Kaworu Nagisa

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Character
Name: Kaworu Nagisa (渚 カヲル)
Occupation: Fifth Child/Replacement pilot of Evangelion Unit 02, 17th Angel
Relationships: Shinji Ikari (friend, love interest)
Fandom: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Other:
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Kaworu is a character in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Although he appears in only one episode of the original series, his role is exceptionally memorable, and he tends to appear more prominently in both supplementary material and fan content.

Canon

Kaworu is introduced in episode 24 of the original series as a new mecha pilot; he appears to be an ordinary human 14 year old like all the show's other pilots. His personality is calm, honest and straightforward, although he seems unaware of social conventions and speaks in an oddly distant and condescending way.

Kaworu shows immediate interest in Shinji Ikari, the show's main character, and goes out of his way to befriend him. A depressed and profoundly lonely boy with low self-esteem, Shinji is unused to receiving such unconditional sympathy and affection from anyone; although he's at first uncomfortable with Kaworu's attention, they quickly develop a close connection, with Shinji confiding in Kaworu in a way he's been unable to do with anyone else before.

As the episode proceeds, Kaworu is revealed to be an Angel - one of the alien monsters the mecha pilots exist to fight. However, Kaworu chooses not to destroy humanity, and instead asks Shinji to kill him so that humanity can survive. Shinji ultimately does kill Kaworu, causing severe psychological trauma that haunts him for the rest of the story.

His name as an angel is Tabris.

Other Continuities

Alternate Evangelion continuities nearly always expand Kaworu's role from his relatively brief appearance in the original anime. The manga has Kaworu join the cast much earlier; he is a somewhat more sinister figure and has a more tumultuous and ambivalent relationship with Shinji, including Shinji actively disliking and distrusting him at first. Kaworu also appears in all four Rebuild movies and plays a particularly important role throughout the third. In all these continuities, Kaworu and Shinji develop an exceptionally close relationship in a short time, and Shinji is ultimately traumatized by the discovery that Kaworu is an Angel and his subsequent death. More divergent alternate universe media often makes Kaworu a regular human - albeit usually a mysterious one - and omits his death but preserves the importance of his relationship with Shinji, sometimes casting him as a classmate or childhood friend.

In Evangelion video games with dating sim elements, such as Shinji Ikari Raising Project and Girlfriend of Steel 2, Kaworu is often included as a potential love interest for Shinji, although his route is often more limited, more comical, and/or more difficult to access compared to the female options.

Fandom

Kaworu is an exceptionally popular character, rivaling the series' two main female characters Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Sohryu despite appearing in only one episode.[1] He regularly ranks extremely high in anime character popularity polls, even years after the release of the original series,[2] and episode 24 is widely considered among the series' best.[3][4] Staff who worked on the show have said they did not anticipate Kaworu's popularity.[5]

Kaworu is regularly featured in advertising and official merchandise, often alongside main characters who appear in nearly every episode.

Shipping

Kaworu's canon relationship with Shinji is commonly interpreted as homoerotic even outside normal Yaoi fandom spaces. Kaworu's dialogue toward Shinji is carefully ambiguous, using wording in the original Japanese that can refer to either close friendship or romantic love; Shinji often blushes when Kaworu speaks to him. Earlier versions of the script were even more overt, with ideas pitched for the two boys to swim naked together, or to kiss each other.

At the time of the original show's 1997 airing it was unusual to see M/M attraction portrayed so overtly and earnestly in mainstream shounen anime; for many viewers who were in their teens at the time, Kaworu was among the first canon same-sex love interests they had encountered. Kawoshin is an extremely popular ship, nearly rivaling the series' main M/F pairings of Asushin and Reishin. Kawoshin also enjoys considerable popularity among Yaoi fans not otherwise engaged with Eva fandom. Supplementary material often gives Kaworu and Shinji's ambiguously romantic relationship more prominence than the original show, including portraying Kaworu as a love interest for Shinji in official (albeit extracanonical) dating sims.

The vast majority of ship-focused Kaworu fanworks pair him with Shinji (Kawoshin), but he is also paired with Rei (Kaworei) as they share the common trait of both being more Angel than human, and more rarely with Asuka (Kawoasu). Fanwork that focuses on shipping Shinji with either Asuka or Rei sometimes pairs the other girl with Kaworu as a background pairing.

Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

  • a shoulders-up image of Kaworu Nagisa holding a rose, which is making his hand bleed. His eyes and the blood are red, but the rest of the image is monochrome.

    Kaworu by Vampirella (2003)

  • a neck-up portrait of Kaworu with the NERV logo behind him.

    Eva Kaworu Nagisa by 鸢 (2010)

  • a thighs-up portrait of Kaworu in his casual outfit. He is looking over his shoulder at the viewer.

    Kaworu by JaneMere (2013)

  • an image of Kaworu wearing his plugsuit with large black wings, grabbing Shinji, who also wears his plugsuit, by the wrist.

    Be not afraid 2015-2021 by angstyangstangst (2021)

  • Waist-up images of the versions of Kaworu from the anime and manga. Anime Kaworu is pictured saying "humans are such beautiful creatures, dont you think shinji? you especially. lets look at the stars together :)" and a list of bullet points under his image reads: "beautiful ethereal angel boy fascinated by humans," "sorry asuka, im afraid i dont know what this 'faggot' thing is, but if you say that i am one, then i trust that you are correct :),""speaks only in poetry," "kinda flirty but mostly on accident," "literally is supposed to symbolize jesus (?)," and "romantic piano lessons" Manga Kaworu is pictured saying "shinji u wanna. wanna mak eout?" and below him are a set of bulletpoints reading: "KARL," "twink," "mullet," "*literally strangles cat in front of shinji* "sorry about that haha. wanna go to my place?" "*nervous laughter*"

    redraw of the old kaworu post by raineyz (2022)

Fanvids

Meta

Cosplay

  • a cosplayer dressed as Kaworu in his casual outfit, with his arms crossed in a way that mimics Kaworu's pose in official art. He stands in front of a set of cabinets.

    Kaworu Nagisa by Relena Warcraft (2007)

  • a cosplayer dressed as Kaworu in his casual outfit, sitting on the brick structure supporting a metal railing and looking up at the camera.

    Evangelion kaworu cosplay by hanyaanfaery (2010)

  • a cosplayer dressed as Kaworu in his plugsuit from the original anime, pictured looking at the camera.

    NGE - Kaworu Nagisa by KashinoRei (2013)

  • a cosplayer dressed as Kaworu in his plugsuit from the Rebuild movies, with white feathered wings on his back. He is standing in front of a bank of windows and holding a replica of the Spear of Longinius.

    Kaworu Nagisa by NYNL Cosplay (2017)

  • a cosplayer dressed as Kaworu in his casual outfit reclining in an empty bathtub. A thick bundle of grey vegetation cushions his back, and darker-colored plants cover the ground around the tub.

    untitled by Hanny19642 (2021)

Fansites and Communities

Archives & Resources

  1. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20130901151057/http://www.style.fm/as/05_column/animesama57.shtml
  2. ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaworu_Nagisa#Popularity
  3. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20210108222022/https://filmschoolrejects.com/neon-genesis-evangelion-ranked/4/
  4. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20210108222054/https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/06/the-best-neon-genesis-evangelion-episodes/
  5. ^ https://search.worldcat.org/title/46717139
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