Evangelion Unit-01 is an Evangelion unit from the popular sci-fi Mecha anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. The unit is piloted by Shinji Ikari, and is known for being the flagship Eva for the series.
Evangelion Unit-01 is, like all Evangelions (or Eva for short), a giant artificial humanoid (Jinzo ningen) with brown skin, and cybernetic componets (making it a cyborg, for which it is easily confused for a giant robot). It has a mouth similar to that of a human as well as two round green eyes. The face also has 4 small nostrils and red blood. Its true visage is concealed under armor called Type-B Gear, which serve to make the Eva more resilient and to limit its real strength. This consists of two large plates covering the pectorals, as well as three triangular pieces on the abdomen up to the crotch. The armor is predominantly purple with green highlights, and details in black. Its gorget is made up of several pieces of yellowish/orange color. Its most characteristic element is undoubtedly its helmet, unique for each Eva, with its prominent horn and its "collar", vaguely evoking that of a horned dinosaur like a triceratops. Unit-01 is the test-type model, and therefore different from the following models, mainly because it was the first Eva to ever be used in battle. Another reason for this may be because of the experimental way in which it was created: although Unit-01 appears to be an Adam-derived cybernetic organism like all other Evas, it was really created from the second angel, Lilith, and is the sole Eva to have said origin.
The armor itself also adds several other elements necessary for combat and piloting. First, there is the system to accommodate the Entry Plug and the umbilical cable in the back of the Eva below the neck. For combat, the armor has shoulder pylons that can be open to store and remove the progressive knife.
Unit-01 stands out from the other units as it has the ability to use what is called Berserk mode. Which is when the eva acts independently, without the instructions of a pilot and without the need for a power source. Unit-01 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.
Unit-01 was created, like most other Evas, to fight and defeat gigantic extraterrestrial beings known as angels, who's purpose is to wipe out all life on Earth.
History
Created in the Third Annex of Gehirn's Artificial Evolution Laboratory in Hakone in about 2004 and deemed a functional Evangelion a decade later, Unit-01 is piloted by Shinji Ikari (with Rei Ayanami or a Rei dummy plug as backup pilots) and has the best battle record of all the Evas.
Upon savagely disfiguring the fourteenth Angel, Zeruel, it proceeded to devour the Angel and assimilated its S² Engine, making Unit-01 the first physically complete Eva prior to the construction of the Mass Production units. The S² Engine seems to be used only at Unit-01's discretion; after acquiring it, the Unit is still sent into battle with an umbilical cable. Just before Unit-01 absorbed the S² Engine, it used one of Zeruel's arms to regenerate its severed left arm, demonstrating the Angelic ability of regeneration. The Mass Production models were also equipped with NERV-developed S² Engines but it is a common misconception that they also have the ability to regenerate.
In Other Media
Unit-01 plays a very similar role in the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga as its anime counterpart.
In the Neon Genesis Evangelion: ANIMA continuity, during the Mass Production Evangelions' attack on the NERV Headquarters, Unit-01 sortied in battle equipped with the Type F equipment while Asuka and Evangelion Unit-02 were used for Human Instrumentality. Three years later, Unit-01 would launch again due to the unexpected attack of the EVA0.0 (Quatre). Unit-01 would be critically damaged by Quatre's gamma-ray laser cannon. Unit-01 would be damaged to the point where Shinji was transformed into LCL and Yui had to pass on the full control over the unit to him, thus he became one with Unit-01. This lead to the self-regeneration and the evolution of the Eva. Unit-01 later sortied to confront the Angel Carrier Type-2 as the new Super Evangelion.
In the 2007 super-deformed-style parody web anime series Petit Eva: Evangelion@School, Unit-01 is shown as a human-sized robot and attends NERV Academy along with Shinji, Asuka and the Rei sisters. Here, it is depicted as a banchō who likes to train. As seen in the first episode, it eats batteries. Another episode shows it has its own training area underneath the school.
Trivia
- The roar of Unit-01 is actually the voice of Megumi Hayashibara, Yui Ikari's seiyū, pitched-down.
- Unit-01's original name, 初号機, means "Unit First".
- The design of the Digimon character Argomon was based on Evangelion Unit-01
- In "Episode:01", Ritsuko tells Misato that the odds of Eva Unit 01 activating are "0.000000009%. "O9 System" seems like a fitting thing to call it". This is a pun in Japanese, so the English dub inserted an extra line clarifying this, with Ritsuko explaining that "O-Nine" is a pun on "Oni", the Japanese word for "demon". Eva-01 is also designed with a traditional "Oni" as an inspiration, though it appears more similar to a triceratops.
- The color of Unit-01 was a combination of gray, red and orange when the production started. This was revealed in the Hideaki Anno Exhibition.