Mind-Blowing Mecha Cosplay Will Drive Evangelion Fans Berserk

A cosplayer has created a stunningly accurate representation of Neon Genesis Evangelion's mysterious Eva Unit 01.

Evangelion has been a staple of the cosplay scene since the anime series' original debut in 1995, but most Eva cosplayers dress up as the series' human cast members. Cosplayer and propmaker Sunny Maolo, however, took on the daunting task of cosplaying as the series' titular not-quite-a-mecha, the Evangelion. Maolo's take on the svelte protector of Tokyo-3 features light up eyes and core, reflective coating and foam pads that recreate the Eva's armor plating and control restraints. Despite all the armor, the costume still allows the wearer a full range of flexibility that allows them to recreate the Eva's iconic agile and animalistic movements. Maolo has also created a number of weapons to go along with the costume, including the Lance of Longinus and the Eva's gigantic sniper rifle.

According to Kotaku, the costume took over seven months to create, and is made from foam pads that have been wrapped in synthetic leather. The techniques used to create the suit are similar to the ones used to create the costumes for Japanese tokusatsu (masked hero) shows, such as Power Rangers and Kamen Rider. This is Maolo's third Evangelion costume, which features less bulky armor plates and more human-like proportions than their previous attempts at recreating the anti-Angel weapon.

Maolo is a cosplayer, costume designer and prop maker from Hong Kong who is currently based in Germany. In addition to their Eva Unit 01 cosplay, they are also creating a costume based on Asuka Langley's bright red Eva Unit 02 using similar techniques. They frequently post pictures and videos of their costumes to their Twitter account.

Neon Genesis Evangelion was originally released in 1995 and received immediate acclaim for its beautiful animation, psychological themes and subversion of many common anime tropes. The show was one of the most popular and critically lauded anime series of the 1990s and is still widely regarded as one of the most influential anime of all time. The last film in the series, Evangelion 3.0+1.01: Thrice Upon A Time, was released internationally earlier this year exclusively through Amazon's Prime Video service. Series creator and director Hideaki Anno says he is now finished with the series and will be taking a break from animation to work on live-action projects; his next film will be a reboot of a classic tokusatsu action series, entitled Shin Kamen Rider.

Source: Twitter, via Kotaku