Kaworu Nagisa | |
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Neon Genesis Evangelion character | |
![]() Kaworu in the twenty-fourth of the series | |
First appearance | Neon Genesis Evangelion episode 24: "The Beginning and the End, or "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"" (1996) |
Created by | Gainax |
Voiced by | Japanese: Akira Ishida English: Kyle Sturdivant (Neon Genesis Evangelion) Aaron Krohn (Death & Rebirth and The End of Evangelion) Greg Ayres (Neon Genesis Evangelion Director's Cut) Jerry Jewell (Rebuild of Evangelion) Clifford Chapin (Neon Genesis Evangelion Netflix dub) |
In-universe information | |
Species | Angel |
Gender | Male |
Title | Fifth Child |
Kaworu Nagisa (Japanese: 渚 カヲル, Hepburn: Nagisa Kaoru), real name Tabris (タブリス, Taburisu), is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, created by Gainax. In the series with the same name, he is the Fifth Child and pilot of a giant mecha named Evangelion Unit 02 for the special agency Nerv. He is the seventeenth and final member of a series of enemies named Angels. Once he arrives at Nerv, he makes friends with Shinji Ikari, pilot of the Eva-01, showing great affection towards him.
However, after taking over Eva-02, Kaworu attempts to reunite with the first Angel Adam, whom he believes is kept inside the organization's headquarters. After discovering that the entity locked up at the Nerv headquarters is the second Angel Lilith, he asks Shinji to be killed to allow mankind to survive. Kaworu appears in the franchise's animated feature films and related media, video games, the original net animation Petit Eva: Evangelion@School, the Rebuild of Evangelion films, and the manga adaptation by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.
The character was originally conceived by Gainax as a cat controlling a boy and appeared in the twenty-second episode of the series. After several changes, director Hideaki Anno and screenwriter Akio Satsukawa portrayed him as the last Angel, and he was included in the twenty-fourth episode. Despite only appearing in one episode, Kaworu's character enjoyed widespread popularity with audiences and animation enthusiasts, thus appearing at the top of several popularity polls. Critics disliked the ambiguity of his role, the lack of clarity of his goals, and the homosexual tones of his relationship with Shinji; others praised his open, affectionate and sociable personality. Merchandising based on him has also been released, particularly action figures.
Conception
The name of the character was chosen by Akio Satsukawa, a screenwriter who contributed to the writing of the twenty-fourth episode of the series, "The Beginning and the End, or "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"". Satsukawa opted for the surname Nagisa (Japanese for "beach"), in homage to the Japanese director Nagisa Ōshima.[1] The choice of a term related to the sea allowed him to connect to the names of other characters in the series, inspired by some ships of the Japanese Imperial Navy, and more particularly to the word nami (波, lit. "wave"), present in the surname by Rei Ayanami.[2] The name Kaworu was not written with the contemporary spelling カオル (Kaoru) with the katakana オ (o), but with the antiquated character ヲ (wo). The kanji nagisa (渚) was chosen for his graphic connection with katakana shi (シ) and the kanji sha (者), a detail that refers to the Japanese title of the episode, Saigo no shisha (最後のシ者).[3][4] Satsukawa created a pun with the phoneme shisha; it, depending on the variant, can take on the meaning of "messenger" (使者) or "dead", "deceased" (死者).[5]
Gainax, two years before the broadcast, published a presentation document of the series entitled Kikakusho (企画書, lit. "Proposal"). In the twenty-second episode of the original project, a "bishōnen constantly accompanied by a cat"[6][7] should have appeared. The boy would have been allowed by Nerv to enter its laboratories and, after a clash in which Shinji would find himself "in the dilemma of having to fight against an anthropomorphic enemy", "the greatest secret of the organization" would be revealed.[6][8] In the first version of events, the real Angel would have been the cat and the boy would have been a puppet at his command; the initial project was abandoned, and some elements were merged into the character of Kaworu.[9] In some preliminary proposals, he was endowed with a core, an organ characteristic of all the other angels, and with the ability to modify his appearance through a metamorphosis, other ideas set aside during the production of the series.[9] Anno conceived him as an "ideal male": "The plan was that the 'unconscious Shinji' would be Ayanami Rei, the Shinji who appears on the surface would be Ikari Shinji, and the 'ideal Shinji' would be Nagisa Kaworu".[10] Yoshiyuki Sadamoto conceived his design to be "more elegant and more refined" than Shinji, compared to which he should have been "taller, thinner and with a smaller face". For the somatic features of his face, it was decided to blend those of Rei, Shinji himself, and Asuka Langley Soryu.[11] Following a personal request from the director, his eyes were dyed red by the colorist Harumi Takaboshi, to draw an analogy with Rei's and give him "a distinct impression".[12] Although he was conceived to appear only in the final episodes, during the making of the opening theme the main staff decided to depict him with a sketch by Sadamoto;[13] in the editing phase, the sketch was inserted just before a frame depicting Rei Ayanami and the caption "Angels".[9][14]
