Israfel is the Seventh Angel in Neon Genesis Evangelion, appearing as the main antagonist in Episode 9. It does not appear in Rebuild of Evangelion. It is a composite lifeform of two separate Angels called Kou and Otsu. Despite this, they are still treated as one single Angel, having a single energy core that can seemingly be split and merged at will.
Biography[]
Israfel appears by surprise shortly after Asuka arrives in Japan, landing in the Kii peninsula. After wishing that she had been able to do her first mission in Japan all by herself to show off her skills, instead of having Shinji accompany her, she makes a rush toward the Angel and cuts it in two, bifurcating Israfel and impressing Shinji. Two halves of Israfel soon emerge while Asuka is bragging about her victory, and the viewer then sees the result of Asuka tempting her own fate. The United Nations are forced to drop N2 bombs to immobilize the Angel and rescue Asuka and Shinji.
During a debriefing back at Nerv, the two bicker about who was at fault for their defeat, and they are harshly criticized by Kozo Fuyutsuki for their childish behavior, which needs to be fixed in order to prevent further humiliating events. Misato is aggrieved by the destruction caused by the failed assault, and is presented with a mountain of legal paperwork to deal with regarding damages Nerv must settle. After a visit by Ritsuko, who gives her a drive containing a plan made by Kaji, she quickly decides defeating the Angel is more important than dealing with the paperwork.
Seeing that the plan requires Asuka and Shinji to fully cooperate, Misato forces Asuka to live with Shinji so they can learn to get along. The training starts off disastrously, but by the end of the day before Israfel's reemergence, they had made remarkable progress, despite (or perhaps because of) Asuka's belligerent personality (after Rei outperformed her and threatened her pride in a synchronization game). After a good night of rest, Shinji and Asuka are sortied to stop Israfel by performing a memorized choreography of attacks coordinated to a waltz selected by Kaji. Their coordination overwhelms Israfel and destroys it, and ironically, they end up messing up the ending and falling on each other. The Angel destroyed, the two bicker about whose fault it was that they landed on each other, embarrassing Fuyutsuki but making other Nerv personnel laugh.
Profile[]
Profile of the damaged Israfel, split into Kou and Otsu
Israfel, the Seventh Angel, is the only known Angel in the series to be able to behave like two distinct entities. The Angels are first identified as Kou and Otsu at the mission debriefing where Shinji and Asuka were reprimanded by Fuyutsuki, but peculiarly, they are designated as "7th ANGEL/Kou" and "7thANGEL/Otsu", meaning mean "Alpha" and "Beta" respectively. This naming system suggests that Kou and Otsu are just elements of the same being. This may be due to the Angels being dependent on each other for strength, although this is pure speculation. It could also be due to preference by NERV personnel, as there is no reason to believe Israfel is not just one Angel with the power to split its body in two. However, the main evidence that supports Israfel not being considered two separate beings is the fact that the two cores can coalesce, and no other Angels in the series show the ability to fuse together, which suggests Kou and Otsu come from the same core. Whatever the reason may be for Israfel not being counted as two Angels, it is canonically not considered such, as this would mess up the canon Angel count.
Abilities[]
Israfel is relatively weak compared to the other Angels, but it still manages to defeat Asuka and Shinji in their first encounter with it due to how much skill in combat the Angel possesses. Its ability to split in two and fight and beat the two pilots at once catches everyone at Nerv by surprise, and many reacted in horror when the Angel emerged as two halves some time after Asuka sliced it in half and had seemingly defeated it. It is unknown what would happen if one core of the Angel were to be destroyed without the other, but it is presumed that it could regenerate, making it slightly problematic to kill. Fortunately, the Angel proved very vulnerable to N2 mines. It tooks days for the Angel to regenerate, whereas the first Angel Shinji found, Sachiel, regenerated after a few hours, while other Angels have accomplished even greater feats. Offensively, Israfel also lacks the raw strength other Angels have. Both halves of Israfel have a head that can shoot energy blasts, but the explosions they produce are small compared to other Angels, and they mainly rely on their novel skill of synergy to defeat Eva pilots. When Asuka and Shinji finally learn to synchronize with each other, there is little for the Angel to do to defend against them other than self-destructing, which fails to harm the two Eva pilots.
Gallery[]
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 Villains
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