Kaworu Nagisa

Kaworu Nagisa / Tabris
Neon Genesis Evangelion character
Created by	Hideaki Anno (series creator) Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (character designer)

Kaworu Nagisa (渚 カヲル, Nagisa Kaworu) is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. He is the Fifth Child and the seventeenth Angel, Tabris. He is sent to Nerv by Seele as a replacement pilot for Unit 02 after Asuka Langley Soryu's synchronization ratio falls below usability. He later breaks into Terminal Dogma to return to Adam, but after he discovers the being there is actually Lilith, he permits Shinji Ikari to destroy him. He appears in The End of Evangelion during Third Impact, communicating with Shinji in regard to the choice of whether to accept or reject Instrumentality.

Conception

In early designs, Kaworu was depicted as a school boy with a pet cat who could switch to an "Angel form". In vol. 9 of the manga, one of Sadamoto's artworks is a portrayal of Kaworu dressed in black and holding a black cat.

Kaworu was named by screenplay writer Akio Satsukawa. Kaworu's surname "Nagisa" comes from the Japanese word nagisa (渚), meaning "waterside" or "shore," concerned with sea. It also comes from Japanese movie director Nagisa Oshima. Adding to these, the character "渚", when divided, can be read shi-sha (シ者). The title of episode 24 is "The Last Shisha" (最後のシ者, Saigo no Shisha). "シ者" includes two Japanese words read as "shisha" (the character "シ" only represents the sound "shi"). The first is "messenger" or "apostle" (使者, shisha), while the other is "dead (person)" (死者).

Gainax renders his name in Romaji as "Kaworu," not "Kaoru" as would be given by most romanization schemes. The reasons for the difference in the naming have not been explicitly detailed by the series' creators; one theory is that the name is based on the original kana of the name Kaoru Genji, from The Tale of Genji.

Appearances

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Kaworu first appears in the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, in episode 24. He is shown sitting on a stone amongst wreckage due to the previous battle with Armisael, the Sixteenth Angel. Shinji is present, confused and frustrated about what to do since all of his friends have evacuated the city; Asuka is mentally distressed and in a ward, and Rei appears to not remember recent events. Kaworu abruptly tells Shinji music is beautiful after he stops humming, and begins conversing with him in a kind manner. Following their initial meeting, Kaworu and Shinji begin to strike up a friendship, enjoying each other's company.

After the Nerv staff become suspicious of Kaworu's high synchronisation rates with Unit-02, and Misato and Hyuga learn that he can set his synch rate to anything he wants, an alert is issued that Unit-02 has activated without a pilot inside, and someone is descending towards Terminal Dogma; it is Kaworu, who is identified as the 17th and final Angel. Shinji is placed into Unit-01 and pursues Kaworu, who manipulates Unit-02 to fight Shinji in Unit-01 after Shinji unsuccessfully tries to stab Kaworu with the progressive knife and is blocked by Kaworu's AT Field. Kaworu proceeds to Terminal Dogma, and after activating the door to open and entering, appears to reach an understanding that the giant crucified there is not in fact Adam, but rather Lilith, and after Shinji defeats Unit-02, allows Shinji to grasp him in Unit-01's hand. Following a period of silence, Shinji kills Kaworu by crushing him to death in Unit-01's hand.

The End of Evangelion

In The End of Evangelion, the Mass Production Evas' Dummy Plugs are prominently marked "KAWORU", suggesting that Seele was in possession of clones of Kaworu just as Nerv was in possession of clones of Rei for the Dummy Plug system for the original Evas. Kaworu makes his first appearance in the film during the initiation of the Human Instrumentality Project. Later, Kaworu, along with Rei, appears in Shinji's mind and argues with Shinji in regards to the case of humanity and in favor of individualism and free choice.

