Theory and Analysis:List of Common Misconceptions

A tentative list.

Please also refer to the FAQ section on Evaotaku.

NGE is religious propaganda

The religious symbolism in NGE is actually not used in any sort of religiously meaningful fashion. According to Evangelion Assistant Director Kazuya Tsurumaki:

"There are a lot of giant robot shows in Japan, and we did want our story to have a religious theme to help distinguish us. Because Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be mysterious. None of the staff who worked on Eva are Christians. There is no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought the visual symbols of Christianity look cool. If we had known the show would get distributed in the US and Europe we might have rethought that choice."' - Kazuya Tsurumaki: Q&A from "Amusing Himself to Death"

Here's an old essay from 2001 of someone getting it wrong: "However, it is revealed at the end of the series that the Angels are actually failed attempts in the Creation (i.e., the Biblical Creation) that preceded mankind". Early inaccurate translations of the show may have contributed to this confusion.

LCL means "Link Connect Liquid"

Manga saying LCL stands for Link Connect Liquid

It is unknown what the initials "LCL" stand for within the anime series, but we do know what they don't mean. According to the Death and Rebirth theatrical program (special edition):

Incidentally, the widely circulated idea that L.C.L is the abbreviation of "Link Connected Liquid" is incorrect.

Nowhere does it say what it means, although Evangelion Chronicle suggests one of the Ls stands for "Lilith".

In Sadamoto's Manga version, LCL is said to stand for Link Connect Liquid, written in the Dossier before a chapter starts.

Gainax ran out of money and/or was censored

Easily the most enduring myth around the production of Evangelion is the notion that the series' ending came about as a result of a lack of money and/or censorship by the network. In reality, Evangelion's troubled production was mostly a result of poor planning, changing decisions and running out of time. Restrictions set by the producers and the network are minimal, the only significant instance being the death of Toji being changed into him losing his limbs. There are also other factors that influenced production, like the Aum Shinrikyo attacks in 1995. This is also one of the reasons why the series was not released before or along with the promotional manga as initially planned.

The manga is the original or first version of the story

Though this is often the case for many manga later adapted as anime, Evangelion was in fact originally created as an anime series by Hideaki Anno, and the manga was instead created as a supplemental designed to promote the TV series by character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. The series however had a delayed first airing, but NGE's popularity lead to the manga continuing. Despite cutting most of the series' storyline, the manga was finished in 2013, thanks to a very inconsistent schedule and multiple years-long hiatuses. Sadamoto, the author of the manga and character designer for the series (no involvement as a writer) has repeatedly stated the manga is his separate project and asks fans not to use it to inform the anime or the Rebuild movies. In particular, he even says the Mari bonus chapter at the end of the manga was just fanservice.

The manga is canon or complimentary to the series

See above. This also applies to the licenced spin-off manga and video games, naturally.

First Impact killed the dinosaurs

First Impact was never depicted or directly referred to on-screen. This has led several fans upon first glance to incorrectly assume that because the "Second Impact" was supposedly a meteorite collision, the "First Impact" was thus the more well known asteroid impact which caused the mass-extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago.

A page from Shinji's textbook

However, First Impact (aka "Giant Impact") was actually the collision of a giant spherical object, designated the "Black Moon", into Earth approximately 4 billion years ago. As a result of the impact, huge amounts of debris, including the Black Moon's rocky exterior, were thrown into orbit, eventually coalescing into Earth's satellite, the Moon. This was made clear in the Classified Information. The "meteorite" theory in the above textbook page is a cover story, and is part of the effort to also blame Second Impact on a meteor.

"Barons of Hell"

Almost from the beginning of Eva fandom, there has been an internet rumor that the Evangelions are based upon Biblical entities called "The Barons of Hell". There are two problems with this theory:

One is that there is no such thing as a "Baron of Hell" mentioned in the Bible or in any other Judeo-Christian source; extensive searches for the term have turned up only references to Eva and the video game Doom. Some sources claim that the Barons are the same thing as the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse", but the descriptions given to the Barons don't match up to the Horsemen.