Scriptwriter Akio Satsukawa, in the early stages of production, wrote some drafts for the script for the twenty-fourth episode, in which his relationship with Shinji would have been expanded and presented with less ambiguity. Kaworu and Shinji, in Satsukawa's ideas, would swim naked in a river at night, would have thought playing cello and piano together, and kiss on the lips; he inserted a part of these ideas in the first drafts.[15][16] Anno originally gave him an outline that Satsukawa greatly expanded, something that also struck Sadamoto.[17] Though Anno did not attempt to dissuade Satsukawa and the homoerotic tones of his draft, at one point he considered it "above my tolerance level". The Evangelion staff and producers, as well, rejected these proposals.[9] Episode director and animator Masayuki even refused to work on them and threatened to resign.[18] As per the usual production process, the drafts then underwent several modifications before being accepted as the definitive script.[19][20][21] They did not change or alter the essence of Nagisa's character however, as Anno says the draft's "atmosphere" was preserved in the script. Anno explained he wanted to hold on to the idea of an Angel "conversing in human language", mentioning it as a progression from Shinji's conversation with the Angel Leliel in the sixteenth episode. He also considered expanding on Kaworu's role in the expanded director's cuts versions of the episode but decided to prioritize clarifying Kaworu's connection to Seele.[9] Anno, like other characters in the series, conceived Kaworu based on his personality. He described Rei and Kaworu as part of his unconscious, and Kaworu specifically as his shadow, that is, the dark and unconscious side of the psyche.[22] According to some fans, moreover, he may have also taken as a model Kunihiko Ikuhara, director of the animated series Sailor Moon and a friend of him. Ikuhara, in an interview, denied the rumors, comparing Kaworu's cinic personality to Anno himself; while stating that he was not in the least involved in the creation of the character, he also stated he had close correspondence with Anno, with whom he was on good terms from the early design stages of Neon Genesis Evangelion. During the production of Sailor Moon, the entire staff went on a trip to the spa, and Ikuhara chatted all night with his colleague, animator of some episodes of the series; Ikuhara himself, watching the episode, noticed how the situation with the bath was the same.[23]
Voice
Akira Ishida voices Kaworu Nagisa in all his appearances in the original series,[24] as well as the later films, spin-offs, video games,[25][26] and the Rebuild of Evangelion saga. In 1997, the year the film The End of Evangelion was released, Ishida said that he found the role "very difficult", and to have felt "a lot of pressure" for the dubbing of the film version. His emotional tension grew exponentially when he learned that there would be two feature movies, but he was satisfied with his performance.[27] During the recording of Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007), the first chapter of the Rebuild of Evangelion cinematic tetralogy, Anno explained in detail the role played by Kaworu in the new theatrical version and his relationship with Shinji, providing him with various indications and some privileged information, closed to all other voice actors. Even during the dubbing sessions for Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012) he felt tense, but, supported and instructed step by step by the director, he managed to overcome performance anxiety and reprise the role.[28]
In English, he is voiced in the original series by Kyle Sturdivant,[29] in the director's cut version by Greg Ayres,[30][31] in the two 1997 films by Aaron Krohn,[32] in Rebuild of Evangelion by Jerry Jewell[33][34] and Clifford Chapin in the Netflix' dub.[35][36] In the Netflix dub, one of Kaworu's lines to Shinji was changed from ADV DVD's "I love you" to "I like you", also present in the VHS subtitles.[37] This generated controversy with some fans of the series who felt it altered their relationship and contributed to queer erasure. In an interview, Dan Kanemitsu, studio Khara's in-house translator[38], responsible for the updated Evangelion subtitles, production assistance, and other official Gainax and Khara translations including the Rebuild of Evangelion films. Kanemitsu, explaining he consults the original creator when the meaning is unclear or ambiguous, defended the importance of ambiguity, citing Anno's commentaries on Evangelion as a whole[39], his commitment to accuracy,[40][41] and getting the intended nuances of the text across a cultural gap.[42][43] It is not publicly available whether Khara has more closely supervised the new translation than the older ADV ones; Carrie Keranen, the voice director for the new English dub said that "Japan made all the casting decisions" through blind auditions, which was not the case with the previous ones.[44] Shinji's voice actress Megumi Ogata also agrees with the translation for the Netflix/Khara release, saying she originally interpreted Kaworu's lines as "like", and says she's glad that the new version is closer to the Japanese original.[45]
Appearances
