Tokyo-3

Production sketch of Tokyo-3, viewed from the North-east

Tokyo-3 is the fortress-city where Nerv Headquarters is located underneath, meant to serve as a bastion against attacks by the Angels.

Originally intended to be a replacement third capital of Japan (after Tokyo-2, formerly Nagano City), the city was built on the location of the pre-Second Impact towns of Ubako and Sengokuhara within Hakone, in Kanagawa prefecture, on the northern shore of Lake Ashinoko.

However, its true purpose is to coordinate the interception of Angels heading for Japan, covertly using Lilith as a means of attracting their attention.

Features

Tokyo-3 spans roughly 1.5 km in length from one end of the city to the other, arranged in 5 "blocks", with each "block" section being 300 meters long. It is apparently composed of a "central block" and seven "districts".

The city's current population consist mostly of Nerv personnel and their dependents, as well as migrant workers and the original inhabitants.

Local government comprises of a city mayor and a council, all elected to office by popular vote, but most city operations and decision-making functions are made by Nerv's MAGI supercomputer.

Below the city lies the Geofront, a massive semi-spherical cavernous formation which also houses Nerv Headquarters.

The waterfront district at the southern part of the city includes the massive solar energy collection blocks, which provides natural lighting and electrical power for the city and the Nerv HQ complex.

As a Fortress City

For protection against damaging Angel attacks, most of the city's buildings are capable of quickly being retracted beneath the surface, using massive hydraulic actuation systems bringing them down and holding the buildings in place. They are then protected by layers of heavy armor plating that rapidly slide over.

Prior to any Angel attack, residents are immediately directed to emergency civil defense shelters located around the city perimeter; each shelter is fortified with thick ferro-concrete walls and large enough to keep thousands of anxious residents protected and supplied with ample amounts of food, water, sanitation, ventilation and heating.

Some buildings are constructed as automated defensive emplacements, with multiple auto-cannon and guided missile turrets, used to provide suppressive heavy fire against any attacking Angel.

Nerv's Evangelion Units are also launched from under the city, using access gates disguised as buildings, to fight the Angels. Furthermore, Evangelion support facilities, including power sockets and cords, and weapons caches are located throughout the city at strategic locations, all disguised as buildings.

History

Tokyo-3 was damaged for the first time (to unknown but probably limited extent) by 3rd and 4th Angels Sachiel and Shamshel, and heavily damaged by the attack of the 14th Angel Zeruel, though extensive repairs were subsequently made.

However, not long after those incidents, in order to defeat the 16th Angel Armisael, Rei Ayanami self-destructed Evangelion Unit-00, resulting in a massive explosion which destroyed a large central portion of the city, creating a new artificial lake in the blast crater, and weakening the protective armor belting between the surface and the Geofront (although the section containing Misato Katsuragi and Rei Ayanami's apartments survived).

During The End of Evangelion, Seele working through the UN, orders the JSSDF to assault the city, culminating in the dropping of an N² Mine, destroying the entire city, and leaving the GeoFront below, including Nerv HQ, completely exposed.

However, once Third Impact came into being, with the combined Rei/Adam/Lilith hyper-being raising the Geofront -- now the Black Moon -- from out of the Earth, whatever was left of the city and the surrounding countryside is obliterated, in its place a very deep hole into the ground.

Notes

• It is said that Shinji lives in "the old part of town".

• Misato's "Comfort 17" apartment is located at the northern city district, nearby Route 138 and also closer to Tokyo-3 City First Junior High School.

• How they are stowed and stored in this way is considered an engineering feat in itself, as these buildings weigh hundreds of thousands of tons of ferro-concrete, but they are shown positioned down into the Geo-front, with only powerful hydraulic actuation systems and locks securing them in place.