#Director Kunihiko Ikuhara Throws Fire on Rumors That Evangelion’s Kaworu Is Based on Him

(Image via Netflix Japan)

For years, it has been rumored that anime director Kunihiko Ikuhara, known for Revolutionary Girl Utena, Sailor Moon, and Sarazanmai, was the inspiration for Kaworu Nagisa in Evangelion. While the director rejects the idea, during the NHK documentary last night following the production of Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time and its creator Hideaki Anno, Ikuhara decided to some oil on the rumors and allude to his part to play in the Evangelion franchise.

Ikuhara denied the claims, saying in an interview in 2008 that “Kaworu is very attractive; if I were to claim to be his inspiration, I could imagine that a lot of fans would complain,” though does note that a scene between Shinji and Kaworu in episode 24 of Neon Genesis Evangelion was a very situation between the directors on an onsen trip during the production of Sailor Moon. Ikuhara does mention that Kaworu acts more like Anno rather himself. 

Though in two Twitter Fleets last night during the airing of the Anno documentary, Ikuhara plays with the idea that he was the inspiration behind Kaworu, saying in a very Kaworu-like way:

“Don’t overthink things too much. Create based on your own intuitions.

I hope another can give you the meaning.”

While Kaworu doesn’t say those lines explicitly, it’s clear that either Ikuhara is mimicking the character, or just having some fun with the fans.

Twitter user @mataaeruyoQ first discovered the similarities and wrote that “… Ikuhara talking like Kaworu was so spicy that I couldn’t sleep.”

Whether or not Ikuhara was the inspiration behind Kaworu remains to be seen, but it’s fun to thing that one of the greatest directors in anime directly influenced another one of the greatest anime directors for one of the most popular characters ever created. 

Source: @mataaeruyoQ on Twitter via Hachima Kikou

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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.