Rebuild of Evangelion

Promotional materials for Rebuild of Evangelion showed prominent images of Kaworu in his plugsuit with the other Children. In the first film, he briefly appears at the ending, in which he has a mysterious conversation with SEELE on the surface of the Moon. In the second film, Gendo and Fuyutsuki travel to the Moon to observe the construction of the Mark.06; much to Fuyutsuki's surprise, they see Kaworu sitting shirtless on top of the Eva in hard vacuum. He turns towards them and calls someone a father. At the end of the film Kaworu comes down from the Moon with the Mark.06 and impales Unit 01, aborting Third Impact. Afterwards he says that the promised time has come and that this time he will bring Shinji happiness. The preview of the third film shows Kaworu confronting the other pilots in an unknown location.

In other media

Kaworu makes appearances in various other media spin-offs of Neon Genesis Evangelion, including various audio dramas and music CD's and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's adaptation of the anime. Here, Kaworu is portrayed as being ignorant of human emotions and taboos regarding social interaction and personal space, creating some comic relief. His role is very similar to his anime counterpart's although some details have been altered, such as his friendship with Shinji not being immediate. Aside from Sadamoto's manga, Kaworu also appears as a supporting character in other titles, such as The Shinji Ikari Raising Project and Campus Apocalypse. In these manga appearances, Kaworu is typically portrayed in a lighter tone than in the series, with focus placed on his relationship with Shinji.

Kaworu also appears in video games based on the Evangelion franchise, including the popular cross-over franchise Super Robot Wars. In the game's adaption of The End of Evangelion, Kaworu's spirit returns to take control of Unit-00 and aid Shinji in battle and help rescue Rei from inside Lilith. He also visits Nekki Basara and voices his approval of his music. He makes his final appearance during the final battle with Kaiser Ephes where he encourages the Eva pilots not give up. It is hinted in both the anime, movies, and the games that he is the exact same Kaworu every time, and remembers events from all timelines he has experienced. The chronological progression of Kaworu's experience seems to be, Evangelion, SRW Final, The End of Evangelion, SRW Alpha, SRW MX, SRW Alpha 3, SRW L and then to Rebuild of Evangelion. This has become a major source of speculation for fans that he is some sort of time lord.

Reception

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" (カヲルはあなたの罪のために死んだ, Kaoru wa anata no tsumi no tame ni shinda). Mania Entertainment's Chris Beveridge described Kaworu's death in the anime as an "extremely powerful moment" due to the fact that after a minute without dialogue, his head's shadow appears touching the water.

Kaworu Nagisa was the second most popular male character in the 1997 Animage poll; 1998 ranked him the 6th best male character of the year. In a Newtype poll from March 2010, Kaworu was voted as the second most popular male anime character from the 1990s, after Shinji Ikari.

The bonus materials in volume nine of the English adaptation of the manga contain an article written by the editor Carl Gustav Horn which compares Kaworu to the character Satan in Mark Twain's novella, The Mysterious Stranger.

The possibly homosexual undertones of Kaworu's interactions with Shinji has been a persistent topic of debate among fans of Evangelion since the series' first run as discussed in the Patrick Drazen's book Anime Explosion! The What? Why? & Wow! Of Japanese Animation. Patrick Drazen's self-admittedly minority view is that Kaworu's offer of love for Shinji is a tactic that Kaworu as the last Angel used to disarm Shinji. Gainax is clearly aware that the audience associates Kaworu with bishōnen tropes, and have produced artworks such as splash pages for their website in reference to Kaworu's ambiguity and the audience's reaction to the character. However, whether Kaworu, an Angel, actually has any concept of sexuality as he is presented in the series is unclear. Mike Crandol regards Kaworu as being "representative of blind, total and unconditional love and acceptance, but like those things Kaoru [sic] turns out to not be real at all". The 1998 reviewer Kenneth Lee criticizes the character of Kaworu: "...the element of homosexuality is perhaps the most disturbing, gratuitous, and unnecessary aspect that presents itself in episode 24...Ultimately, the homosexuality issue seems nothing more than cheap shock value tactics to stun generation X [sic]" and considers the entire Shinji-Kaworu relationship "ludicrous and pathetically humorous".