Evangelion Unit-08
| Evangelion Unit-08 | |
| 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 that features in Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo and Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, piloted by Mari Makinami Illustrious. Its full designation is Evangelion Production Model Custom Type-08[1].
Contents
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 Eva-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 and abilities from Marks 09 through 12 like flight, shaping and weaponizing its A.T.Field, and to be able 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.[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.
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[3]
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.
Prior to Operation Yamato, The Eva is upgraded to its "Gamma" specification and outfitted with the Dragon Carrier, alongside Eva-02 and the Wunder's repairs and upgrades in Low Earth Orbit.
As part of Operation Yamato, Eva-08γ is sortied with New Eva-02, with the objective of reaching New Nerv HQ and stopping the activation of Eva-13. They are impeded by innumerable units of the mass-produced and autonomous Eva Series 07, but are unable to put a significant dent in their numbers by themselves. As all the Series 07 group together to form a giant drill-like structure, the two Evas synchronize their A.T. Fields and meet the Series 07 head-on, causing them all to vaporize and clearing the path to New Nerv HQ.
Upon reaching New Nerv HQ, the pair is immediately set upon by many Eva Jacks, and Eva-08γ unleashes an energy whip to deal with them. Eva-08γ holds off the Eva Jacks while New Eva-02 makes its way to the inert Eva-13 to disable it with the Signal Termination Plug. The Eva Jacks slowly begin to overwhelm Eva-08γ, and it loses its left arm when two Eva Jacks grab hold and self-destruct, but it continues to fend them off, slowly whittling their numbers down. When New Eva-02's Radiant Giant state is disabled by Eva-13, Mari is distracted by the event long enough for the Eva Jacks to latch on and destroy Eva-08γ's right arm as well.
After Gendo and Eva-13 (with Eva-01) cross the Door of Guf to enter the Anti-Universe, Eva-08γ begins to undergo overlapping with the Vessels of Adams, first by replacing it's right arm with Mark.09A's arm, and then the rest of the Eva, returning the Wunder to Wille control. It then ferries Shinji into the Anti-Universe so that he may return to Eva-01 and confront Gendo, but cannot stay for long, and returns back.
Once Instrumentality begins, Eva-08γ attacks all three Opfer-type Evas at once, fending off energy blasts and biting off the Mark.10's head, regrowing its right arm in the process. Mari, now calling the Eva 08+09+10, uses a shaped and extended A.T. Field to bisect and consume the entire upper half of Mark.11, becoming 08+09+10+11 and generating three vertical concentric halos from its back, as it prepares to consume Mark.12.
Having consumed the Mark.12 off-screen, Eva-08+09+10+11+12 (now sporting four halos) scuttles the other Nerv battleships and latches on to the tail boom of the Wunder to ride the new Spear of Gaius into the Evangelion Imaginary. At the end of Instrumentality, Eva-08 does not appear when the other Evas are being erased from existence, but after Instrumentality concludes Shinji is left behind in the Anti-Universe. Eva-08+09+10+11+12 appears on the beach so that Mari and Shinji could transition into the new world safely, and then devolves through all its configurations before disappearing entirely, with Mari bidding the "last Evangelion" farewell.
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 |
||
Gallery
| Evangelion Production Model Custom Type-08 | ||
 Core-damaged Eva-08β recovered by Wille[3] |
||
References
- ↑ Evangelion Theatrical Edition: Q Movie Booklet. Published 2011/11/17
- ↑ EVANGELION 3.0 (-120 min.) prequel manga, translation by Rotoscopic/Nuclear Lunchbox
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 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 |
