Its particularly annoying to me because the whole subplot about the both of them is relevant to the theme of humanity's inability to communicate and engage with each other about our internal issues and desires, where Kaworu represents the view from the outside thanks to his existence as an Angel.
Can you just fucking say what you mean for once instead of couching it in so much sarcasm and vaguery that you're guaranteed to get a reply asking you to clarify? When have I "waged one-sided battles against SV and social programming?" That's so broad and flowery as to be meaningless.
I'm trying to offer sympathy on one hand while baiting for e-peen on the other. I thought the entire point of looking cool was to always be sarcastic and dismissive of all matters while twisting them into jokes, and that's what guarantees the most e-peen everywhere on the internet, since neither side can tell which one you sympathize with, and thus default to thinking they're on your side and give you solidarity upvotes.
You seem to be implying that romantic love is in some way "selfish" in a way that this hypothetical "selfless love" isn't. I don't understand. If Kaworu wasn't a boy then him offering Shinji a proclamation of his love without hesitation wouldn't be as powerful; it's Kaworu's disregard for taboo and willingness to violate the Hedgehog's Dilemna without a second thought that make his impact on the narrative so meaningful.
Even if you don't see the characters as gay or do see Shinji and Kaworu as bi but are more interested in other ships with the characters, I think most of us can agree that doing the above and then toning down the subtext in the next offical translation feels pretty shitty and exploitative. To sell countless figurines and posters and keychains and spin off manga etc etc on the image of "Look at how cute and gay they are" only to back off in the official thing... It does kinda feel like a subsection of the fandom has been taken for a ride.
See, that is what I don't get. I don't understand how someone can look at their scenes together and not see the subtext going on. Like, if Kaworu had been a girl instead no one would doubt it.
This really does take me back to the Dark Ages on SB with all the awful fanfic, where Kaworu would either be made straight(and conveniently enough, barely interact with Shinji) or be subjected to a constant cavalcade of homophobic jokes and abuse at his expense.
Of course assuming khara isn't swayed by the massively negative reaction to the new dub, there's nothing to be nervous about.
From what I've gathered, it almost sounds to me like they were expecting the audience to sit there clinging to each other while bawling their eyes out, or taking bites out of their blankie - which is a hilarous image to superimpose on a bunch of hyped-up otaku, by the way.
There's the problem.
Exactly what I said earlier. Localization happens for a reason. Localization is necessary. People who say translations need to be "as close to the original language as possible" are flat out wrong, because you get utter nonsense like this otherwise. I hope we're all throwing this translation at the people who say otherwise.
