RadFemHedonist
Mad Scientist
Shifted from the Anime Limited thread:
This is a bit multi-layered, I feel.
We all know what kind of position Kaworu holds within Eva fandom. For a character who had so little screen time in NGE, fans certainly took him into their hearts and analysed and talked about his words, actions and intent.
This extended into other Evangelion media such as games. One of these is a visual novel sequel by developer Broccoli called Girlfriend of Steel 2nd. The game plays up fan interpretations of Shinji and Kaworu's relationship and includes a "Kaworu route" for players to pursue:
Keeping at the back of our minds the way in which Kaworu has been absorbed into the ongoing Eva lore, 2012 saw the release of Evangelion 3.0, where this fan-favourite character would finally get some more screen time. The thing is (and your individual mileage may vary considerably here) Evangelion 3.0 has been argued by some to be very meta. What I, personally, got from the audience reaction at the screening at Glasgow Film Theatre in 2013 was that the laughter was a response to how Khara had played up to the image of the character that Kaworu had become in the minds of fans, and to Shinji's continuing obliviousness to the meaning of the whole thing.
As another case in point, some observers argue that the pilots' lack of ageing in 3.0 is a comment on the fanbase still not having moved on all these years later. I think that one's very much open to debate myself, but there is one thing that I feel is for certain: the Wunder pilots are wearing outfits ripped straight out of RahXephon, an arguable Evangelion rip-off by animation studio Bones.
Yes: an Evangelion film directly referencing Evangelion's influence on the medium that it's part of. That is just how meta 3.0 can apparently get.
(Tagging @Yami as well if you're interested in this at all.)
I'm not big into shipping or BL but that pic is so kawaii X3
I really liked Rahxephon and while it obviously has significant Eva influences I think it does plenty of it's own thing too, wouldn't call it a ripoff