Evangelion Unit-04
| Unit-04 | |
| |
| {{{japanese}}} | |
| Model Type | Production |
|---|---|
| Pilot(s) | Unknown |
| Soul(s) | Unknown |
| First Sortie | (never seen on-screen) |
Creation
Unit-04 is the fifth Evangelion completed, the third "Production Model" Evangelion. Eva 04 and its sister unit, Eva 03, were constructed in the United States of America. Eva 04 was constructed at NERV's second branch base (NERV-2) in Nevada, while Eva 03 was constructed at NERV's first branch in Massachusetts.
Unit 04 was used as a test subject for NERV's new artificial S² Engine design. At the exact moment that Unit 04's S² Engine experiment was scheduled to begin, NERV's entire second branch base, along with everything else in an 89 kilomter radius, simply vanished in a flash. Ritsuko Akagi and the NERV technicians stated that it was not entirely clear what happened. One possibility was that all matter surrounding the base was instantly converted into energy, vaporizing everything. Another possibility is that the S² Engine accidentally opened up a Dirac Sea pocket dimension, similar to the one that the Angel Leliel sucked Eva-01 into, and Eva 04 along with the entire NERV-2 base was sucked inside of this new Dirac Sea. Sabotage (probably by SEELE) was considered a possibility, but there was nothing to overtly suggest this. Further, when Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki are speaking privately, they speak as if SEELE reacted in shock to Unit 04's disappearance and that it genuinely was an accident. In any event, it was never determined exactly what happened to Eva Unit 03 and NERV-2. The immediate result was that the United States government panicked at the loss of the base, and demanded that Eva Unit-03 be transfered from their soil to Japan as soon as possible.
Evangelion Unit-04 never actually appeared on-screen at any time during the course of the series, however, production art released by GAINAX depicts Eva 04 as being physically identical to its sister unit, Eva 03. According to this material, Eva 04 was colored silver, with black and red detail. Unit 04 does make appearances in various Evangelion spinoffs such as video games, etc.
Purpose
Ostensibly, like all the Evangelions, Unit-04's stated purpose is to defend Tokyo-3 and the whole world from the Angel threat. It was also used as a testbed for NERV's attempts to create an artificial S² Engine for use in the Eva Series.
Abilities
Eva 04 never even physically appears on-screen, so any new abilities it may have been designed with are unknown.
Soul
The pilot of Eva Unit 04 is never specified. Shinji Ikari is the "Third Child" and when Eva Unit 03 was readied for use (after the loss of Unit 04) its pilot, Toji Suzuhara, was designated the "Fourth Child". Given that there was no designated child number between Shinji and Toji, it seems that in all probability Eva Unit 04 simply did not have a pilot assigned to it yet when it disappeared. For example, work on Eva Unit 01's construction lasted for years before Shinji Ikari was assigned as its pilot.
This article bears the unpleasant designation of "Stub." This is a Bad Thing. Provide a great service to NGE fan-geeks everywhere by making it awesomer!