The other problem is that we know exactly what the Evangelions are based upon. Evas were fundamentally based upon the oni (commonly translated as “demon” or “ogre”, but actually a specific type of Japanese monster). Says Anno himself (in an interview published in Aerial Magazine):

There's a monster in Japan called the Oni; it has two horns sticking out of its head and the overall image of the Eva is based on that. I also wanted to give the impression that beneath this ‘robot monster’ image is not so much a robot, but a giant human. - Anno's Roundtable discussion

A very Oni-looking Evangelion sketch

An early sketch Anno did of an Eva clearly betrays their oni roots. Working from this basic premise, and corresponding with Anno along the way, Ikuto Yamashita developed the Evas as we know them (with the exception of EoE's “harpies”).

Kids born after 2I are soulless

A bizarre idea used to explain the drop in birth rate after Second Impact, and why only kids born after Second Impact can synch with the Evangelions. This theory has no basis whatsoever as Ritsuko explicitly states in Episode 20 that Shinji, born after Second Impact, has a soul.

Only children born after Second Impact can pilot Evas

An idea that for some reason is still present even in synopses and guides for Evangelion on multiple sites, the idea here is that Shinji, Asuka, Rei and Toji are designated pilots because specifically because they are born after Second Impact. Though this is not strictly incorrect, this leads the reader to assume that the post-2I world has some sort of effect in children born after that event, but there is no evidence or even any allusion present in the show whatsoever, since the actual reason they are selected as pilots (as well as probably the whole of Class 2A) is instead because of the link they share with their mother's souls embedded in the Evas. Naturally, Rei and Kaworu are an exception since they have a direct link.

Spear of Longinus is the actual holy relic (that just somehow got big)

This is a product of putting too much stock in NGE's religious references. The Spear was actually excavated in Antarctica along with Adam, who was found impaled upon it. According to the Classified Information, each Source of Life is accompanied by a Spear that has a will of its own and can immobilize a Seed for going against its mission. Thus, the Spear of Longinus is billions of years old—not made by a Roman blacksmith—which impaled Adam for committing an unspecified offense.

A.T. Field is a real-life psychology term

Since the very earliest days of Evangelion analysis, there has been a rumor that A.T. Field is a genuine psychological term that describes the barrier that separates autism patients from the world around them. However, extensive searching of online Psychology researches and forums has failed to find any use of the term other than in reference to NGE. Further research by those in the field has proven that "Absolute Terror" or similar terminology is simply not recognized in academia. Therefore, this rumor is false and has been conclusively proven so.

Some examples of fan-pages propagating this rumor: 1 2

Eva-00 has the soul of Naoko Akagi or none at all

The most accepted theory is Rei I's soul, being in turn a portion of Lilith's own soul. Please visit Eva-00's soul for more information.

Someone we know killed Kaji

Many fans came to the conclusion that Misato shot Kaji, with little or no evidence to back it up. Series creator Hideaki Anno implied with the Director's Cut of Episode 21 that Kaji was not shot by any named character, but an agent sent through either "Seele or Nerv's intelligence division."[1] During broadcast, the scene of Kaji's death was followed by an establishing shot to the door to Misato's apartment with her name. This "evidence" of Misato's guilt was replaced in the Director's cut with a shot outside of her apartment building.

Rei and Kaworu are actual albinos

Actual albinos don't have light blue hair! Albinos cannot walk outside without protection, otherwise they would suffer severe sunburn, and most have very poor eyesight. [2] On the contrary, Kaworu's eyesight appears to be exceptional (such as his noticing Misato in the Episode 24 director's cut lake scene). It is worth noting that Ritsuko's complexion is only slightly darker than Rei's, although she's obviously not an albino.

Kaworu was not a clone, and had a "natural" human appearence

This theory posits that Kaworu's human appearance was naturally occuring like those of the other Angel's or even chosen by him in order to enter Nerv. In fact, he was created using human DNA and an Angel's soul, being the Seed of Life Adam, just like Rei was created with Yui's DNA and Lilith's soul.

Episode 21':

Man E: "The contact experiment with the donor is scheduled for the 13th of next month. There will be time for any adjustments."
(later) Woman B: "The genes that dived into Adam have already undergone physical fusion!"