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Kaworu appears in the twenty-fourth episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion. A secret sect named Seele and a group called Commission for the Instrumentality of Mankind sent him to the headquarters of the special agency Nerv to carry out a mission[46] as Fifth Child and replacement for Asuka Langley Soryu, who became unable to pilot the Unit 02. Kaworu, soon after arriving in Tokyo-3 city, meets Shinji Ikari, Third Child and Eva-01 pilot, premeditatedly.[47] He becomes friends with him,[48] showing an unconditional and sincere sympathy towards him.[49] His position as a pilot allows him to enter Nerv without impediment but arousing the suspicions of Misato Katsuragi, a major in the organization's operations department.[50] Kaworu has the appearance of a boy with gray hair, pale complexion, and red eyes,[51][52] and usually refers to human beings with the term Lilim.[53] The boy is subjected to a synchronicity test with Unit 02, obtaining a result so high as to astound the entire staff of the organization[54][55] and arbitrarily varying his rate of synchronization with the mecha.[56] All data about his past is erased, so as to conceal his true identity. Misato discovers that he was born on September 13, 2000, the day in which an enormous calamity named Second Impact occurred at the South Pole, caused by the first of a series of enemies called Angels.[57][58] He is revealed to be the seventeenth Angel and "last sacrificial messenger",[59][60] with the name of Tabris. In him is implanted the soul of the first Angel, Adam, "recovered" by Seele, who captured Tabris when he was still in an embryonic state.[61][49] Unlike all the other Angels, moreover, he is able to develop feelings close to those of human beings[61] and to communicate with them.[62] Once in the headquarters, he comes into contact with Rei Ayanami,[63] pilot of the Eva-00 in which the soul of another Angel is implanted, and confesses to sharing his nature as a hybrid.[64][65]
Kaworu, using his Angel skills, manages to manipulate and control the movements of Unit 02,[66] in an attempt to enter the Terminal Dogma of the Nerv headquarters and get in touch with the angel Adam, who is supposedly guarded within the structure.[67][68] The young man, despite his anthropomorphic features, proves to possess a series of anomalous abilities,[69] including levitation and an AT Field, a powerful force field characteristic of Angels and Evangelions.[52][50] Arriving at his destination, he discovers that Adam is not kept inside the base, but the second Angel Lilith.[49] Kaworu, at the sight of Lilith, interrupts his attempt at contact and decides to preserve the lineage of Lilim, the humankind that descends from her, rather than causing their extinction,[70] letting himself be killed by Eva-01 and Shinji.[71]
Rebuild of Evangelion
In the Rebuild of Evangelion saga, the character has an important and more prominent role[72][73] and he is aware of details of Shinji's life, even before he can physically meet him.[74] He is introduced in the final sequence of the first film, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007), in which he awakens on the surface of the moon to converse with a Seele member.[75] During the scene, he rises from a coffin placed on a lunar sea; next to him, moreover, there are four other coffins already open and four still closed, for a total of nine visible coffins. Behind him, for a moment, a white giant is framed, similar to the Angel Lilith.[76] He is completely naked, without the need for a suit or other means to be able to breathe on the moon. He also addresses commander Gendo Ikari, who is visiting a place named Tabgha Base, as "father".[77] In Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009), the second installment of the saga, when Shinji tries to save Rei and unwittingly starts the Second Impact cataclysm, he descends aboard an Evangelion unit known as Mark.06.[78]. He stops the Third Impact, addressing Shinji with the phrase: "At least this time I will be able to make you happy".[79] Originally, Kaworu would have said the line with the light-hearted smile of the original series; in the production phase, however, it was decided to give him an unusually troubled expression. Kazuya Tsurumaki himself, assistant director of the classic series and related movies, described her as that of a man who takes his wife back by force. He also jokingly said: "[We thought it would be] more interesting if Kaworu looked like [he was thinking]: 'You've been with a woman while I've been away? How dare you...!'".[80] Staff initially wanted to give him a "showier entrance", and give him a scene talking to Asuka when Eva 03 was possesed the ninth Angel.[81]
In the third movie Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012), set fourteen years after the previous feature film, he works for Nerv and is designated to pilot the Eva-13 together with Shinji on behalf of Gendo,[82] whom he calls "king of Lilim". He shows Shinji, alone and scared of the new world, the consequences of his actions on planet Earth. Shinji is initially reluctant, but Kaworu offers him an opportunity to revert the damage done by Third Impact. To train, the two boys practice piano on the same a quatre mains musical base. Having reached a good harmony, the two head, aboard Eva-13, to the Terminal Dogma of the Nerv base. They are confronted by Asuka and Mari Makinami. Kaworu however falls to a trap set by Gendo, and causes Shinji to accidentally start Fourth Impact. Nagisa reveals that he is the first Angel, but demoted to thirteenth, and dies telling Shinji: "We will meet again".[83] Akira Ishida, Kaworu's voice actor, was asked if the sequence of the two boys united in the same Evangelion could be interpreted as a "love scene"; Ishida replied that he "could not make that interpretation", and leaved it up to what the director said or what fans would speculate, saying: "But, at the very least, them getting in the same unit is different, as they both pursue the same goal together. It seems representative of the depth of their connection.".[28]
