Evangelion Unit-03

Evangelion Unit-03
エヴァンゲリオン３号機
Model Type	Production
Pilot(s)	Toji Suzuhara
Soul(s)	Probably Toji's mother
First Sortie	Episode 18 (activation test)

Profile

Evangelion Unit-03 (エヴァンゲリオン３号機, Evangerion Sangouki), built by Nerv's First Branch in the United States, is the second Production Model and presumably an improvement on Eva-02 (the first Production Model).

Following the incident resulting in the sudden disappearance of the Second Branch (Nevada) and Eva-03's sister unit, Eva-04, the U.S. government panics and demands that Eva-03 be transported off of its soil to Japan. Toji Suzuhara is selected to serve as the Eva's pilot and sent to Nerv's secondary testing facility at Matsushiro to conduct Eva-03's first activation test, supervised by Ritsuko Akagi and Misato Katsuragi.

Bardiel reveals itself at Eva-03's activation test.

While suspended from a transport plane during her flight to Japan, Eva-03 enters a series of cumulonimbus clouds, suspected to be the point at which it was infected by the 13th Angel, Bardiel. During the activation experiment at the Matsushiro facility, Eva-03 goes berserk under, ostensibly, Bardiel's control, the parasitic "infection" manifest beneath the armor as slime fungus-like growths. After briefly struggling to break free from its restraints, it destroys the base in an explosion.

Upon learning of the incident, Nerv HQ, under Gendo Ikari's command, attempts to eject the entry plug and remotely deactivate the Eva. Once this fails, Eva-03 is officially designated the 13th Angel, and all three Evangelions under Nerv's control are sent to intercept it. Eva-03 attacks and disables Eva-02 and Eva-00, and proceeds to assault Eva-01. After Eva-01 is switched to dummy system control, Eva-03 is quickly overwhelmed and is destroyed by gruesome dismemberment. Eva-01 presumably destroys Eva-03's core off-screen, since it is seen pulling off the chest plate that covers and protects an Eva's core.

Features

Equipped with tonfa for Battle Orchestra.

Eva-03's armor is a characteristic black (or midnight blue) with white trim. It is described as a Production Model Evangelion, although in terms of obvious physical similarities, it has more in common with the early Evas than the preceding Production Model, Eva-02. The head possesses two eyes (white with red irises), with four nostrils situated on the forehead (evidenced by the holes in the prominent nose piece). The Eva has red blood, and the skin is apparently, like most Evas, dark brown. The armor configuration is fully identical to that of Eva-04, and the same with the exception of the helmet design to Eva-02 and the upgraded Eva-00.

As Eva-03 was parasitized by an Angel and "possessed" almost immediately upon activation, any new features it may have been designed with, such as weapons, remain unknown. Unofficially, Eva-03 uses a pair of tonfa as weapons in the video game Battle Orchestra.

Its arms are seen to gain unusually long length and super-elasticity as a result of the parasitism.

Soul

The soul of Eva-03 is not mentioned in the series, but is assumed to be the soul of Toji's mother. See Eva-03's Soul for details.

Analysis

• Eva-03 is already in a battle-ready state, according to Ritsuko. How it differs from the previous three Evangelions is not known.

• Eva-01 under the dummy system breaks Eva-03's neck in seconds (When the Angel-infected eva failed to strangle Eva-01 after a much longer period of time) and destroys the rest of its body seemingly without effort. It is not explicit if Eva-01 is physically more powerful, if Eva-03 is weakened by its mutations, or if the dummy system bestows abnormal power, but Maya's line "Is this the power of the dummy plug?" seems to support the latter.

• It's possible that the reason Bardiel traps the entry plug is because it is intelligent enough to realize that the the eva might not be able to move without a plug in place.
  • Bardiel may have needed to infect the entry plug (and possibly make contact with Toji) as part of the infection process, and the plug appears to contain part of the Angel's biomass when seen in its wrecked state. This makes it probable that the plug had to be crushed to kill the Angel.

Evangelion Unit-03
Suspended in transit.	The transport aircraft carrying Eva-03 flying into cumulonimbus clouds.	Infected Eva-03 struggles to break from its restraints.	Approaching in silhouette. Note the unusually long arms.
The super-elasticity of the parasitized Eva-03's arms.	Eva-03's head flying apart. (Note the eye and jaw.)	Eva-01 removing Eva-03's chest plate.	Arm with exposed flesh and bone.

In Rebuild

Eva-03 from 2.0's preview

Eva-03 will appear in Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance. It appears that the Eva suffers much the same fate as in the original series: being "possessed" and ultimately being destroyed by Eva-01 under dummy system control. Although the events seen in the trailers correspond directly to scenes in Episode 18, Bardiel cannot yet be confirmed as the cause of the incident, nor Toji to be the pilot.

Eva-03's visual appearance has been altered to adhere to the modified Eva design motifs in Rebuild (including body proportions and color changes). The altered color scheme includes such changes as a white "waistband" and a dark red noseplate.

Notes

• Toji's usual attire bears a striking resemblance to Eva-03's color scheme, perhaps foreshadowing (along with just about every other hint) that he is the pilot.

References

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