FGC:Episode 24 Scene 13

Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt!

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Screenshots	Cut #	Description/Dialogue	Commentary
	283	Seid umschlungen
	284
	285
	286	Millionen!
	287	KAWORU:“Thank you, Shinji.”
	288	KAWORU:“I wanted you to stop Unit 02.”	UrsusArctos: After all the trouble repairing the Evas in Episode 20, it seems that Nerv figured out how to fix "prog knife to the head" pretty damn quickly.
	289	KAWORU:“Otherwise, I may have gone on living with her.” Diesen Kuss	dzzthink: Interesting that Kaworu could have fused to Eva-02 and continued living forever, much like Yui in Eva-01. Also note that although it isn't a direct parallel with Jesus and the Bible, Kaworu chooses to die so that humanity can keep living. UrsusArctos: Indeed, Kaworu has been compared to Jesus quite frequently in western Eva fandom as a result of this choice, but I personally doubt that such a direct religious comparison was intended.
	290	SHINJI:“Kaworu, why?”
	291	KAWORU:“Because it's my destiny to continue to live even if it may result in the destruction of humanity.” der ganzen Welt!
	292
	293	KAWORU:“But I can also die here. Life and death are of equal value to me. Dying of your own will. That is the one and only absolute freedom there is.” Seid umschlungen, Millionen!	UrsusArctos: This conversation is deeply tragic no matter whether you think of Kaworu as a 15 year old or an ancient extraterrestrial being.
	294	SHINJI:“What? Kaworu, I don't understand what you're saying! Kaworu...”
	295	KAWORU:“My last will and testament.” Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt!
	296
	297	KAWORU:“Now, erase me from this world.”
	298	KAWORU:“If you don't, you will be the ones who are erased. Only one life form will be chosen to survive the time of destruction and be given a future.”
	299
	300	KAWORU:“And you are not a being who should die.” Brüder	UrsusArctos: The second draft of the episode had Kaworu with healed cuts across his wrists, indicating he had attempted suicide. Although that wasn't retained, this entire exchange reads like an awful lot like a suicidal person seeking one last attempt at meaning and human connection before asking the sole person who connects to them (Shinji, in this case) to do that terrible last favor.
	301	überm Sternenzelt
	302		Dr. Nick: Seeing her old rival give up at the end like this, is Rei perhaps thinking... "Pathetic?" Literary Eagle: Heh, that's a good joke! Although just in case anyone is actually curious, the official book The Essential Evangelion Chronicle: Side B shows that Rei and Kaworu are not enemies. I discussed that topic in this short article: Teammate, sympathy? UrsusArctos: As noted in Cut 114, it's third-tier canon, and the question mark leaves a lingering mystery about her feelings. Perhaps the Duel of the Seeds is just that: headcanon, and Adam and Lilith/Kaworu and Rei aren't really enemies or rivals, but are they truly friends?
	303		UrsusArctos: The script (translated by Reichu) rather enigmatically calls this a "smile of betrayal". The "Casablanca Theory" mentioned by Wayne in Cut 278 is one of the few sensible explanations I've heard about this: that Kaworu caused this entire great uproar to draw Rei to Terminal Dogma and tell her the truth - that she's the vessel for Lilith's soul, and her old body is the one on the cross. Is he smiling because he has betrayed the truth to Rei, or is it because he's betraying Rei by asking Shinji to kill him?
	304	KAWORU:“Your people need the future.”
	305
	306	KAWORU:“Thank you.” muss ein lieber
	307	KAWORU:“I'm glad I met you.”
	308	Vater wohnen. Brüder, überm Sternenzelt muss ein lieber Vater wohnen Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen?	UrsusArctos: This scene is famous (or infamous) as one of the longest held frames in all of anime, but it is an instance of technique being executed devastatingly well. You feel the conflict in Shinji's mind about whether to kill Kaworu or let him live. The second draft had Kaworu rush towards "Adam" in what may have been a deliberate attempt to goad Shinji into squishing him. But having Kaworu calmly await his fate as Shinji makes up his mind is far more powerful.

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