Manga
In the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga, written by the series' character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Kaworu is introduced in advance, in a narrative arc roughly corresponding to the nineteenth episode of the series.[84] In the 57th chapter of the comic he meets Shinji in the ruins of a church during a piano solo;[85] during his first appearance, he kills a stray cat in front of Shinji. He argues that this would spare the cat further pain. This makes Shinji angry and disturbed, and he realizes he had a similar feeling when he first met Rei.[86] He is later brought into Nerv to replace the Fourth Child, Toji Suzuhara, who died in a fight, fighting alongside Rei Ayanami against the Angel Armisael. His role as an Angel also changes, being presented as the twelfth instead of the seventeenth. Shinji, in this version of events, has strong suspicions of the Fifth Child;[87] he accuses Kaworu of violating his personal space.[84] Following Rei's death, Shinji temporarily moves to his apartment, afflicted and heartbroken by the loss he has just suffered, and afraid of facing Misato.[88] Shinji has a nightmare and starts to hyperventilate. Kaworu uses this opportunity to perform CPR by kissing Shinji, arousing his anger.[89] Over time, their relationship becomes increasingly cold and tormented, until they take two different paths.[90]
Unlike the original animated series, in which ambiguity remains about the relationship between Shinji and Kaworu, leaving great freedom of interpretation to the viewers, for the manga Sadamoto decided to change the characterization of Kaworu and to leave less margin for interpretation. In the comic, according to him, Kaworu feels for Shinji "a reflection of Rei's feelings", but he fails to understand these feelings.[91] Shinji, irritated by his behavior, admits after killing Kaworu that he felt "drawn to him", wondering why human beings feel drawn to others, but in the end rejects him, "because he is not Rei". Before his death, The Third Child imagines himself strangling Kaworu at the same time and place he met him; for the scene, the author took inspiration by the film Betty Blue by Jean-Jacques Beineix, in which the tormented story of two young lovers is told, in which in the end he strangles her.[92] Sadamoto created Kaworu with the idea of representing "a situation in which Shinji has to confront liking other people"; according to him, Nagisa is the person who, most of all, understands the boy. In an interview Sadamoto compared his death to a "contradictory fumi-e", an ancient Japanese ritual consisting of the trampling of Christian icons, through which Tabris would ask Shinji to prove he loved him by killing him.[93] According to Sadamoto, on the other hand, in this particular moment of his life Shinji "does not want the affection of a girl, but the approval of another boy". Unlike Hideaki Anno, who wanted to give Kaworu the image of an "ideal man", Sadamoto, believing that human beings are the last evolutionary stage of angels, tried to represent him as a "pre-human", innocent and naive character. The artist was inspired by his experience, particularly by a classmate of his as in elementary school, a charming transfer student from Tokyo for whom he felt great admiration. "I secretly thought it was very cool. It is not romance ... It is a delicate feeling in a delicate age".[17]
In other media
After the conclusion of Neon Genesis Evangelion's first airing, a self-parody audio track written by Anno called After the End was released, in which the characters of the series, played by their original voice actors, jokingly discuss and prepare in bulk a new ending just before the deadline of the production schedule, breaking the fourth wall. Kaworu appears; when Asuka calls him "homoboy", he tells her, "I wish you wouldn't make statements when you lack evidence for them." Nagisa, along with Eva's other pilots, joins a super sentai-style superhero group named by Asuka as Shin sentai Evangelion.[94] In the movie Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth (1997) there are sequences in which four children from the third middle school of the city of Tokyo-2, with their respective instruments, practice a string quartet in the school's auditorium. Among the four there is the violinist, who looks like Kaworu; according to what is indicated by the superimposed writings, however, the event would take place eighteen months before his appearance in Tokyo-3. From the script, it is clear that, despite the similarity with the protagonists of the series, the four children should still be interpreted as actors of an imaginary sequence.[95] In the following film, Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997), the souls of all humanity unite into one collective consciousness, and Shinji, during a process named Instrumentality of Mankind, symbolically argues with Kaworu and Rei Ayanami.[96] Akira Ishida said that the Kaworu who appears in The End is not real, nor is he concretely present;[27] during the feature film he and Rei say they represent the "hope that people will one day be able to understand each other".[97][98]
