Kaworu; Manga vs. Anime.

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Tyche
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Kaworu; Manga vs. Anime.

Post by Tyche »

So, I recently read volume 10 and 11 of the Evangelion manga by Sadamoto-san. Kaworu as my favorite character, grabbed most of my attention in the series. His personality between the mediums is extremely different. So is his and Shinji's relationship.

While in the anime, Kaworu was seemingly pacifistic and friendly, while in the manga he was more direct and seemed crueler (in Shinji's eyes, while to an "Angel", he was being "kinder"). This crueler, more direct Kaworu tends to scare and annoy Shinji with his advances, while the anime Shinji was craving the love of anyone, especially from someone as kind and beautiful as Kaworu.

Has anyone else read the manga? Of the versions, which was your favorite, character wise? Also, which death of Kaworu did you think have a bigger impact?

I prefered the manga Kaworu and the anime "Kaworu Fanale". But I think they manga "fanale" would have had more of an impact on Shinji.
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tintern109
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Re: Kaworu; Manga vs. Anime.

Post by tintern109 »

I'd recommend you read the excellent postscript by Carl Gustav Horn in volume 11 that deals with this subject.

Personally I prefer the anime version of Kaworu, although he is on screen so briefly it is hard to get an in-depth sense of him. (Obviously he and Shinji's relationship is more deeply explored in the manga.) But in terms of his affect on Shiji as a character, I believe the anime version has the greater impact.

In both versions, it is natural to view Kaworu through the lens of our human experience, but he is not human, any more so than Rei. He is fascinated with Shinji: his fragile heart, his fear of death, etc, things that he cannot find present within himself. When he speaks of love for Shinji, he speaks from a position of curiosity and naive incomprehension, for how could one who is not human understand something so fundamental to our existence as love? (This brings up an interesting point for another discussion. The angels seem to spend far more time and effort trying to understand humanity than humans spend trying to understand them, at least in anything but a scientific way.)

The point is that although Kaworu seems benevolent, he is not. (As Horn puts it, "...sweet Kaworu, who came to wipe us out, but kindly offered Shinji the option to kill what he loved instead.") In the anime, one could argue that he merely toys with Shinji. But this denies Kaworu any shred of empathy, which takes things too far, for if we accept that he cannot love as a human loves, than it is logical that he cannot display genuine cruelty, either. Certainly Kaworu seems much "needier" in the manga, which once again precludes the possibility of him viewing Shinji as merely a plaything. In either case, when the time comes for him to meet his destiny, he offers up his life, but his death is not a true sacrifice. He, like Rei, has no real fear of death, and may even relish it.

What makes Kaworu's brief appearance compelling, ultimately, is his affect on Shinji. Here is where Shinji's own limited understanding comes into play. As someone who has not felt love for ten years or so (since Yui's death), and considering his emotional isolation, he naively accepts Kaworu's words in the anime. Here, Shinji sees Kaworu as we are tempted to - as a benevolent source of unconditional love, something he is desperate for yet fearful of, being, as it is, so foreign to him. Thus, when Kaworu reveals his true nature, the betrayal is all the more heart-wrenching for Shinji.

The waters are a bit muddier in the manga, with Rei thrown into the mix, and Shinji having more time to get over his infatuation. So I think overall, the anime remains the more starkly compelling version of Kaworu, almost because we see so little of him.
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