Episode 24'.

SEELE A (speaking to Kaworu): [Adam's] salvaged soul exists only within you.

Neon Genesis Evangelion 2. Classified Information: Adam.

"At the time of Second Impact, [Adam's] body was torn apart, and its soul flew off somewhere as a result. Adam's soul was later recovered by Seele and incarnated.", whom they may have recovered in embryonic form in Antarctica.

Kaworu's human DNA donor, however, is unknown. See: Theory and Analysis:Identity of Kaworu's Donor

Toji not only loses his leg, but his arm as well

While Toji's left leg is plainly missing when he's on the hospital bed, it's not certain to tell if his left arm is, as well. However, both Toji's arms are seen as he is being hauled out of the entry plug. The original storyboards for The End of Evangelion contain a scene showing Toji playing wheelchair basketball with Kensuke, where he clearly has both arms, eliminating the possibility that one of his arms was amputated.

Naoko's Brain in Magi

Or any other brain for that matter. This is due to the brain-like object Ritsuko reveals when she cuts into the Magi in episode 13. It is clearly stated that the Magi merely have personality imprints of Naoko Akagi - herself as a mother, scientist, and woman. The computers are also far too large to be actual human brains.

Naoko's Soul in Magi

Likely originated due to the fact that the Evas have the souls of their pilots' mothers. There's also the issue of Caspar 'betraying' Ritsuko in The End of Evangelion, but machines cannot be implanted with souls (and hence can't project A.T. Fields, as was clear in Episode 07).

Keel is the Wandering Jew

One of the most bizarre myths about Evangelion. There is an old and racist story that claims that an onlooker at Christ's crucifixion spat upon him, and was punished by receiving the curse of immortality. [3] He thus became the "wandering Jew", never able to make permanent friends or stay in one place, lest people notice his never-aging nature. The theory goes that Keel's motivation in bringing about Instrumentality would at long last allow him to die.

There are, at the very least, two huge problems with this notion. One being there's absolutely nothing in the series to indicate this is Keel's motivation.

A visibly younger Keel in the background with Gendo.

The other is that when Keel appears in flashback in episode 21, he is visibly younger than in the series' present, and as has been noted, the Wandering Jew is supposed to be ageless.

The Dummy Plug Plant is the Chamber of Guf

The Chamber of Guf is mentioned by Ritsuko in episode 23 when she, Misato, and Shinji are down in the Dummy Plug Plant. This comment likely lead people to believe the two were synonymous. Please look here for an explanation of Guf within NGE.

Adam was impaled on the Spear of Longinus by Lilith

The "Duel of the Seeds" idea was made up to explain why one Seed would be skewered by the Spear of Longinus and placed in suspended animation while the other would be free to spread life on Earth. The interaction between Rei and Kaworu was interpreted to mean that both of them (as Lilith and Adam respectively) had interacted previously. This idea was disproved when the Classified Information files revealed that each Seed was sent with its own Spear, and that Lilith's Spear was either lost or destroyed during First Impact. Adam was placed in suspended animation by its own Spear, which was used to impale Lilith later on.

Death's string quartet scenes take place in the actual series timeline.

This one is easily disproven, as both Asuka and Kaworu appear in the String Quartet sequences. In the actual series timeline, Asuka is in the hospital under heavy sedation when Kaworu arrives, and is still there when he gets squished; they never meet. The String Quartet motif serves to separate the different focuses in Death as well as fitting together with the musical score that was used, Pachelbel's Canon in D major.

Death threats, and "Anno's Revenge"

Main artice: End of Evangelion Death Threats

Many are lead to believe, one way or another, that The End of Evangelion was Anno's revenge against the fans for the negative response received from the ending of the TV series.

Some say it is because Anno brutally killed off all of the main characters; however, this isn't anything new in the world of anime. Most notably, Yoshiyuki Tomino's Space Runaway Ideon, where not just all the main characters are killed off, even children are brutally massacred. Even though Ideon may be one of Anno's biggest inspirations for Evangelion, the End of Evangelion was closer to the planned ending to the TV series Anno's October 2013 interview. Some of the footage used in the TV series ending (corpses of Misato and Ritsuko) indicates that, even before the TV series ended, Anno had planned on killing these characters.

