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Evangelion Unit 04 (Eva Unit-04)

Evangelion Unit 04 (often abbreviated to Eva-04) is the fifth and final Evangelion Unit to be developed before the mass-produced Evangelion Units . Eva-04, like Eva-02 and Eva-03 , is a "production" model, however a separate experiment was performed on this specific unit with the goal of creating an anti- Angel weapon that does not require batteries or external power. Unlike all other Evangelion units, Eva-04 is the only unit that is not given a designated pilot at any time.

Description

In fact, Eva-04 never appears on-screen in Neon Genesis Evangelion None The End of Evangelion , the Rebuild series , or any original anime. It does, however, have an original official design, and this design is used in Evangelion spin-off games and other similar media. The unit is the second of two sister units developed by a branch of NERV in the United States, the other sister unit being Eva-03 These two units are nearly identical in design, though Eva-04 is colored white or silver with red and black accents while Eva-03 uses a dark shade of purple with white accents. Eva-04 is unique in one aspect among all Evangelion units, however, as it was the first unit to receive an S2 engine in an attempt to give an Eva unit the same organ as The Angels. NERV units used this method to provide themselves with a nearly unlimited power source, completely eliminating the need for external power and batteries. While access to unlimited energy is something incredibly valuable for any unit, the result of this experimental addition of an S2 engine resulted in the catastrophic destruction of the Nevada branch of NERV and the entire unit itself. It is officially unknown whether this result was due to an error, miscalculation, or mishandling of the S2 engine, or if foul play was involved. As a result, Eva-04 is only mentioned in passing in Neon Genesis Evangelion and other canonical versions.

As a unit with no story, very little is known about its intended pilot or the owner of the donor soul used to make it functional. All Evangelion units must receive a human soul during a "contact experiment" if they are to be used as a functional unit. Eva-01's soul comes from Shinji's mother and Eva-02 's soul comes from Asuka's mother; it is assumed that Eva-03 's soul comes from Toji's mother. However, since Eva-04's pilot is never mentioned in the main series, this trend cannot be applied in the same way. While a pilot is never mentioned in the original series, there are several games and other media that show both Kaworu Nagisa and Shinji's classmate Kensuke Aida piloting the unit. If these games were considered canon (which they probably shouldn't be, as they are all developed by third parties, although Hideaki Anno was interviewed extensively for the PS2 and PSP game Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 ), the owner of the donor soul could be Kensuke's mother, as Kensuke actually reveals that his mother died before the series began. This theory may be further supported by Ritsuko revealing that all of the classmates are potential Evangelion pilots. It is also possible that, as a precursor to the mass-produced Evangelion units, Eva-04 was never intended to have a pilot. All nine mass-produced units are piloted by a Dummy Plug, and it is possible that Eva-04 was simply designed to be used in a similar manner. If this were the case, it would be impossible to know who the owner of the donor soul would be, as Dummy Plugs appear to be compatible with many different Eva units. If Kaworu were the intended pilot, the mystery surrounding the donor soul would be just as ambiguous, if not more so, as he is shown to be able to synchronize with other Eva units (namely Eva-02 ) to a degree impossible by NERV standards.

In other media

Evangelion: Battle Orchestra : In this fighting game, Eva-04 appears as a playable character and is piloted by Kensuke. He plays a long-range character who has incredibly low close-range attack power, but makes up for it with his maneuverability and extensive use of firearms and other projectile weapons. His super attacks are also based on these projectile weapons, as Kensuke simply fires a volley of various guns and missile launchers at his enemy.
The Secret of Evangelion : This visual novel probably gives Eva-04 its most prominent role in the entire Evangelion franchise. While it was publicly acknowledged by most members of NERV that Eva-04 was destroyed in an explosion that destroyed NERV's Nevada branch, in reality, the unit was secretly transported to Japan and hidden within NERV HQ. As NERV HQ began conducting various tests using the Dummy Plug system, the unit went berserk, and knowledge of its existence quickly spread throughout most of NERV.