The character appears in video games dedicated to Neon Genesis Evangelion. In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel 2nd, as in the original series, he has a close relationship with Shinji.i[99] Among the scenarios involving the two boys there is a scene in which they play the cello and the violin together; in another scenario Kaworu kisses Shinji on the lips.[100] In the video game Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 Kaworu feels a deep feeling of love towards Shinji, and, having little interest in the female sex, prefers to have a romantic relationship with him, avoiding any other bond.[101] In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji Ikari Raising Project the player has the opportunity to make him Shinji's best friend and to start a romantic relationship between them;[102][103] he is brought up to Shinji by the will of Dr. Ritsuko Akagi.[104] He also appears in the manga Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days; in the manga it is revealed that Kaworu met, even before meeting Shinji, his father Gendo, at the time a young man with great problems of self-esteem and social interaction, without having changed his appearance in the slightest.[105] In the parodistic series Petit Eva: Evangelion@School he is a particularly popular student among the students of his school, the third municipal academy "Nerv" of Tokyo-3, and often demonstrates that he wants to fiercely protect Shinji, whome he loves.[106]
In the manga Evangelion - Detective Shinji Ikari, written by Takumi Yoshimura, Ryōji Kaji and Kaworu are portrayed as two private investigators to whom Shinji is forced to turn;[107] in this alternate universe Nagisa is presented as his new classmate, and he ends up investigating with him a case.[108] In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse his personality is relatively similar to that of the original series.[109] Kaworu, at the beginning of the manga, is seen by Shinji near a vending machine running away from the scene of a violent explosion along with Rei Ayanami, with whom he has an unspecified bond. On that occasion, Ikari encounters an unspecified gem for the first time, which he brings with him the following day. Nagisa, on the same day, introduces herself as her new classmate at the Nerv Academy. LIke the original series, he is immediately showed great interest in him, making him uncomfortable.[110] Shinji, involved in a battle of Kaworu and Rei against an Angel named Ramiel,[111] ends up fighting as guardian Shemuhaza at his side against the Angels,[112][113] here depicted as creatures who take possession of the bodies of deceased people for try to obtain gems called "cores", necessary for the survival of Yggdrasil, the tree on which the balance between the various dimensions of reality rests. Ikari, in one chapter, spies on him and Rei in a moment of intimacy, feeling a certain jealousy, and then remembers having already met Kaworu as a child.[114][115] Kaworu and Shinji eventually fight together in an attempt to save Ayanami.[116] Kaworu is one of the main characters of a pachinko entitled CR Shinseiki Evangelion: Saigo no shisha (CR新世紀エヴァンゲリオン ~最後のシ者~, "CR Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Last Messanger"), released in Japan in April 2009.[117] During the game Nagisa intervenes during Operation Yashima against Ramiel with his Eva-04.[118] In addition to various video games based on the original animated series, Kaworu has appeared in media not related to the Evangelion franchise, such as Million Arthur,[119] Hortensia Saga,[120] Keri hime sweets, Summons Board,[121][122] Divine Gate,[123] Monster Strike,[124] Final Gear,[125] Puzzle & Dragons,[126] and Puyopuyo!! Quest.[127] Kaworu briefly assists Shinji in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Anima, which also features a "Dark Kaworu" who hates humans and hates music;[128] he is also present in the popular cross-over franchise Super Robot Wars.[129]
Characterization and themes
–—Hideaki Anno[9]
Kaworu is an erudite boy with an easy-going, straightforward and honest personality.[49] Despite his apparent naturalness and availability, however, he conceals his true feelings from other people, except for Shinji Ikari.[130] Right from the start he shows great interest in the Third Child, the first person with whom he comes into contact after arriving in Tokyo-3.[131] Shinji is feeling great isolation and necessity after the death, departure, or alienation of all his peers. However, his esoteric way of communicating confounds Shinji.[51] Kaworu also shows great interested in humanity. He describes the Ode to Joy as the highest achievement of human culture, and reflects on the fragility and nature of humans. He is very direct in his interactions and has seemingly no care, or knowledge of social conventions. He also shows sympathy for Rei, who shares his hybrid nature.[49] Kaworu seeks out active contact with Shinji as a friend.[58][61] Discussing with Shinji, Kaworu says he thinks was "born to meet him".[132] Although Shinji is inclined to maintain a certain emotional distance towards other people, the Fifth Child is able to make him express his feelings openly.[133] Kaworu shows that he feels spontaneous sympathy and affection towards Shinji, irrespective of his goal as the seventeenth Angel.[49] After they meet, Shinji accepts the friendly and unreserved nature of his actions and lets him approach.[49] The Fifth Child, for his part, captivates Shinji with his charm.[134] Kaworu and Shinji, despite the short time spent together, are interested to each other and build a relationship based on mutual appreciation.[47] He is also the first person to tell Shinji he likes him and that Shinji opens his heart to.[135]
