NERV Japan

NERV Japan (ネルフジャパン) is the successor to NERV's Japanese headquarters in Neon Genesis Evangelion: ANIMA. Its personnel are formally enrolled in the Strategic Self-Defense Forces, a legal convenience, since the SSDF is the only body in Japan permitted to maintain and use large-scale weaponry.

The old headquarters was dissolved and reborn as NERV Japan under pressure from SEELE, the United Nations, and the Japanese government, among others, as a gesture of atonement for the damage caused during past emergencies and the Angel search-and-destroy network. The reorganization coincided with the rollout of new hardware such as the Evangelion Unit-0.0.

The organization operates from the Hakone Caldera, territory now leased to the United Nations, and the UN is the sole authority that stands above it. Internally, each department carries a color code: Misato Katsuragi's headquarters wing is marked in red, while Maya Ibuki's engineering department wears blue.

Its Evangelion stable traces a long chain of upgrades. Three identical Unit-0.0 machines fly with Rei clones aboard, one eventually becoming the Unit-0.0 Mutant. Unit-00 Type F gains the Allegorica flight package, Unit-01 evolves from its Stage 2 specification through Type F into the Super Evangelion and at last the Evangelion Final Model, and Unit-02 Type II is transformed into the Crimson A1.

Misato Katsuragi commands the organization. Maya Ibuki heads the Science and Engineering Division, and Toji Suzuhara serves as deputy and acting commander as well as pilot liaison officer, with Kozo Fuyutsuki attached as advisor.

The pilots are Rei Ayanami, the First Child; Asuka Langley Sohryu, the Second Child, flying Unit-02 Type II and later part of the Crimson A1; Shinji Ikari, the Third Child, whose soul drives the Super Evangelion and the Final Model; and the Rei clones Quatre, Cinq, and Six, each assigned a Unit-0.0. Among the crew, Kensuke Aida trains with the Department of Security Intelligence and the Relic Retrieval Unit, Ryoji Kaji works counterintelligence, and Shigeru Aoba and Makoto Hyuga serve as combat officer technicians.