Evangelion Unit-04
"When Aoba called B Wing's construction sloppy he hadn't seen anything like THIS!" |
"The story presented to the public was just a cover-up." |
"IT WASU WIDIN TI LEALM OF POSSIBIRITY" |
Evangelion Unit-04 | |
エヴァンゲリオン4号機 | |
Model Type | Production |
---|---|
Pilot(s) | Unknown |
Soul(s) | Unknown |
First Sortie | (never seen on-screen) |
Storyline
Evangelion Unit-04 (エヴァンゲリオン4号機, Evangerion Yongouki) is the fifth Evangelion completed, the third "Production Model" Evangelion. It, and its sister, Eva-03, were constructed in the United States of America. Eva-04 was constructed at Nerv's second branch base (Nerv-2) in Nevada. Nevada base was destroyed along with Eva-04 when the Eva's S2 Engine failed while testing Episode 17. It was stated that the failed engine may have opened up a Dirac Sea which enveloped the Nevada base. It is also strongly implied that this may have merely been the result of an accident. The shock of this accident led to the United States immediately transporting Eva-03 to Japan, which in turn led to the events of Episode 18
Physical features
Evangelion Unit-04 is a Production Model Evangelion. Although never seen on screen, production art featuring Eva-04 has occasionally been released by GAINAX. It is depicted as being silver in colour and otherwise identical to Eva-03, with the same head shape. Like its sister Eva-03, the preceding Eva-02 and repaired Eva-00, it uses the same 5-plate torso armour design and the same shoulder mounted storage Pylons.
Its primary distinguishing feature is its S² Engine, likely to have been a restored version of what was recovered from the remains of the Shamshel in Episode 05.
Given that it is a Production Model, it is likely Eva-04 would have required a pilot. As it is never shown on-screen, the identity of the would-be pilot remains a mystery, and it may not even have had a designated pilot at the point of its disappearance. In some spin-off materials, Kensuke Aida is depicted as being the Pilot of Eva-04.
Soul
A feature of all Evangelions is that the soul within them is the soul of the mother of its designated Pilot. As Eva-04 may not yet have a pilot assigned to it (no information about a pilot is ever presented in-series)and the identity of the soul inside remains unknown. It is possible that the Eva did not have a soul inserted yet- Ritsuko's dialogue in Episode 18 suggests that Eva-03's soul had not been chosen until they had to station it in Japan.
Given that some spin-off materials have shown Kensuke Aida as Pilot of Eva-04, and it has been mentioned that Kensuke does not have a mother (Episode 05), it is possible that the soul contained within (or designated for) Eva-04 could be that of Kensuke's mother.
Eva-04 in Rebuild
Eva-04 is shown in the teaser trailer for Evangelion 2.0 at the end of Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone. A caption flashes up, listing Eva-04's presence, followed by a large red explosion. This would suggest that it will suffer the same fate as in the television version.
Notes
- Eva-04 was never actually seen on-screen, however Gainax has produced production sketches of it revealing that it was identical in design to Eva-03, but colored silver (that is, "chrome"), with red and black highlights. The only full body image they ever produced of Eva-04, however, mistakenly colored it white instead of silver: other close-up images of Eva-04 show it as silver, and in the numerous Evangelion spin-off merchandise it appears in such as video games and action figures, it is always silver.
- In the Girlfriend of Steel 2/Angelic Days manga Kensuke Aida is the pilot of Eva-04. In the Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 however, Kaworu Nagisa is Eva-04's pilot.
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 |