When Kaworu takes over Eva-02, Shinji expresses disbelief to him not revealing his Angelic nature, and says Kaworu has betrayed him, "just like my father." After his sudden death, the Third Child falls back into a state of profound affliction.[136][137] Kaworu, shortly before dying, maintains his feeling of affection for his colleague unchanged, saying that meeting him made him happy.[138] After killing Kaworu, Misato, having grown apathetic in the latter episodes of the series, fails to console Shinji.[6] Since the first airing of the series, controversies have arisen debating the nature of Shinji and Kaworu's relationship, and Kaworu's own nature as a character.[139] The nature of Kaworu and Shinji's relationship is depicted in an ambiguous manner and wording[140], as Kaworu uses the phrase suki tte koto sa (好きってことさ) to express his feelings for Shinji; the phrase can be used to denote anything from intimacy or friendship to love, and that Shinji is deserving of koui (好意, sympathy). Staff indicates to not have been expecting Kaworu to provoke a strong impression of a sexual component, or for him to become very popular in the first place, and attribute their lack of attention to this to the lack of time when making the latter episodes[141], and even that Kaworu was not supposed to hold Shinji's hand in the bath scene, as this was an animation error.[142]
Writer Patrick Drazen, in his book Anime Explosion! expresses the view that Kaworu's offer of apparent love for Shinji is a tactic that Kaworu as the last Angel used to disarm Shinji. Drazen reports that some believe that whether Kaworu as Angel, has any concept of sexuality as he is presented in the series is unclear.[143] Lynzee Loveridge of Anime News Network interpreted Kaworu as a negative figure, saying that "Kaworu's kindness has a nefarious side", seeing him as an Angel who deceives and uses Shinji for his own personal purposes.[144] For Mike Crandol he "is representative of blind, total and unconditional love and acceptance, but like those things Kaoru turns out to not be real at all".[145] Their colleague Zac Bertschy has a mixed opinion in his review of Rebuild 3.0. While not interpreting him as an antagonist or a negative figure, according to Bertschy his presence demonstrates Shinji's great emotional fragility and the difficulty of his long path of self-acceptance. He described Kaworu as a loving, considerate partner who cares deeply for Shinji's happiness, refuses to leave him behind and even takes Shinji's terrible burden as his own; he also wrote: "Shinji has misinterpreted Kaworu's love not as evidence that he himself is worth loving and thus his motivation can be entirely his own, but that Kaworu's love itself makes him worthwhile [...] But he's still just fooling himself. He's still making catastrophic decisions motivated by self-hatred – Kaworu's love doesn't make him a complete person."[146]
Takekuma Kentaro, editor of two collections of interview with Evangelion staff named Schizo and Parano Evangelion, considers that Kaworu, for Shinji, turns out to be the first friend he can trust to and a homosexual romantic interest.[147] Elliot Gay (Japanator) described Kaworu as a positive figure, and for Shinji he represents "represents hope; the hope that maybe he can redo things".[148] For Kunihiko Ikuhara, director of Sailor Moon and friend of Hideaki Anno: "Shinji is bullied by his father, slapped by Ayanami, called stupid by Asuka and Misato yells at him to behave like a man; he doesn't receive much compassion from others, and I believe that in this situation the only one to tell him that it's okay as it is, is Kaworu".[23] Kotono Mitsuishi and Megumi Hayashibara, Japanese voice actresses of Misato Katsuragi and Rei Ayanami, compared the two to Orihime and Hikoboshi, two legendary lovers of the Japanese tanabata myth.[149] Japanese scholar and writer Yūya Satō compared his role to that of the male characters of the yaoi, as well as that of the characters of the shōjo genre; for Sato, the appearance of Kaworu is more important on a thematic than narrative level, and would have the purpose of deepening the psychological aspects of Shinji. She also compared his role to shōjo manga, where the process and the relational dynamics of the protagonists have more weight than the conclusion or the fights.[150]
In Apollonius of Tyana's Nuctemeron, Tabris is the Angel of free will and freedom.[151][152] In Neon Genesis Evangelion, connecting to the Judeo-Christian tradition, Tabris chooses to be killed by Shinji, finding its absolute freedom in death.[153][154] Apollonius' Nuctemeron also mentions a demon named Cahor, spelled in Japanese as Kahoru (カホル), referred to as the Angel of lies and deceit, a detail that guidebook Evangelion Chronicle relates to his deceptive anthropomorphic features.[68] Writer Aaron Ploof compared Kaworu to Jesus Christ for his compassionate character and his sacrifice.[98] Conversely, Carl Horn, editor of the Evangelion manga in English, compared Kaworu to the character Satan in Mark Twain's novella The Mysterious Stranger, for acting with indifference to human morality.[84] According to Yūichirō Oguro, who curated contents of the home video editions of Neon Genesis Evangelion, he presents affinities with Lalah Sune, a female character from the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. For Oguro, their relationship with the male protagonist of the story traces an analogy between the characters: both appear in the last episodes of the series and seem to be able to understand the feelings and aspirations of the male main character, dying by his own hand.[155] Wired also compared Kaworu with Ryo Asuka, the main antagonist of Gō Nagai's Devilman.[156]