Some say it is because of scenes such as Shinji visiting the sedated Asuka in her hospital room. Although slightly out-of-left-field compared to the ending of the TV series, this scene does serve its purposes. Most importantly, it shows that Shinji has hit the lowest of lows, and secondly, it's referenced later in the movie when Asuka says "Idiot! I know about your jerk-off fantasies of me. Do it again like usual... I'll even stand here and watch."

A subjective argument for Anno's revenge is the cinematic and narrative mindfuck that takes up most of the 2nd half of End of Evangelion. A subjective retort could be, "What about the end of the TV series?". As far as a non-subjective response, films have been known to use clashing motifs, non-linear story telling, and highly symbolic/obscure imagery, and the End of Evangelion isn't the first to use all three. Also, from an interpretive standpoint, the second half of the movie does very well in showing the chaos and disembodiment of Instrumentality, specifically, what Shinji was going through.

Finally, some argue that the smoking gun for Anno's revenge is the sequence of quickly flashing (about one per frame) death threats/hate mail which can be seen at the end of the live action sequence in the second half of the movie. However this rumor was started, it was probably propagated by the Commentary track on the Manga Entertainment release of End of Evangelion, where Amanda Winn Lee gives a mention of hate mail during this sequence The End of Evangelion Audio Commentary. Since these have been translated to English, the majority of the letters and emails are that of personal attachment to the show, praise, or encouragement/anticipation for the End of Evangelion movie. Only one of the emails can be considered 'hate mail', and it was criticizing Death and Rebirth (not the end of the TV series at all), and the only 2 possible instances that could be considered a 'death threat' was graffiti on the wall outside of Gainax's studio (which was hypothesized to be from religious fanatics) and an email that said "Anno, I'll kill you!!!", which was a close-up of only that message on a computer monitor and lacked any context whatsoever. This puts the smoking gun argument on very shaky ground, as this sequence isn't used as a "This is why I'm taking revenge on you people" message, or anything along those lines.

The series is the "true ending"

Thanks to the many urban myths surrounding the production of Evangelion, as well as the "revenge" myth mentioned above, some people assume that the series' ending in Episode 26 is the real, "original" ending, with EoE being a response. However, supplemental material and interviews clearly state that Episode 26' in EoE represents Anno's original plans. Instead, EoTV, while still important and thematically relevant, was made that way because of the lack of time to appropriately represent Gainax's intentions. This does not discard EoTV, however, and EoE is generally considered to be, thematically if not narratively, a complementation of EoTV and not a complete replacement.

For instance:

"Episode 25' "Air" is based on the original episode 25 script which was completed during production of the TV series. Due to production time limits and other problems, this script was not used and the TV episode 25 "Owaru sekai (The Ending World)" instead became a drama which unfolded within an inner universe like episode 26. In this sense, episode 25' could be considered a return to the originally intended contents. In contrast, episode 26' adds much more story and dramatic content to TV episode 26, thus deepening the theme." - From Red Cross Book, available here.:

"Anno: When I did the TV series, there was as yet no such thing as moe. I like Sailor Moon as well. For the TV series, we certainly ran out of time. We had no time for episode 25, so we remade it for the theatrical edition. The final episode, episode 26, was going to be that way originally. In the scene in episode 16 which depicts a conversation between Shinji and the angel, Tsurumaki-san forbade [the angel's use of] Japanese. So due to that, the theme became from then on conversations with oneself, and it ended with the question of how you can come to terms with other people. We did [the finale] in four days. We did the voice recording first, and then drew the storyboards." - Hideaki Anno x Kazuo Koike (October 22 2013):

The Mass Production Evas have no souls, or are piloted by other Children

In Episode 24, Kaworu says that the A.T. Field is "The light of the soul", indicating that a soul is required to produce an A.T. Field. This is consistent all throughout the TV Series as well as in the movies, since the Mass Production Evangelions, in fact, do produce A.T. Fields:

Shigeru: "The Eva series' A.T. Fields are resonating!"

