Evangelion Unit 04 (Eva Unit-04)
Evangelion Unit 04 (often abbreviated as Eva-04) is the fifth and final Evangelion Unit to be developed before the Mass Production Evangelion Units. Eva-04, like Eva-02 and Eva-03, is a “Production” model, however there was a separate experiment performed on this specific Unit in an attempt to create an anti-Angel weapon that did not need to rely on batteries or external power. Unlike all other Evangelion Units, Eva-04 is the only unit that does not receive a designated pilot at any point in time.
Description
Eva-04 actually never appears on-screen in Neon Genesis Evangelion, The End of Evangelion, the Rebuild series, or any original anime. It does have an original official design, however, and this design is used in Evangelion spin-off games and other such media. The Unit is the second of the two sister Units developed by a branch of NERV in the United States, the other sister Unit being Eva-03. Both of these Units are nearly identical in design, although Eva-04 is colored with white or silver with red and black accents whereas 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 that was given an S2 engine in an attempt to give an Eva Unit the same organ that Angels use to give themselves a nearly unlimited source of power - eliminating the need for external power and batteries entirely. While access to limitless power was 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 not officially known if this result is due to an error, miscalculation, or mishandling of the S2 engine or if foul play was somehow involved. As a result, Eva-04 is only mentioned in passing in Neon Genesis Evangelion and other canonical releases.
As a Unit with essentially no background, very little is known about its intended pilot or the owner of the donor soul used to make it functional. All Evangelion Units need to be given a human soul during a “contact experiment” if it is going to be used as a functional unit. Since 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 the pilot for Eva-04 is never mentioned in the main series, this trend cannot be applied in the same way. Although 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 to be canon (which they likely shouldn’t be, as they are all developed by third parties, although Hideaki Anno was interviewed to an extensive degree for the PS2 and PSP game Neon Genesis Evangelion 2), the owner of the donor soul may be Kensuke’s mother, as Kensuke does, in fact, reveal that his mother had passed away before the beginning of the series. This theory may be further supported by the fact that Ritsuko reveals that all of Shinji’s classmates are potential Evangelion pilots. It is also possible that, as the precursor to the Mass Production Evangelion Units, Eva-04 was never intended to have a pilot at all. All nine of the Mass-Produced Units are piloted by a Dummy Plug and it is possible that Eva-04 was simply planned to be operated in a similar fashion. If this were the case, it would be impossible to know who the owner of the donor soul would be, as Dummy Plugs seem 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 capable of synchronizing with other Eva Units (namely Eva-02) to an impossible degree according to NERV’s standards.
In Other Media
Evangelion: Battle Orchestra: In this fighting game, Eva-04 appears as a playable character and is piloted by Kensuke. It plays as a long-range character that has an incredibly weak close-range attack power, but makes up for it with its maneuverability and wide use of guns and other projectile weapons. Its super attacks are also themed around these projectile weapons, as Kensuke simply fires a barrage of different rifles and missile launchers at his enemy.
Secret of Evangelion: This visual novel likely gives Eva-04 its most prominent role in the entire Evangelion franchise. Although it was publicly acknowledged by most NERV members that Eva-04 was destroyed in a blast that destroyed the Nevada branch of NERV, in reality, the Unit was transported to Japan in secret and hidden within NERV HQ. As NERV HQ began running various tests using the Dummy Plug system, the Unit went berserk and knowledge of its existence was quickly spread to most of NERV.
Links
Official Website for Evangelion: Battle Orchestra(Japanese Only) (Requires Adobe Flash)