Cultural impact
Popularity
The character of Kaworu, despite his one-episode appearance, became extremely popular among fans of the series, so much so that he rivalled the female protagonists of Neon Genesis Evangelion Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Soryu.[155] The character's appreciation was reflected in popularity polls, even years after the series first aired.[157][158][159][160][161] In 1997 and 1998 Kaworu took second and sixth place among the most popular male characters of the moment in two polls conducted by Animage magazine.[162][163] He also appeared in the monthly surveys of the magazine, remaining in the top 20 in 1997 polls.[164][165][166][167][168] In 1998 Animage ranked him 23th among the 100 most popular anime characters,[169] and 43th in 1999.[170] In August and September 2009, shortly after the Rebuild films were released, he emerged in sixth and third place among the most popular characters of Newtype magazine;[171][172] in October he ranked fourth.[173] In March of the following year, Newtype included him among the most popular male characters of the 1990s, giving him the second place, immediately after Shinji Ikari. He also ranked in Evangelion popularity polls, usually in the top three.[174][175][176]
Critical reception
The only one who tells [Shinji] that he's fine just the way he is is Kaworu. "You don't have to try to so hard." Perhaps because of that, after Kaworu appeared, the girls who had been watching Eva and who found it interesting but didn't feel the kind of enthusiasm that the boys felt about it were able to finally connect emotionally with Shinji. Perhaps because of that everyone loves Kaworu. |
–Kunihiko Ikuhara[23] |
Criticism has ranged from mixed to positive regarding Kaworu's character and his relationship with Shinji. For Caleb Bailey of Comic Book Resources) the hot spring scene "blazed the trail" on homosexual relationships in Japanese animation, being "ahead of its time".[177][178] Anthony Gramuglia cited Shinji and Kaworu among the best queer representations in Japanese animation, but criticized Kaworu's degrading role in some spin-offs.[179] LGBT-oriented portal Pride.com also praised Kaworu and his relationship with Shinji, considering how at the time there were not many representations of gay relationships in the mainstream mass media.[180][181] Lyznee Loveridge of Anime News Network praised their development: "The fate of their relationship is decidedly tragic, but the short time the two spend together is refreshing compared to the selfish interactions between the rest of the cast."[182] Her colleague Kenneth Lee criticized Kaworu as "an enigmatic figure that further adds fuel to the fire of confusion, but he just manages to raise even more questions that remain unanswered." He says "the element of homosexuality is perhaps the most disturbing, gratuitous, and unnecessary." The openness Shinji shows towards him, according to Lee, is implausible and "irrational": "Ultimately, the homosexuality issue seems nothing more than cheap shock value tactics to stun generation X."[183]
Screen Rant[184][185] and Comic Book Resources[186] listed him among the best characters in the series. For CBR's Reuben Baron, in particular, his defeat is "the most dramatic example" of the narrative seriousness of Eva's later episodes.[187] For Screen Rant's Jack Cameron, his confrontation with Shinji is "Perhaps the most heartbreaking of fights in the whole series".[188] Writer Dani Cavallaro praised the last "memorable" sequence of the character, trapped in the hands of Shinji's Eva-01, marked by a long sixty-second freeze-frame.[189] The scene, according to the Asiascape site, would represent one of the most artistically and editorially successful moments of the series.[190] For Chris Beveridge of Mania.com, the image of his severed head falling, visible for a few moments in the twenty-fourth episode, is "an extremely powerful moment".[191] Carlo Santos of Anime News Network appreciated the character of Kaworu and the role he played in Sadamoto's manga; he wrote, "the tension between the two boys soon becomes one of the most intriguing subplots".[192] Zac Bertschy, reviewing Evangelion 3.0, praised the development of their relationship, describing it as the highlight of the film.[146] Anime Reign magazine expressed a similar opinion, considering it one of the few merits of characterization in the movie.[193] Nicoletta Christina Browne of THEM Anime Reviews found Kaworu's personality and relationship with Shinji in 3.0 effective, but rushed, as "Shinji is at his weakest and most fearful" in it.[194] Inkoo Kang (Los Angeles Times) considered Kaworu's introduction while playing a piano as important for the film as represents the ideas that sins can be atoned for, but considered Kaworu's interactions with Shinji melodramatic.[195]
Legacy
