User talk:FelipeFritschF

Hello! Been a fan for many years.

After the 2019 Netflix re-release of Eva, the re-translation of Kaworu Nagisa's lines in Episode 24 were questioned by portions of the fan base, who believe it is mischaracterizing the original intent of the authors. This is mostly based out of the ADV Platinum DVD subtitle track, but it misses some facts regarding both the previously existing translations, but also Evangelion as it was originally written.

Background for the translation

The circumstances regarding the new localization aren't entirely know, and some believe the changes are executive decisions made by Netflix themselves. However, it is publicly know that the translation is made by a localization group called VSI Group, and the translation work was supervised by Dan Kanemitsu. Dan is not just some random translator chosen by Netflix, in fact, he has worked directly with Khara since at least 2007. He is directly responsible for official translations of Eva done in the past, and has been involved with Khara since at least Evangelion 1.0. He is directly credited with the subtitle track for Evangelion 3.0, for instance. In fact, due to poor reception on Khara's part of the original 3.0 dub, Funimation had to re-dub Evangelion 3.0, which was only released in 2016, four years after the movie's original release. This dub was reportedly closely supervised by Khara, and it is likely Khara has also closely supervised the new translation, in order to avoid mistranslations and misinterpretations. While we can't know for certain how much involvement the show's writers, or Anno, have had with this translation, Dan is, quite possibly, the most qualified person on the planet to make this translation.

As such, it is not entirely accurate to say this is Netflix's localisation. Rather, this is Khara's localisation.

Older localizations

The debate regarding Kaworu's line isn't new. It is in fact, reflected in our wiki:
Kaworu uses the ambiguous "suki" form which has possible non-romantic and simply intimate connotations and can simply mean "like" or "fond of", and that he is deserving of "koui" (行為), which means simply "good will" or "favor", not "koi", "love"

Some images circling around the Internet compare "the original translation" to the Netflix one. However, this is untrue. In fact, the choice of "like" is in fact more common than "love". The original ADV subtitle track, released with the original ADV VHS release in 1998, used "like", though the dub, which took some creative liberty, used "love". However, the ADV DVD re-releases used "love" for both the sub and dub. The new Netflix/Khara release uses "love" for both the sub and dub. Likewise, several fansubbers have used both "like" and "love". One relatively recent release, by Sephiroth, had been considered by some as the "definitive" Eva localization, fixing some of the notorious mistranslations present in ADV's release, also used "like".

Additionally, the "koui" has been misheard by some early fansubbers as "koi", but the Japanese subtitles as well as the scripts for the show make it clear this is not the case. Some screenshots from pre-2000 fansub with this mistake are also being circulated.

The nature of Kaworu's lines

Much like the rest of Evangelion, the discussion of Kaworu's lines is not only extensive and polarizing both in Western and Japanese, not because of the words he used, but what he means by them.

While this article will not concern itself with trying to interpret the lines, the episode or the character, this ambiguity is completely necessary and present in the original Japanese script as Kaworu is not entirely human, as shows clear lack of understanding for levels of intimacy, personal space and societal norms, key aspects in Japanese society. In fact, this is probably why Shinji is so shocked an unnerved by him - he does not act or talk like a normal person, because he isn't one. Interpretations of Kaworu himself also vary wildly, including some that range from him as manipulative, or simply unaware. Simply put, one is not supposed to wonder what he says, but what he means.

The usage of "suki" in Japanese is complicated - in the way it's present in the original text, it can be used to signify almost friendship, intimacy, sympathy, fondness, romantic love, godly love, and everything in between. Like the rest of Eva, it is necessary to try and get the context for this in order to understand what the text is trying to get across. Regardless of what one thinks Kaworu means, the fact is that the original Japanese text is deliberately written as ambiguous and open-ended, and invites all of these interpretations.