The Asuka/Kaworu Pairing
or: Stop looking at me like that, it’s not that weird
I don’t know when exactly, but at some point, I developed an affinity for pairing Asuka and Kaworu. Now before you tell me that it doesn’t make sense, because the two never interact in the television series, let me say that I am well aware. I know that by the time Kaworu enters the story, Asuka is sedated out of her mind, and that Kaworu is noticeably absent from episodes 25 and 26. Vice-versa, Asuka is noticeably absent from the later portion of The End of Evangelion when Kaworu reappears. The only direct interaction between the two in the series is in the quartet scene in Death, and that isn’t even in continuity!
Something that I will remind you of is that Evangelion is more than just an anime series, and Asuka and Kaworu have quite a few exchanges in the expanded universe. They appear together in Yoshiyuki Sadamoto’s manga, as well as in Girlfriend of Steel 2 (Angelic Days), Gakuen Datenroku (Campus Apocalypse), and the Addition Audio Drama “After the End”, to name a few. And then there is a slew of fan generated content, including fan art, fan fiction, and last but certainly not least, doujinshi. But before we delve deeper into the how and why this pairing makes an awful lot of sense once you get past the initial knee-jerk reaction, let’s take a look at the other, more popular pairings, and why most of them, upon further inspection, don’t really make sense, or are just plain wrong.
Disclaimer: This list takes into account Evangelion, its expanded universe, and fandom. It’s a general approximation of my own observations, and is by no means definitive or backed by any real data.
#1 Shinji & Asuka:
As we all know, Shinji consistently ends up with Asuka. Despite her late introduction, and despite Rei’s overwhelming popularity in Japan, Asuka quickly surpasses Rei in attention and focus. Asuka has always been Shinji’s legitimate love interest. Hell, she even lives with Shinji. Nowadays, that would be more than enough substance for the plot of an anime series, even without any of the science fiction plot or psychological underpinnings. But just take a minute to think about how dissimilar these two characters actually are. One is a quiet, indecisive, self-conscious weakling, and the other is a loud, stubborn, over-achieving narcissist. They’re polar opposites. And in my opinion, a viable relationship comes with as much similarity as it does dissimilarity. I mean, aside from being Eva pilots, what do these two even have in common? Nothing. It just doesn’t make sense. It’s a marriage of convenience. They’re the two main characters, so of course they’ll hook up, even though they really don’t have an ounce of compatibility with each other. They’d probably kill each other. Oh wait… that kind of already happened.
#2 Shinji & Rei:
This one actually makes a lot more sense in terms of personality and compatibility. Shinji and Rei have a decent balance of similarities and dissimilarities to build a decent relationship. Starting out, the relationship isn’t that bad, Shinji has an interest in Rei that stems from her having something that he lacks, as well as a little bit of the girl-next-door thing. But… as the series progresses, it ventures off into weird territory that is not quite incest, and not quite Oedipus complex. It’s just weird, and wrong, and uncomfortable, and Shinji becomes understandably afraid of Rei by the end of the series. These two are just fundamentally not meant to be together, from a purely biological standpoint. Would someone please think about the children?
#3 Shinji & Misato:
Here’s every young male’s fantasy manifest in celluloid. Hot, older, single female that’s still young enough to be hot, and not old enough to be your mother. It gets to the point where Misato even cleans his tonsils in The End of Evangelion, and leaves him a nice, demoralizing souvenir. And then there’s also the fan theory that Misato tried to get intimate with Shinji to console him after Rei II is killed in episode 23. I don’t know about you, but the pairing of a 29-year-old and a 14-year-old is kind of wrong. Also, be sure to flip the genders on that one, and think about it some more. It’s not so awesome now is it? Hooray double standards.
Honorable mentions:
Asuka & Rei:
I’m blaming this one on Gainax. That’s right, I’m looking at you Sadamoto. Yeah, you. It’s all your fault. Because of your shenanigans. You and I both know, bullshit like this would never happen in like a million years. Shouldn’t you be finishing a certain manga series right about now? Hmmm? Yeah. That’s what I thought.
Rei & Kaworu:
Twincest is friggin weird. End of story.
Shinji & Kaworu:
=/
Hikari & Touji:
Oh look, a normal pairing that actually makes sense. I’d buy that for a dollar. Oh wait… I kind of already have.
o o o
Hokay, so now that we’re through all of that bullshit, hopefully I’ve made it abundantly clear to you that all of the typical “normal” pairings are anything but. Now let’s talk about Asuka and Kaworu. In the series, Asuka is only ever paired with Kaji and Shinji. Clearly, a 14-year-old girl and a 30-year-old man would never be a valid pairing. So that’s out the window. As for Asuka and Shinji, I’ve already explained that. Weirdly enough, in the Alternate Live Action Sequence, Asuka actually hooks up with Touji of all people. That one has been stewing in my brain for six or seven years and I still can’t figure that one out. I think it makes even less sense than Asuka and Kaworu. Nevertheless, it exists. It may not be canon, but it comes from Anno/Gainax. The people that actually made the show thought it made enough sense to write, shoot, and edit. They even included a montage derived from it in the movie, so if you’ve ever popped in your DVD of The End of Evangelion, and wondered what that live action montage before the film is, well, now you know. It’s a discarded part of the work that they felt strongly enough about to take, and re-purpose back into the film.
I wish I had a more robust explanation for why these two work, but sadly I do not. I do however have a few assertions I would like to make:
- They look cute together. Just ignore their personalities, and focus on the designs. Tell me that they don’t make a cute couple. Red and white/grey go well together AMIRITE?
- Asuka needs a pillar of support. She needs someone stable. That isn’t Shinji. I think that stable complement is Kaworu. While he might tease or neglect her from time to time, I like to think that he would look out for her more-so than Shinji ever would.
- Who else would put up with Asuka’s bullshit? I mean really, who? Does anyone out there honestly believe Shinji would or could put up with her? Also, if we’re talking about manga Kaworu, who has a similarly abrasive personality, I imagine the two, having similar personalities would attract one another. I like to think they would lick each others’ wounds, so to speak.
I like the pairing. I sincerely do. I even purchased a pair of figures from the same series, and I have Kaworu half standing on his base, crossing onto hers in order to stand the two close to each other. And I’m not alone in liking this pairing. I’ve found a surprising amount of fanart out there. It’s not a ton, mind you, just a surprising amount. Enough to show that it is not as unusual as you might think. Maybe it’s more prevalent in the Japanese fandom than in the western. I’m not sure.
At any rate. I sincerely hope I’ve given you a good laugh. I shall conclude this entry with a selection of some of the better Asuka and Kaworu pairing fanart. I hope you enjoy.
Tags: Asuka Langley Soryu, Kaworu Nagisa