Evangelion Ninth Angel Material

Matriel is a Child of Adam and is referred to as the Ninth Angel, named after the "Rain Angel." He appears in Episode 11 of the Evangelion anime series. This Angel attempts to directly infiltrate NERV headquarters by using a powerful acid to melt the ground. Matriel's attack surprises everyone at NERV, as all power to Tokyo-3 is cut off for unknown reasons. Without electricity, the only way to discover the Angel is to see it. Since NERV headquarters is located deep underground, all personnel present are essentially blind and must resort to outside information to begin launching and attacking the Angel.

Physical appearance

Matriel appears as a long-legged black spider with only four legs. Each leg has two joints and towers over almost every building in Tokyo-3. Its body is bowl-shaped and features several red-outlined triangles with purple eyes in the center. At the very bottom, there is a much larger eye that is shown secreting acid. Matriel's core is not clearly visible and is likely located inside its body. While it is assumed to have one because it is an Angel, it appears that Matriel's AT field is incredibly weak, as an Evangelion's rifle bullets pierce its body very easily. Bullets and other physical projectile weapons are often ineffective against Angels, as seen with Sachiel and Shamshel , though it appears that Matriel is an exception to this rule.

Remarkable abilities

• Corrosive Acid: Matriel appears to have few abilities overall. He displays no ability to use energy beams, a defensive AT field, or the great physical strength displayed by other Angels. The only tool he has, however, is an acid secreted from his lowest eye. It has an orange color and is an incredibly powerful corrosive that can dissolve almost any type of material in seconds. Matriel uses this acid to attempt to create a path leading to NERV HQ. Earth, concrete, and metal are all liquefied by Matriel's acid. Eva Units: Angels are not as susceptible to acid, but it still poses a dangerous threat to them. A few minutes of exposure to the acid is likely more than enough to completely devour a unit's outer armor. While the Angel has many eyes, it is unknown if he can produce acid using any eye other than the largest one on his underside.

Battle and defeat

Before the battle against Matriel, a large-scale power outage leaves Tokyo-3 without electricity, including NERV HQ. This makes the subsequent battle against Angel much more difficult for many reasons. Shinji, None Roi , and Asuka are all outside of NERV at the time of the outage, and since the access terminals are all offline, they have problems accessing their Evangelion Units . Matriel's approach also goes unnoticed for an incredibly long time, as NERV is essentially stuck underground with no way to observe what is happening above ground. Fortunately, Makoto Hyuga is also above ground and hears an announcement from an aircraft overhead stating that an unknown object is heading towards Tokyo-3. Although the access terminals are not usable, Makoto and the Evangelion pilots use emergency routes to head towards NERV. Once the pilots arrive, they board their units and are manually released from the various safety locks holding them in place. Since NERV's launch platforms also use electricity, the Evangelion units are forced to climb through the maze of tunnels leading to the surface. The units are also equipped with an external battery to give the pilots more time to operate the units without using external power.

Once they almost reach the surface, Asuka notices droplets of something falling, which land on Evangelion Unit 00 and dissolve its portion of its battery in an instant. More acid continues to rain down, forcing the three to retreat and formulate a plan. It is decided that Asuka will act as a shield to protect the other two from the acid, as she wants revenge on Shinji for saving her after the battle with Sandalphon . Rei retrieves one of the rifles that was abandoned while they were fleeing the acid and tosses it to Shinji, who aims and fires. This plan ends up working well and results in Matriel's destruction. Power is restored to NERV immediately after Matriel's defeat, though it is unknown if this is simply a coincidence or not.

The battle with Matriel is one of the fastest-paced battles for the Evangelion pilots, as he appears limited in terms of attack capabilities and power. This battle was one of the few in the anime series where Shinji, Asuka, and Rei all fight together as a team.

Material in other media

The Ninth Angel, Matriel, did not make an appearance in Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 or the official manga written by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. However, in the manga, there is mention of the occurrence of the power outage.