eva-02 is shown to be capable of using different equipment fits, like the D-type Equipment seen in Episode 10. In addition, Eva 02 has a distinctive progressive knife, the PK-2, that resembles a box cutter. Seemingly unique to Eva-02 is the needle gun, a rack of spikes in its right shoulder pylon which can be fired like missiles.

Movie Version

An altered Eva-02 design, prepared by Takeshi Honda, was adopted for The End of Evangelion. Although visually similar to the original, the new design has more human-like body proportions, drastically reduced pylon size, and a narrower, redesigned head shape. The blades of armor on the lower arms have also been eliminated. Some of these changes may have been made in order to ease the animation of Eva-02's final battle, although they sometimes add a jarring visual discontinuity with the rest of the series.

The "helmet-popping" mechanism is eliminated in the movie version. Although Eva-02 is never seen opening its jaws while the head is fully covered (despite the fact that it roars and makes other vocalizations), the jaw piece, when exposed later, visibly has "teeth" as per Eva-01 and others.

Evangelion Unit-02 in End of Evangelion
Eva-02 design used for End of Evangelion.	Dead Eva-02, with "teeth" on jaw piece visible.

Conceptualization

Eva-02 from the Proposal.

The Eva-02 seen in the Proposal is labeled "Test Type" and has two hornlike cheek extensions, along with many other design differences observable at this point. The red color scheme is already present.

Operational History

Eva-02 was first introduced in Episode 08 of the series, activated to fight Gaghiel even through it had no combat gear apart from standard equipment and its progressive knife (the spike launcher in the right pylon is not put to use in this episode). The Eva is severely hampered in underwater combat but succeeds in prying open the Angel's mouth and neutralizing its A.T. Field, allowing two scuttled Iowa-class battleships to explode inside and destroy its core.

The Eva takes part in several other battles, acting in concert with Eva-01 to defeat Israfel, and then being sent into a volcano in specialized diving equipment to capture the Angel Sandalphon. The capture of Sandalphon fails, resulting in a battle with the Angel. Eva-02 loses a leg due to an exploding blasting bolt, and must be recovered from the magma by Eva-01. Eva-02 also takes part in the Sahaquiel run, and stabs the Angel in the core with its progressive knife.

The Eva's successful combat record in the TV series virtually ends at this point. The Bardiel battle sees Eva-02 being incapacitated early on when Asuka is distracted and surprised, having done no damage to the infected Eva-03. The battle with Zeruel is even more disastrous, with all of Eva-02's gun and rocket fire proving utterly ineffectual and its head and arms being cut off by the Angel. The Eva is repaired and sent into battle against the Angel Arael, where both pilot and resident soul inside suffer from the Angel's mental probing. The synch rate between Asuka and Eva-02 is so low that the Eva is incapable of motion in the battle against Armisael and has to be withdrawn from combat. Finally, in Episode 24, Kaworu Nagisa controls Eva-02 externally and uses it to break through barriers on the way to Terminal Dogma and fight Eva-01.

Eva-02's final combat operation happens in The End of Evangelion, when Asuka is sent in Eva-02 to the bottom of the Geofront lake, where it is subject to depth charge attacks from JSSDF forces. Eventually, Asuka comes into contact with the soul of her mother, Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, which was, unbeknownst to her, inside Eva-02 all along. The Eva enters an elevated power state somewhat similar to berserk mode, with Asuka seeming to achieve an unusually high synch ratio. The Eva easily destroys JSSDF tanks, VTOLs, and the frigate in the lake, but has its umbilical cable severed during the fight and is forced to switch to battery power.

In the subsequent battle against the Mass Production Evangelions, Eva-02 severely damages all nine of them in a little over three minutes, only to be struck down by a replica Spear of Longinus just as its battery runs out of power. The MP Evas reactivate and proceed to mutilate and disembowel Eva-02. Afterwards, Eva-02 goes into a strange variation of the unpowered berserk state for the first and final time before being struck by eight more Spears, the last of which strikes the core. The dismembered corpse of the Eva is later seen being carried by the Mass Production Evangelions, and is ultimately dropped onto the floor of the Geofront, where it stares with dead eyes up at the events unfolding in the sky.

Soul

Eva-02's soul is that of Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu. For this reason her daughter, Asuka Langley Soryu was chosen as her pilot. However, only the portion of Kyoko's soul containing her maternal aspects was absorbed into the Eva. (See Soul Divisibility for more details of this phenomenon.) As a result, while Kyoko physically survived the contact experiment with Eva-02, she was driven clinically insane and had to be institutionalized, profoundly affecting her young daughter Asuka.

It is also possible that the remainder of Kyoko's soul was salvaged into Eva-02 following Kyoko's suicide. During the scene in Episode 25' where Asuka learns her mother is inside Eva-02, Kyoko repeats, "You mustn't die! You must live! You're alive!", several times. However, the familiar "Please die with me!" (as heard in the Episode 22 and Episode 25 flashback sequences) is mixed in twice among her inspirational words, thus strongly implying that the insane Kyoko and the maternal Kyoko were incorporated back together.

Other Continuities

The Manga

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Eva-02 is piloted by Kaworu Nagisa in the battle against Armisael, during which it wields the Dual Saw (a weapon that debuted in Neon Genesis Evangelion 2).

Rebuild of Evangelion

Eva-02 will make its debut Rebuild appearance in the second film, Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance. Its pilot is the re-dubbed Asuka Langley Shikinami.

Notable alterations include the addition of a crescent-shaped piece of armor to the Eva's forehead, forming two small horns on top of its helmet. The Eva has been given more human-like proportions than its original series counterpart, similar to the End of Evangelion design and the other Evangelions in the Rebuild continuity. Alterations to the color palette include the darker shade of red, the white "waistband", white lower arms, and black pylons. Four additional nostril holes have been added in front of the eyes.

Eva-02 is depicted with a new progressive knife design and appears capable of deploying two knives simultaneously. As in the original show, it can be outfitted with additional equipment types, such as the new Aerial Recon S-Type Equipment. The S-Type resembles a jet pack and may play a key role in defeating one of the Angels. It apparently enables or assists the Eva in performing various acrobatic stunts that are briefly glimpsed in the second theatrical trailer.

Evangelion Unit-02 in Rebuild of Evangelion
Eva-02's altered design as unveiled in Newtype.	Full-body image of Eva-02 (along with other 2.0 Evas).	Progressive knife.	Revoltech model showing the S-Type Equipment.

Evangelions

Evangelions (general)

Failed Evangelion Prototypes | Simulation Bodies

Eva-00 | Eva-01 | Eva-02 | Eva-03 | Eva-04 | Mass Production Evangelions (Evas 05~13)

Rebuild of Evangelion: Mark.04 | Eva-05 | Mark.06 | Eva-08 | Mark.09 | Eva-13

Eva 8+2 | Mass Production Evangelions | Failures of Infinity

Other: Extracanonical Evas