Some say that it is the pilots (Kaworu dummy plugs) which produce the A.T. Field. However, Ritsuko in Episode 17 says:

"This is the dummy plug prototype.
Rei's personal data has been loaded into it,
but it's not really possible to digitize a human mind and soul.
Ultimately, it's a fake, an imitation.
Just a machine that emulates a pilot's thinking process."

Indicating that there is no real soul in the dummy plugs. Therefore, it is impossible for the dummy plug to generate an A.T. Field.

An alternative theory is that they are piloted by the other members of Shinji's Class 2A, like Hikari, Kensuke and Toji, which would also mean that they would be embedded with their mothers' souls. Of course, this is also disproven by the Kaworu dummy plugs being inserted into them.

Adam and Lilith were once a single being / Adam was born from Lilith

This misconception comes from a mistranslated line via Manga Entertainment's The End of Evangelion release. Misato's line should read, "Humans were born from Lilith, who is a Seed of Life just like Adam." This makes Adam and Lilith two equal beings.

The kitchen fight was all in Shinji's head

This is part of the Pre-Third Impact Instrumentality. Right before the kitchen fight, Shinji and Asuka witness a scene from Misato's college days, where she is having sex with Kaji. Shinji clearly has never seen this before asking "This is Misato? She does... this?" in which she replies "Yes, this is also me... The melting into one another's hearts... The me that Shinji doesn't know." If this entire sequence was all "in Shinji's head", there is no way he'd know these things. Instead, because he is already in Instrumentality, he has access to Misato's memories. This also applies to the preceding Hell Train scene.

The Asuka in the Hell Kitchen scene wasn't real

For the same reasons presented above, there is no reason to think the Asuka that confronts Shinji in Episode 26' is a fake or some sort of creation of Shinji's mind. Asuka clearly implies she knows about Shinji's masturbation earlier in the hospital, and even that it is in fact a habit of his from before. Though she might have known or suspected the latter, there is no way she could know about the hospital without having access to Shinji's memories herself. Though Asuka did die in the real world, her soul has been harvested by Quantum Rei and she is now present in Instrumentality, just like what happened to Misato herself.

Asuka didn't die

Asuka and Eva-02 were killed by the Mass Production Evas. Maya's and Shinji's horror and the mangled state of Eva-02 make it explicit. Since Asuka was suffering actual physical damage corresponding to the Eva's damage, there was no way Asuka could have survived the multiple Spear impacts or the subsequent mangling. Furthermore, Asuka's bandages in the final scene correspond with her injuries from that battle. As mentioned above, her soul was simply harvested by Rei/Lilith and she later returned through Instrumentality.

The Asuka-Rei-Misato amalgamation

This very common misconception was born due the last scene of End of Evangelion with Asuka and Shinji alone on the beach. Asuka's arm is bandaged (like Rei's in Episode 01) and her eyes appears to be brown (like Misato's). This lead some people to speculate that Asuka is really a combination of all three girls, and therefore Shinji's "dream girl" but this notion is absolutely false. The bandaged arm is due to her battle trauma in Eva-02 earlier in End of Evangelion (when a replica lance splits Eva-02's right arm completely). Her eyes are still blue, merely tinted due to the hue of the scene occurring at night.

Before Instrumentality ends, Rei tells Shinji "If you wish once more for the existence of others, the barriers of the heart will separate everyone once more..." while Kaworu asks "Is it okay for the A.T. Fields to hurt you and others once more?", indicating that the A.T. Fields have separated everyone from each other.

The Adam & Eve Scenario (or, Nobody Else is Coming Back)

Considering that themes of Genesis pop up all over NGE, the final scene of End of Evangelion leads many to assume that Shinji and Asuka are the new Adam and Eve, left alone to re-populate the world. But this theory is possibly false if we are to believe Rei and Yui when, during the dissolution of Instrumentality, Rei states, "Anyone can return to human form as long as they can imagine themselves in their own heart.", alongside Yui's reassurance: "All living things have the ability to return to their original form... and the heart to go on living.". This means that other humans are able to return as well should they make the choice to, but it is also perfectly possible for nobody else, or even for very few people to come back. Regardless, Asuka and Shinji will have to learn to deal with one another for at least some time.

