NEON GENESIS EVANGELION 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン UNIT 01 初号機 was created in the Third Annex of Gehirn’s Artificial Evolution Laboratory in Hakone and is piloted by Shinji Ikari. It is the first and the only Evangelion to be created from Lilith, the Second Angel, instead of Adam, the First Angel, from whom all the other Evangelions were created. Concept art for the TV series reveals that Unit 01’s body was grown from biomass cultivated from Lilith’s legs. Despite this fact, Unit 01 bears no real morphological difference from the other Evangelion units, possessing a core and exaggerated proportions similar to Adam and the other Evas. Unit 01’s armor is primarily purple; some components are colored neon green, light blue, orange, and black. Its helmet bears the signature unicorn-like single horn, and a ‘frill’, giving an appearance reminiscent of a ceratopsian dinosaur. The horn and the glowing eyes also gives the Evangelion a rather demonic appearance. It also has a distinctive chest plate resembling pectoral muscles, as opposed to the regular V-shaped chest plate the other Evangelions have. The humanoid entity beneath the armor has light brown skin, two emerald-green eyes, four small nostrils positioned, flat white teeth resembling that of humans, and red blood. It has the best battle record of all the Evangelions. It is a notorious berserker, and frequently acts independently, without the instructions of a pilot and without any apparent power source, moving freely even when the internal power source was depleted. The Eva will also take action to protect its pilot while sometimes servicing other interests. The Eva’s resident soul, Yui Ikari (Shinji’s mother), appears to be responsible for such events, in an attempt to protect her son. In such berserk incidents, the Eva goes into a ‘battle rage’, characterized by inhuman savageness and animal-like behavior. In the height of its berserk state, Unit 01 also demonstrates angelic abilities such as regeneration, forming angelic cross shaped energy explosions, as well as manifesting a powerful AT Field for offensive purposes. It is the only Eva to have gone berserk in direct combat, inflicting fatal damage to Sachiel before it self-detonates, ripping apart Leliel and savagely mauling Zeruel. Shinji is clearly not responsible for these events, having blacked out in the first two berserk episodes and having dissolved into LCL after reaching a synchronization level of 400% during the battle with Zeruel. A similar state of battle rage, displaying heightened physical power and savageness, can be achieved when the Eva is controlled by the Dummy System, though this does not qualify as a genuine berserk incident. Unit 01 is called the “Test Type”, in reference to its unusual method of creation~
2 July 2020
