More episode 24 bs-ery mainly about Kaworu’s status as a psychological angel rather than a non-psychological and how ep 24 is unconventional.
(Also this is also heavily inspired by circuitbird’s analysis on Kaworu’s status as an angel which I highly recommend giving a read!)
I’ve already gone over before a few times, though not into much detail, (See: Guide to Angels for one) how he’s psychological despite not using any sort of invasive means of getting through to the subconscious. After a recent run of episode 24 however, I started noticing something about the episode itself prying into Shinji’s coping methods.
What really bolsters this on is that in all psychological episodes with the respective pilots, there’s symbolism aligned with the respective pilots. The symbolism for those pilots is also accompanied with “what you’re doing is wrong and you shouldn’t do this because it hurts you as well as others.”
(Rei’s psychological episode differs in that while there is symbolism, it isn’t about how wrong she is, but rather about knowing her feelings, because she isn’t allowed that).
Leliel’s contact with Shinji starts out with the horizontal and vertical lines while the validity of identity is being explained. These would later intersect and become the Johari Window (used for self-awareness). This was explained to Shinji due to his lack of self-awareness. Asuka’s encounter with Arael is one of masculine protest (the act of putting up a front) as a means of rejecting her reality.
Kaworu’s conversations with Shinji parallel that of other psychological episodes with a sort of metaphorical picking of the brain out of curiosity. There is then that explanation from the angel that the pilot shouldn’t be doing that. He explains to Shinji that despite any sort of pain life brings, he should endure it rather than run away. Escaping all forms of pain is ultimately meaningless because part of what it means to be living is to experience pain of all kinds.
Shinji’s encounter with Kaworu in the last 10 minutes of episode 24 is one which builds off Leliel’s conversations with Shinji while adding onto more of Shinji’s detrimental methods of coping. After it is revealed that Nagisa Kaworu’s identity is the last angel, Shinji feels an emotional sting. You’re also probably wondering where the symbolism is in the episode, since symbolism is prevalent in all the psychological episodes.
The AT Field was the symbolism.
AT Fields of course are the wall of one’s mind as Kaworu states. The light of one’s soul, but also tied to one’s identity/how one navigates the world. AT Fields can be physically and metaphorically used for escapism (in Shinji’s case - heavy idealization) to varying degrees or a means to breach others’ boundaries. Shinji uses his field to idealize others, it’s even stated that Kaworu is an idealized Shinji here.
While the love between Kaworu and Shinji was mutual, we can’t overlook Shinji having an idea of Kaworu in his mind bound in the idea of a painless world. Hell, Kaworu’s betrayal wasn’t even a betrayal!
Shinji’s perception of Kaworu’s status as an angel actually forces Shinji to confront his idealization. Shinji has taken up the defeat of angels for all the wrong reasons and this forces Shinji to the realization why he’s wrong. Kaworu loved Shinji, Shinji loved, and overtly idealized Kaworu. Shinji being given the “you’re wrong” moment is what also gave Shinji qualms on defeating him.
It is for that reason that ep 24 is an unconventional take on psychological exploration.