Asuka is pregnant

This rumour is linked to the previous one. Usually the idea is that Asuka got pregnant either due to her brief metaphysical sex scene with Shinji shown during pre-3I Instrumentality, or somehow as a "gift" by Rei/Lilith in order to give a headstart to the repopulation of Earth. It can also be theorised as being a result of Shinji "willing" her to return, as mentioned below.

A big reason for the popularity of this theory is that it was supported by the ADV English voice actors of Asuka and/or Rei back in the 90s, along with other theories like the "combination girl", and a similarly unsubstantiated claim that "Anno confirmed this". The claim that Asuka's final "kimochi warui" line can be used to express morning sickness on Asuka's part isn't necessarily wrong, but there is no other evidence to support this theory. Because other people can come back, it's not required for Asuka to be pregnant in order to preserve humanity. However, just like the Adam and Eve scenario itself, this can't be definitely disproven, nor does it preclude the possibility of Asuka getting pregnant later.

Asuka was brought back by Shinji

Main article: Theory and Analysis:Final Scene in End of Evangelion

It is often assumed that Asuka was brought back to life either by Shinji willing it or Rei/Lilith/Yui somehow deciding to return her to the real world in order to provide Shinji with companionship, as in the Adam & Eve scenario. However, there is plenty of evidence indicating that Asuka, in fact, has decided to return from Instrumentality herself, out of her own free will: she goes to the beach (instead of just materializing by his side), and finds the markers Shinji set in her and other characters' memory. Immediately she assumes Shinji thinks she's dead, so she kicks the marker with her name to signify she's alive, as well as her will to live. She finds Shinji asleep on the ground. Instead of waking him up, kicking him or yelling at him, she decides to sit and sleep by his side.

Asuka and/or Shinji attempted to commit suicide

Common theories due to the lack of clear detail on the scenes in Episode 24 and Episode 26', in which Asuka supposedly cut her wrists in a bathtub, and Shinji supposedly tried to drown himself in the lake. In fact, in both instances, several pieces of evidence and thematic considerations invalidate this. In both cases, Asuka and Shinji lost their will to live, but did not have the will to kill themselves either. In fact, both scenes parallel each other and other instances. See the following articles:

Theory and Analysis:Shinji and the Lake

Theory and Analysis:Asuka and the Bathtub

Kaworu penetrated Shinji's A.T. Field as his transition guide

Main article: Theory and Analysis:Motherly and Cross Symbolism in EoE

A misconception borne out of some easily missed details. After emerging in Eva-01 and seeing Asuka's dead Eva, Shinji panics, not only because of the shock of losing yet another person he cared about, but his last avenue of escape is seemingly gone. To add insult to injury, Rei-Lilith starts gruesomely mutating, and Shinji even sees a giant Rei's mangled head shape-shifting before his eyes. This is enough to drive Shinji further into despair and he enters an absolutely frenzy. By this point he could have conceivably become a danger to the process of starting Third Impact proper, so this calls for some action on Lilith's part. As Shinji is already disturbed and alienated by others, and has just lost what he saw as a last avenue of escape in Asuka (though she returns to being that soon after), Lilith morphs into Kaworu. This calms Shinji down, and Lilith uses the opportunity for the Lance of Longinus to penetrate Unit 01's core and transform Unit 01 into the Tree of Life, as the SEELE councilman ritually chant in triumph.

This has sometimes been used as evidence that Shinji actively wished for Kaworu in this scene and that he was the motivation for Shinji to enter Instrumentality by being the person he wanted, similarly to what happened for Hyuga with Misato. However, Shinji's scene simply does not play out like that. In fact, the storyboards and script make it clear that it is not Shinji's A.T. Field that is being penetrated, but rather Unit 01's. This is paired with Eva 01 audibly moaning, voiced by Megumi Hayashibara (Yui). After this, Shinji is still visibly present and physically integral. Fuyutsuki also adds that Unit 01 now possess both the Fruit of Life and the Fruit of Knowledge, alluded to by Makoto mentioning the AT Field shifting into "Pattern Red", yet another element associated with the Angels and Evas, but not the pilots. Fuyutsuki then explains that it's now in Shinji's hands, further emphasising that Shinji hasn't yet entered Instrumentality.

