LMHGNeon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion Zeruel (14th Angel)

The Angel that nearly ended the show, kept simple on purpose.

MechaGrade Score

3.3/5

Zeruel · non-scale · 1997

GradeLMHG

Scalenon-scale

Released1997

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

Zeruel is one of the most consequential Angels in the whole series, the one that breaches NERV HQ and very nearly kills Shinji and Unit-01, and this 1997 LMHG kit gives you an accurate, low-fuss way to put it on the shelf.

What stands out to me is that Bandai skipped the sticker sheet entirely here, Zeruel's box contents list plastic sprue only, which tracks with how dark and comparatively unadorned its design is on screen. As with the rest of this vintage line, judge it as a faithful silhouette piece rather than an engineering showcase and it is a solid pickup.

Best for: Evangelion collectors who want the NERV-breaching Angel on the shelf and are fine with a simple, decal-free vintage snap build

The full review

What it is

This is the original Limited Model High Grade Zeruel from 1997, built to capture the Angel's bulky, vaguely humanoid silhouette with its oversized shoulders and the long, folding arms that reach several times its own height when deployed. Notably, the box contents here are plastic sprue only, no decal sheet, which actually suits the character: Zeruel's design in the show is darker and less graphically detailed than most of its siblings, so there is less need for printed markings to sell the look. Molded color plus careful cleanup should get you close to screen-accurate without much extra work.

The catch

This is still a 1997 non-scale snap kit, so do not expect posable elbows, fingers, or the kind of joint engineering modern kits offer. Zeruel's arms are shown folding up tight against the body and unfurling to enormous length in the show, and a kit from this era is not going to replicate that transformation, you get a fixed representative pose instead. Because there is no decal sheet, panel accents and any fine surface detail depend entirely on careful painting if you want to go beyond the molded plastic color. As with its sibling Angels in this line, verified builder reports specific to this kit are hard to find online, so treat fit and cleanup expectations as general to the LMHG line rather than confirmed for this exact kit.

Who it's for

Get this if you want Zeruel specifically, one of the show's most pivotal Angels, as an accurate static piece and you are comfortable with vintage snap-kit engineering rather than modern articulation. Skip it if posability matters to you, the arms alone make this a display piece rather than an action figure, and skip it if you are hoping for out-of-box color complexity, the plain sprue-only contents mean the finished look is simpler unless you add paint. Completionists working through the full Angel roster will get real value out of it regardless.

The build story

What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.

Box contents are plastic sprue only, no decals, no polycaps, which keeps this build about as simple as Bandai character kits get. Expect a quick, low-tool snap-together session rather than anything resembling modern Gunpla assembly.

The payoff is a reasonably faithful Zeruel silhouette for very little build effort. The bulky torso, oversized shoulders, and folded-arm pose all read correctly, and because the design leans on solid color blocks rather than fine graphic detail, the lack of stickers is less of a loss here than it would be on a more heavily marked Angel.

Lore & trivia

01Zeruel is the 14th Angel and the only one to breach NERV Headquarters through a direct frontal assault, penetrating all the way to Terminal Dogma.
02Zeruel's core contains the S2 Engine that NERV extracts and later installs in Evangelion Unit-01, the event that pushes Unit-01 into its unrestrained, god-like state later in the series.
03In combat Zeruel demonstrates an enhanced version of Sachiel's cross-shaped energy blast, a single shot capable of breaching eighteen of the GeoFront's twenty-two protective armor layers.