Evangelion Unit-08
| Evangelion Unit-08 | |
   | |
| エヴァンゲリオン8号機 | |
| Model Type | Production Model |
|---|---|
| Pilot(s) | Mari Makinami Illustrious |
| Soul(s) | Unknown |
| First Sortie | Evangelion 3.0 |
Evangelion Unit-08 is a new Eva unit appearing in Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo and piloted by Mari Makinami Illustrious. Its full designation is Evangelion Production Model Custom Type-08[1].
Profile
Eva-08 has a cluster of eight green eyes on the front of its helmet and is bright pink in color, matching the plugsuit color of its pilot, Mari. The Eva is first seen in the third film in the standard Production Evangelion configuration, dubbed Eva Unit-08α (Alpha), but following its initial sortie is upgraded to Eva Unit-08β (Beta), with a corresponding change in helmet shape and bulkier body armor, along with armor around the lower arms and wrists, mimicking the appearance of its pilot's plugsuit. It remains in its Beta configuration for the Paris Assault, albeit with mechanical arms mounted onto a circular rail running around the Eva's shoulders, terminating in clamps, similar to Unit-05, and two large belt-fed machineguns. For Operation Yamato, the Eva is upgraded to Unit-08γ (Gamma) configuration, now sporting an "X"-shaped pectoral plate and more segmented torso plates, and reinforced bracing for its new biological arms. It is also given an "Overlapping" ability, being able to assimilate parts from Marks 09 through 12, along with some of their "Vessel of Adams" properties, to exist and navigate in the Anti-Universe. In its final incarnation, having assimilated all of the Adams' Vessels, Mari refers to it as "Unit-08+09+10+11+12", before it ceases to exist along with all the other Evangelions.
Operational History
The Eva is launched into space with Eva-02 to partake in the mission to recover Eva-01's tesseract-shaped container. Misato's original plan was for Mari to lead the operation with Asuka in support, as Eva-08 was less damaged than Eva-02, but Mari insists that Asuka take the lead in order for Shinji' sake.[2] However, it fails to gain sufficient altitude and instead provides cover fire to Eva-02 when the Evangelion Mark.04 Code 4A initiate their attack. It is successful in sniping every Code 4A, allowing Eva-02 to reach the tesseract. When the Code 4B emerges, the Eva has already begun to lose altitude and is forced to withdraw from the battle.
When the Mark.09 boards the AAA Wunder to retrieve Shinji Ikari for Nerv, Eva-08 attacks with a handgun and successfully destroys the Mark.09's head. (This does not, however, disable the enemy Eva.)
It is later deployed with Eva-02 to prevent Eva-13 from initiating Fourth Impact. The Eva remains hidden in a crevice in the ceiling of Central Dogma, armed with a sniper rifle. It snipes the Mark.09 when it attempts to assist Eva-13, shooting it several times and forcing it to take cover. When Eva-02 runs out of battery, Eva-08 drops a recharger pod to the bottom of Central Dogma, allowing Eva-02 to recharge. When Eva-13 reaches the top of Lilith's corpse and nears the Spears of Longinus, Eva-08 attempts to snipe it with Anti-AT Field Ammunition, but the bullets dissolve on contact with Eva-13.
Shortly after the beginning of Fourth Impact, Eva-08 and Eva-02 manage to reach the surface of the ruined Tokyo-3. While Eva-02 goes to fight the awakened Mark.09, Eva-08 attempts to prevent Eva-13 from completing Fourth Impact. Eva-08 succeeds to jumping onto Eva-13 as it falls following the death of Kaworu, and manages to forcefully eject Shinji's entry plug. This causes the Door of Guf to close and brings about the true end of Fourth Impact. Eva-08's hands are partially turned to core[3] due to their contact with the surface of the awakened Eva-13. It is later seen being recovered with the remains of Eva-02. Its arms are heavily bandaged but it is otherwise intact.
Original Concept
The Eva's original design was seen in the original Eva 3.0 preview from the end of the 2nd film. The Eva was in a dark space hovering upside-down over a giant halo. The Eva's helmet was horned and greatly resembled those of Eva-01 and Eva-06. Its eye slit was in the shape of an anchor, a possible allusion to "Ikari", and the Eva had three eyes, recalling one of the Adams along with Eva-01's ascended Near Third Impact state. There were two large angular formations on the Eva's back, possibly intended to be dual entry plug hatches. The narration spoke of "The quickening Eva-08 and its pilot(s)".
Over the course of production, most of the concepts for Eva-08 appear to have displaced onto Eva-13, with only certain aspects of the helmet design remaining in the final Eva-08.
Gallery
| Evangelion Production Model Custom Type-08 | ||
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References
- ↑ Evangelion Theatrical Edition: Q Movie Booklet. Published 2011/11/17
- ↑ EVANGELION 3.0 (-120 min.) prequel manga, translation by Rotoscopic/Nuclear Lunchbox
- ↑ As seen in the script in the bonus material from the Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo Blu-Ray, the red splotches in EVA-08's hands are designed as "core erosion" when it's seen bandaged in the AAA Wunder.
| 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 |