Kaworu Nagisa has been used for advertising campaigns[196][197] and a wide range of merchandising items: action figures,[198][199] nendoroids,[200] backpacks,[201] perfumes,[202] sweets,[203][204] cosmetics,[205][206] clothing,[207] toys,[208][209] key rings,[210] watches[211] and jewelry.[212][213] On 22 May 1997 Kadokawa Shoten published a book dedicated to him, entitled Kaworu - Evangelion Photograph (KAWORU-カヲル- 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン文庫写真集).[214] In August of the same year, Japanese yaoi magazine June published a volume entitled Zankoku na tenshi no yō ni (残酷な天使のように, lit. "Like a cruel angel"), dedicated to Shinji and Kaworu. The book, whose title is taken from the first verse of the theme song, contains two long interviews with Hideaki Anno, the discarded episode drafts, a brief dōjinshi from a staff member and other dojinshi by mangakas from the shonen ai scene, such as Reku Fuyanagi (Gundam Wing: Ground Zero) and Takamure Tamotsu (Umi ni nita sora no iro).[215] In 2005, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the series release, mangaka Mine Yoshizaki designed a female version of Angel Tabris action figure, called Tabris-XX.[216] As a promotion for its 10th Anniversary Special Edition of Evangelion, ADV Films published a humorous bumper sticker which reads "Kaworu died for your sins".[217] Kaworu's popularity is also parodied in a spin-off manga called ''It's A Miraculous Win'' (Kiseki no kachi wa (奇跡の勝ちは), released in fourteen volumes from 2006 to 2015, in which a parody of him works in a pachinko parlour and dates and obssessive Evangelion female fan called Sakura Mogami.[218] In 2008, Kadokawa published a fanbook called All About Nagisa Kaworu: A Child of the Evangelion, a collection of fan letters, poems, reprinted manga pages, erotic dōjinshi, and interviews with gravure idols.[219]
In 2015 Kadokawa published a third book dedicated to him, entitled Kaworu 2015: Nagisa Kaworu shashin-shū (KAWORU 2015 -渚カヲル写真集-), containing unpublished illustrations, information and interviews with staff.[220][221] In the same year, the 7-Eleven chain put on the market 166 cm life-size statues of the character, auctioned and sold for over 1,728,000 Japanese yen.[222] In 2017 the official Evangelion Store inaugurated a summer festival dedicated to Kaworu, offering unreleased merchandising.[223] In 2018 it was used for products and features of the 500 Type Eva, a high-speed train entirely dedicated to Evangelion.[224] In 2019 Bandai announced a new card game dedicated to Evangelion titled Evangelion Card Game; one of the two sets of the game, called Ev02, is dedicated to the characters of Kaworu and Asuka.[225] Tony Takezaki paid homage to him in his comic Tony Takezaki's Evangelion, in which he is parodied by Keroro, the protagonist of Keroro Gunso.[226] Quotes, references and visual and conceptual tributes to the character of Kaworu are present in Spider-Verse,[227] in the dorama Nigeru wa haji da ga yaku ni tatsu,[228] in the anime Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei,[229] Hayate no Gotoku![230] and Keroro Gunso, in which he is parodied by Saburō, another character played by Ishida.[231] Japanese actress Chiaki Kuriyama has declared having an artistic debt towards him and to have approached the world of dubbing after the character.[232]
Notes
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- ^ "CASTから一声". EVA友の会 (in Japanese). 12. 1997.
- ^ "『エヴァンゲリオン』カヲルは何者?正体と意味深なセリフを解説!" (in Japanese). 6 July 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
- ^ "Episode Commentaries". Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum Edition Booklet. 7. A.D. Vision. 2005.
- ^ Neon Genesis Evangelion Film Book (in Japanese). 9. Kadokawa Shoten. p. 54.
- ^ a b c Gainax, ed. (1997). Neon Genesis Evangelion Newtype 100% Collection (in Japanese). Kadokawa Shoten. ISBN 4-04-852700-2.
- ^ Evangelion Chronicle (in Japanese). 19. Sony Magazines. p. 26.
- ^ Evangelion Chronicle (in Japanese). 1. Sony Magazines. p. 26.
- ^ a b c d e f "庵野秀明 - Part I". 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン残酷な天使のように (in Japanese). Magazine Magazine. 1997. ISBN 4-906011-25-X.
- ^ "庵野秀明" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 23 February 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
- ^ ALL ABOUT 渚カヲル A CHILD OF THE EVANGELION (in Japanese). Kadokawa Group Publishing. 2008. p. 146.
- ^ Neon Genesis Evangelion Film Book (in Japanese). 9. Kadokawa Shoten. p. 46.
- ^ Cavallaro, Dani (2009). The Art of Studio Gainax Experimentation, Style and Innovation at the Leading Edge of Anime. McFarland & Company. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-7864-3376-6.
- ^ Platinum Edition Booklet. 2. A.D.Vision.
- ^ Neon Genesis Evangelion Film Book (in Japanese). 9. Kadokawa Shoten. p. 52.
- ^ 別冊JUNE (in Japanese). Magazine Magazine. September 1996.
- ^ a b "Interview: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto". ALL ABOUT 渚カヲル A CHILD OF THE EVANGELION (in Japanese). Kadokawa Group Publishing. 2008. pp. 146–155.
- ^ Shinseiki Evangerion e conte shū = Neon genesis Evangelion. Gainax. (Shohan ed.). Tōkyō: Fujimi Shobō. 1997. ISBN 4-8291-7347-5. OCLC 122781435.
- ^ EVANGELION ORIGINAL〈1〉. Hideaki Anno, 秀明 庵野. 富士見書房. 1996. Foreword. ISBN 4-8291-7321-1. OCLC 674836426.
- ^ EVANGELION ORIGINAL〈2〉. Hideaki Anno, 秀明 庵野. 富士見書房. 1996. Foreword. ISBN 4-8291-7322-X. OCLC 676220824.
- ^ EVANGELION ORIGINAL〈3〉. Hideaki Anno, 秀明 庵野. 富士見書房. 1996. Foreword. ISBN 4-8291-7323-8. OCLC 674428440.
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The reason why Kaworu could set his synchro rate with Eva-02 at will is because like Eva-02 he was born from Adam. Had the Eva not had a soul already, he could have merged into the Eva. He could also control the Eva without piloting from inside. The reason why reconfiguration of core is not necessary is because he had the same soul as the Eva. Because the soul inside the Eva was closed inside its shell, he could control the Eva at his will.
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References
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