Evangelion Unit-08

Evangelion Unit-08
Eva-08 (Alpha) Eva-08 (Beta) Eva-08 (Gamma)
エヴァンゲリオン8号機
Model Type	Production Model Custom Type
Nation of Origin	Unknown
Affiliation	Nerv (presumed) Wille (3.0 onward)
Pilot(s)	Mari Makinami Illustrious
Unique Properties	Overlapping Ability
Upgrades/Variants	Unit-08β (Beta), Unit-08γ (Gamma), Unit-08+09+10+11+12
Debut	Evangelion 3.0
Status	Erased by Instrumentality

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.

Profile

A view of Unit-08's face under its visor

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

Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo

The Eva is launched into space alongside 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. 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.

Some time later, the upgraded Evangelion Eva-08β is deployed during Evangelion Mark.09's attack on the AAA Wunder in an attempt to bring Shinji to NERV. Equipped with a handgun, Eva-08β attempts to stop it and succeeds in destroying Mark.09's head, but fails to prevent it from carrying out its mission successfully. This leads to Mari realizing that Mark.09 is possibly a surviving Adams.

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-08β 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-08β 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-08β 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-08β succeeds to jumping onto Eva-13 as it falls following the death of Kaworu, and manages to manually eject Shinji's entry plug. This causes the Door of Guf to close and brings about the true end of Fourth Impact. However, due to their contact with the surface of the awakened Unit-13. Eva-08's hands are partially turned to core

Eva-08β is eventually recovered by Wille, and is last seen on the deck of a Wille aircraft carrier with heavily bandaged arms, alongside a critically damaged Eva-02'.

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time

In the Paris Assault, Eva-08β is deployed against NERV's multiple Evangelion Mark.44A, Evangelion Mark.44B and a single Evangelion Mark.4444C to protect the EURO Nerv restoration team. Eva-08β is able to annihilate the first waves of Mark.44A with its machine guns, but they eventually overheat and Mari is forced to discard them. Unit-08β continues to fight off the remaining waves of Mark 44A barehanded, and is eventually able to make them stab each other en masse, allowing Eva-08β to toss them into the coreified ground, and they explode.

Immediately after, a Mark.4444C and some Mark.44Bs reveal themselves from a camouflage cocoon, and the Mark.44Bs immediately begin charging the latter's positron cannon. Helmsman Nagara succeeds in blocking the first strike using all the support destroyers fitted with Enchanted Shields of Virtue, but the Mark.44Bs recharges the positron cannon once again. With no way to block the second shot, Eva-08β grabs the remains of The Eiffel Tower and charges the Mark.4444C, while prompting Nagara to cause a distraction. However, Mari's attempt fails as Mark.4444C grabs Eva-08β's legs with one of its tentacles just before impact, twisting them out of shape. Unfettered, Mari activates the booster's on Eva-08β's arms, driving the Tower down the cannon barrel and destroying the Mark.4444C. As the Mark.4444C is defeated, it swirls its tentacles among the multiple Mark.44Bs and they all explode, with Eva-08β hastily leaving the area to escape.

Concepts and Development

• 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.
• In a design revealed by Ikuto Yamashita dated to 2017, it was shown to be a structure similar to the final rail system, but with more humanoid hands instead of claws and the other arm would be holding a gun. The greatest difference is the concept of a captured Evangelion Mark.04 by WILLE, that would be used as a carrier for Eva-08 using cords.
• Another iteration has two concepts of the arms mounted to a rail, similar to final design, but one with biological Evangelion arms and the other being cybernetic implants, similar in design to the ones of Fourth Angel, with some modifications that would appear in the final design, like cylinders around the shoulders.
• A design dated to 2018 that is very close to the final design had a different set of weapons and a system developed to store ammunition, with a different structure in the right claw. There was also a different booster attached to the rear that is absent from further designs. According to Yamashita, the design was changed since it would be difficult to reproduce it in 3DCGI.

Eva-08 Concept Arts
The original Eva-08 design floating over a halo in preview	Original Dual-Plug concept art by Ikuto Yamashita	Mark.04 "Carrier concept art by Ikuto Yamashita
Eva-08 "Biological arms" concept art by Ikuto Yamashita	A near-final concept of Eva-08 as it first appears in 3.0+1.0

Gallery

Evangelion Production Model Custom Type-08
Eva-08β firing at Mark.09	Eva-08α exits Operation US	Eva-08β sniping Mark.09
Eva-08β forcibly ejects Shinji's plug from Unit-13 (note damage/corrosion on the arms)	Core-damaged Eva-08β recovered by Wille	Eva-08β as it appears during the Paris Assault
Eva-08β takes on the 4444C while wielding the Eiffel Tower	Eva-08γ fights the Eva Jacks with an energy whip (note the bracing on the arms)	Eva-08γ about to lose its left arm to self-destructing Eva Jacks
Eva-08γ holds off the Eva Jacks	Eva-08γ about to lose its right arm to self-destructing Eva Jacks	Eva-08γ assimilates the Mark.09A's right arm as its own
Eva-08γ shapes its A.T. Field to consume Mark.11	Eva-08γ generates three Halos after consuming Marks.9A, 10, and 11 (Mark.10 is lying on the ground)	Eva-08γ about to consume Mark.12
Eva-08γ looks on after sinking the Nerv Erlösung-class battleships	Eva-08γ hitches a ride on the boom of the Wunder	The last Evangelion disappearing

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