Immediately afterwards, Yui in fact explains that "this Rei represents your very hopes and dreams", and as she says that, Lilith morphs back into Rei. Rei then asks Shinji "what do you wish for", and then Shinji has a vision of a woman's breasts being clutched, then the screen has a "bubbly" effect and turns orange, much like LCL. This is when Shinji enters Instrumentality. Storyboards identify this merely as a "woman's", but the vision resembles Asuka or Misato. Regardless, this scene is not at all about Kaworu or Asuka but rather the overwhelming Freudian/Jungian "return to the womb" themes, to which Kaworu, but also Misato, Rei and obviously Yui have a thematic connection to, and Kaworu's brief appearance is overshadowed by the larger context of the scene both before he appears and after Lilith reverts back to Rei. Additionally, Kaworu is still present in the "back half" of Lilith, suggesting his soul was absorbed (presumably harvested or by Gendo through his Adam implant, which was then absorbed by Rei), which makes this further different from the following Rei apparitions as it is not Lilith having the appearance of that person's wish, but instead Adam as part of herself. In fact, Lilith (Rei) and Adam (Kaworu) fusing was a necessary part of enacting Third Impact, hence why Gendo had the weakened Adam embryo in his hand in the first place, with Kaworu's soul having presumably returned there, being a portion of Adam's own soul, not unlike what happened with other portions of Lilith's soul., or Kyoko's. Thus, we can safely say it's not Kaworu manifesting as a transition guide like for other characters, but instead Kaworu/Adam himself, already fused with Lilith.

In EoE, Instrumentally is focused on his return to the womb and his anxieties surrounding the women in his life, mainly Asuka, whose affection he desperately, and selfishly, seeks immediately after entering Instrumentality. Kaworu is completely absent from Instrumentality afterwards despite there being every reason for Shinji to go after him if he wanted to, only showing up at the very end in which he completes Rei's lines as Adam. This simply doesn't match with the idea of Shinji as deeply wanting him or having been brought there by accepting or giving into him in the first place. Far from it, Shinji is still distressed and is still seeking complementation. Retroactively, Kaworu is briefly only mentioned in the series' Instrumentality in the context of Shinji feeling guilty over killing someone he saw as human, and thinking that maybe he did not really kill him would take a weight off Shinji's shoulders.

Even when Shinji says "you were there all along" he is in fact echoing what Asuka says earlier in the movie when she finds out Kyoko is residing inside Unit-02, and Kaworu calls Shinji when he is a looking at Misato's cross, his last memory of yet another maternal figure. Both Asuka and Shinji quickly revert to a status of childlike glee. Shinji is looking for an escape, a mother's embrace to let him run away from the harsh reality.

Interestingly, an earlier draft of EoE had this made far clearer, emphasizing further (to Gendo) that Adam has been fused into Lilith, as well as her trying to penetrate Unit 01's core. Additionally, Rei herself said Kaworu's line and only briefly morphed into Kaworu afterwards. Of course, except (partly) for the line, this is all still the case in the final version of the movie, but it's less clear, much like how the ending featured in that draft is almost identical but gives far more details compared to the final one.

Anno forced Megumi Ogata to choke Yuko Miyamura

Another rumour surrounding the production of EoE, surrounding one of the more violent aspects of Evangelion production. Anno had difficulty in finishing this scene, and in order to get the most realistic performance, Megumi Ogata (Shinji's seiyuu) actually choked Yuko Miyamura (Asuka's). Some say this was Anno forcing them, however it was clearly consensual. The sources don't clarify whose idea it was, however.

CF: Did Megumi Ogata (Shinji) really strangle you while recording the voices for the End Of Evangelion to get a realistic performance?

YM: Yes, she did. I tried many times to make it sound like I was being strangled, but I couldn’t get it right. So, Megumi Ogata helped me make realistic sounds by actually strangling me. She’s nice isn’t she!? - Gold Coast Film Festival 2010

Statements by Evangelion Staff - Megumi Ogata on fandom and choking Yuko Miyamura