Touji Suzuhara

Name: Touji Suzuhara
Age: 14
Birthday: December 26, 2001
Sex: Male
Classification: The Fourth Child
Piloting: Evangelion Unit-03

Touji Suzuhara is the Fourth Child and pilot of Evangelion Unit-03. Unlike the other children, Touji's character is not nearly as well developed. He appears rather normal, albeit initially hyper-aggressive towards Shinji Ikari, the Third Child and pilot of Evangelion Unit-01, due to what he perceives as careless piloting on Shinji's part at the battle with Sachiel, the Third Angel. That incident had left his little sister injured and in the hospital.

However, after learning that Shinji was the one who saved his sister, they end up becoming good friends. Touji also has a hostile yet comical relationship with Asuka Langley Sohryu, the Second Child and pilot of Evangelion Unit-02.

A defining characteristic of Touji Suzuhara is the fact that he is very protective of his sister (who is incidentally never shown on screen, or referred to by name). In fact, it is only to get her better medical care at a NERV hospital that Touji agrees to pilot an Evangelion Unit.

Touji's first chance at piloting Evangelion Unit-03 proves to be his last, as the unit is infected during transport by Bardiel, the Thirteenth Angel. After incapacitating both Rei and Asuka, the renegade Angel is eventually stopped by Evangelion Unit-01 under the control of a Dummy Plug (which was activated forcefully by NERV Commander Gendo Ikari following Shinji's refusal to fight).

After a horrific battle that leaves Bardiel and Evangelion Unit-03 gutted across several miles, Touji Suzuhara's Entry Plug is crushed. While Touji suffers serious injuries that leave him hospitalized, he does survive. The real damage is done to Shinji's mind, who perceives this as his father using his hands to try to kill his friend. The incident results in Shinji lashing out against NERV, threatening to destroy NERV Headquarters himself.

Analysis

• Romanization of Touji Suzuhara
  Due to the romanization process (the representation of a different writing system using the Roman alphabet by the use of transliteration or transcription) that is used to translate Japanese into English, at times subtle variances in spelling have been observed. These variances typically involve silent vowels and have little to no bearing on pronunciation. In this case, Touji Suzuhara is also often simplified into Toji Suzuhara. Both variances refer to the same character.