Evangelion Unit 00 (Eva Unit-00)

Evangelion Unit 00 (often abbreviated as Eva-00) is the first working prototype of an Evangelion Unit. It was not originally designed for combat use, but was eventually modified and upgraded to facilitate the destruction of the Angels . None Rei Ayanami is the pilot assigned to this unit. As a prototype, it is the most unstable and has a tendency to go berserk, even under controlled conditions.

Description

Eva-00, like other Eva units, appears as a gigantic humanoid that can be controlled by a human pilot provided they have the proper equipment and a suitable synchronization rate. It is first seen wearing orange armor with white accents and, unlike all other units, no shoulder pylons. Since these pylons are not found on Eva-00, it could be considered much less well-equipped than other units, as the pylons are used to store tools and weapons like Progressive Knives. Another unique feature of Eva-00 is that it has a singular red optic eye like a camera and its head appears to have a safety helmet, whereas other units lack additional armor and have two (or in Eva-02's case, four) separate eyes. After the fight with Ramiel, Eva-00's armor was damaged beyond repair and had to be replaced. The new and improved Eva-00 (sometimes referred to as Eva-00') has blue armor with white accents as well as shoulder pylons, allowing Rei to use a progressive knife like other Eva units.

While it is confirmed that an Eva unit must have a soul given to it in order to function properly, the owner of the soul used in Eva-00 is probably one of the most obscure. The origin of Eva-01 and the souls of Eva-02 imply that the donor soul usually comes from the pilot's mother; this trend simply cannot apply to Rei, as she is an artificially created "clone" of Yui Ikari and, therefore, does not have a mother to begin with. It is often speculated that Rei I's soul was the donor soul given to Eva-00, as Rei I was killed at a very young age, but many ambiguities surrounding Rei's creation and character (such as her being the receptacle of Lilith's soul) complicate this theory.

Although Eva-01 is shown going berserk when its pilot, Shinji Ikari , is in danger, Eva-00 can probably be considered the most unstable Eva unit, as it is shown going berserk during two separate tests in a controlled environment. The first example was shown in a flashback when Rei attempts to activate the unit, but it goes berserk. This resulted in Rei being severely injured and caused Gendo Ikari to manually open its entry cap with his bare hands. The second time the unit is shown going berserk during testing is when the pilots attempt to see how their synchronization rates are affected when using an Eva unit other than the one they are assigned to. While the other units remain static, Eva-00 (which is piloted by Shinji) goes berserk again.

Notable battles in the Evangelion anime

• With the Fifth Angel Ramiel : Since Ramiel's main abilities revolve around incredibly powerful energy beams that are automatically fired when a target enters its range, Eva-01 was sent to fire at him from an incredibly long distance. The moment the first shot was fired, Ramiel returned fire, causing the shot to miss the Angel's core. When Shinji prepares to fire a second shot, Ramiel fires again, but before it can hit him, Rei and Eva-00 intervene and block the energy beam with a shield designed to deflect the attack for a short time. Although Rei survived what could have been considered a suicide mission, Eva-00 was nothing more than a pile of molten armor. The aftermath of this battle is what led to Eva-00's upgrade to its blue armor.

• With the sixteenth Angel Armisael : Eva-00 is this Angel's first target and, thanks to its unique ability to fuse with other biological creatures, begins to fuse not only with Eva-00, but also with Rei. As the battle continues, the fusion between Eva-00 and the Angel continues and, in an attempt to save Rei, Shinji attacks the Angel, but to no avail. Rei sees that Armisael has begun to fuse with Eva-01 and activates her AT field in a way that pulls the Angel into Eva-00 and triggers the unit's self-destruction, destroying Eva-00, Armisael, and herself at the same time.

In the Rebuild Series

In Evangelion: 2.0 You Cannot (Advance) Eva-00 plays a much larger role in the battle against Zeruel . Just as in the original series, Rei attempts to break through the Angel's AT field and use an N2 bomb to destroy the Angel. The Angel survives in both continuities, but instead of Zeruel continuing his descent into Terminal Dogma, in the Rebuild series, it consumes Eva-00 and Rei almost entirely, leaving only the lower half of the unit's body.

After 14 years have passed and Evangelion 3.0 You Can't Do It Again begins, another clone of Rei reappears to save Shinji. The Evangelion Mark 09 is a unit that closely resembles Eva-00, but is instead referred to as Evangelion Mark 09. In its default state, this unit is the same color as the original Eva-00, except for some minor color details. It does, however, have some distinct features that set it apart from the original unit, namely that it wields a scythe and has a pair of wings on its back that can transform into various objects (such as a rocket that it uses to escape with Shinji).