Evangelion Seventh Angel Israel
Israfel is a Child of Adam and is referred to as the Seventh Angel and named after the "Twin Angels of Poetry, Music, and Dance." He appears in Episode 9 of the Evangelion: None anime series .
The first glimpse of Israfel shows him as a vaguely humanoid figure, sharing some characteristics with the Third Angel Sachiel . While Sachiel has broad shoulders and long, exaggerated arms, his shoulders and head all appear as a single unit similar in shape to a crescent moon. Israfel's body is also slightly stockier in comparison. His core is located near what most would consider his stomach area. Like Sachiel, Israfel also has a ribcage-like structure surrounding his core. Israfel's mask closely resembles the yin and yang symbol, but is colored blue and red instead of black and white. This angel's most unique trait is his ability to split himself into two halves, something no other angel can do. Mahiro Maeda is credited with designing this angel. Maeda previously worked as a key animator for classic Studio Ghibli films like Castle in the Sky and Red Pig. He is also credited as an assistant mechanical designer for Escaflowne None.
Remarkable abilities
- Divisible Core: Israfel has the unique ability to split his core in two. Splitting his core allows him to split into two beings. This unexpected ability catches Asuka off guard, as she thought that splitting it in two would be more than enough to defeat the Angel. In this case, her overconfidence is the cause of her downfall, as she cannot react in time when Israfel splits his core. When split, the two beings are referred to as "Target Alpha" and "Target Beta." They are both colored differently, with one being silver while the other is copper. The fused Israfel's yin and yang-themed mask also changes. Both have the same mask style, but they are both gray and have three holes. When separated, the two bodies are shown moving in perfect unison, as they are still meant to be one being. Just as Israfel can be forcibly split by physically cutting his body in half, he can be forcibly fused by pushing the split halves back together. Compared to other Angels like Shamshel or Ramiel , Israfel may seem extraordinarily weak, but he is still able to overwhelm both Evangelion Unit 01 and Evangelion Unit 02 by half-burying the units in the ground. His split cores also make him quite difficult to defeat, as the only way to defeat Israfel is to destroy both cores with a perfectly timed attack. One weakness of his ability to split and fuse is that, while Israfel's split bodies can fuse almost instantly, split cores take longer to recombine, leaving a chance for an attack.
Battle and defeat
Israfel is intercepted by both Evangelion Unit 01 and Evangelion Unit 02 at the Kii Peninsula. Asuka decides to take the initiative and charges towards Israfel while Shinji Asuka acts as support. With an axe in hand, Asuka manages to cut the Angel in half, seemingly taking it down in one blow. Shinji, however, notices Israfel changing and splitting in two, catching them both off guard. Both Eva-01 and Eva-02 are defeated, forcing NERV to cede control to the UN, who authorize the use of an N2 bomb. While it does not destroy the Angel, it damages it to the point where it is unable to move for nearly a week. Misato Asuka and Shinji learn that the only weakness of Israfel's divisible core is that its cores take longer to fuse than its bodies, leaving a small window where it is vulnerable to attack. Over the next few days, Asuka and Shinji are forced to perfectly memorize a synchronized attack pattern in order to defeat the Angel. The training for this plan is sometimes taken to comical levels. Misato, for example, forces them to wear the same outfit and makes them speak in unison. This seems to pay off, however, as the operation is completely successful. First, the complete Israfel is split in two by cutting the original body in half. Then, the two Evangelion units punch the two halves in the air, forcing them to begin fusing again. However, before the cores can fuse, Asuka and Shinji launch a final attack on both cores simultaneously, resulting in Israfel's destruction.
Israel in other media
The seventh angel, Israfel, does not appear in the Evangelion Rebuild films. Israfel is actually replaced by a completely different angel in Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0. Not much is known about this angel, other than that he has a large body made of many geometrically similar sharp four-pointed pieces, and that he has two heads similar to Sachiel's positioned like a clock.
Israfel is present in the manga created by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. There is only one minor difference between the original anime series and the manga. In the manga, after Israfel is split into two entities, they do not merge back into one until they are defeated.
