One of Evangelion 3.0's many problems: Kaworu (spoilers)
8 years ago
Oh, where to begin... First of all, I don't necessarily hate Kaworu. He's relatively likable as far as Evangelion characters go. But he's also a character with a role, and this role worked effectively in the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series. He appeared in one episode, was unconditionally kind and supportive of Shinji at a time when his life was being a total crapstorm, and his death messes up Shinji even more, in a way that paves the way for the events of End of Evangelion. And I'd say he has no depth, but it's more accurate to say that, as an Angel who is more than 4 billion years old, his depth is probably unknowable, and his actions and motives are meant to bewilder. The sudden "I love you." The sudden "You must kill me." All without breaking his signature kind smile. But having depth was not originally important to his role in the story anyway - he had to be someone to give Shinji a reason to start feeling good about things again, only for that feeling to be taken away with Kaworu's sudden death soon after he's introduced. Furthermore, Shinji not only likes Kaworu, but has to carry the tremendous weight of having killed Kaworu, even though Kaworu said his death as an Angel was necessary (though Kaworu can't really die as long as Adam and the Kaworu clone bodies still live). Whatever useful role Kaworu has in End of Evangelion is effectively as part of Shinji's own psyche as one of his personal attachments.
But in 1997, Kaworu's massive fan popularity was ar greater than expected. One anime magazine ranked him the second most popular character to debut in an anime in the 1990s.
So when the Rebuild of Evangelion franchise came in being, Kaworu's role in the story was foreshadowed to insane levels in the 1.0 and 2.0 films, and he only really directly comes into the story's central importance at the end of 2.0. It's in 3.0 that Kaworu's role becomes a real problem. His role in that film is similar to his role in the original series' episode 24 - to bond with Shinji and be someone who makes Shinji feel better about things. However, while Kaworu's 1997 TV tenure was confusing and brief (and intentionally and effectively so), this Kaworu gets a lot of screen time, which is what I suspect many Evangelion fans have craved for a long time.
There's only one problem. Only by Kaworu having this extended screen time do some of us realize one of his central character flaws - he is, and always was, an anime equivalent of Edward Cullen. No obvious depth or personality beyond his unconditional kindness to Shinji. In this sense, his scenes in the 3.0 film seem laid on really thick and awkward. If you already absolutely squee over Kaworu, it's pure depth-free guy-on-guy fanservice for fangirls. But his scenes do absolutely nothing to develop his character's depth above and beyond what the original Neon Genesis Evangelion did in under 30 minutes of a single episode, and the film suffers for (among many other things) the outsized attention it gives him. Not only that, Kaworu's role here doesn't even help make Shinji the slightest bit more sympathetic either - he's still as irritating as he ever was, except now in a clumsy, poorly executed guy-on-guy pairing. (One may argue it was always supposed to be awkward, but now it's just plain unpleasantly so.)
My conclusion is that Kaworu is best in measured, effectively-executed small doses, as he was originally. But if you strip away his flawless kindness, he really has no more personality than Rei, and that's really saying something considering Rei had less personality in this film than she has ever had in the history of the Evangelion franchise.
But in 1997, Kaworu's massive fan popularity was ar greater than expected. One anime magazine ranked him the second most popular character to debut in an anime in the 1990s.
So when the Rebuild of Evangelion franchise came in being, Kaworu's role in the story was foreshadowed to insane levels in the 1.0 and 2.0 films, and he only really directly comes into the story's central importance at the end of 2.0. It's in 3.0 that Kaworu's role becomes a real problem. His role in that film is similar to his role in the original series' episode 24 - to bond with Shinji and be someone who makes Shinji feel better about things. However, while Kaworu's 1997 TV tenure was confusing and brief (and intentionally and effectively so), this Kaworu gets a lot of screen time, which is what I suspect many Evangelion fans have craved for a long time.
There's only one problem. Only by Kaworu having this extended screen time do some of us realize one of his central character flaws - he is, and always was, an anime equivalent of Edward Cullen. No obvious depth or personality beyond his unconditional kindness to Shinji. In this sense, his scenes in the 3.0 film seem laid on really thick and awkward. If you already absolutely squee over Kaworu, it's pure depth-free guy-on-guy fanservice for fangirls. But his scenes do absolutely nothing to develop his character's depth above and beyond what the original Neon Genesis Evangelion did in under 30 minutes of a single episode, and the film suffers for (among many other things) the outsized attention it gives him. Not only that, Kaworu's role here doesn't even help make Shinji the slightest bit more sympathetic either - he's still as irritating as he ever was, except now in a clumsy, poorly executed guy-on-guy pairing. (One may argue it was always supposed to be awkward, but now it's just plain unpleasantly so.)
My conclusion is that Kaworu is best in measured, effectively-executed small doses, as he was originally. But if you strip away his flawless kindness, he really has no more personality than Rei, and that's really saying something considering Rei had less personality in this film than she has ever had in the history of the Evangelion franchise.