Rei Ayanami

Creation and conception

Original concept and influences

Hideaki Anno, director of the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, chose Ayanami's surname after the Japanese destroyer Ayanami, following the naval naming pattern used for other characters in the series. He took her first name from Rei Hino of the anime and manga series Sailor Moon, hoping to recruit one of the series' directors, Kunihiko Ikuhara, to work on Evangelion. In Japanese, Rei can mean "zero" when written with the kanji Rei (零). According to writer Patrick Drazen, the name may also pun on her role as the pilot of Evangelion Unit-00. Critic Hiroki Azuma suggested that the name may instead derive from Zero, the protagonist of Ryū Murakami's 1987 novel Ai to Gensō no Fascism.

Anno asked character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto to portray Rei as a depressed, reticent girl who speaks in a subdued voice. The song "Doko e demo ikeru kitte" (何処へでも行ける切手) by the band Kinniku Shōjo Tai inspired Sadamoto, particularly the line "hotai de masshiro na shojo" (包帯で真っ白な少女; lit. '"the girl white with bandages"'), which prompted him to draw Rei. The same band also released a song named "Fumimi no kodomo" (福耳の子供), which features a female monologue; Sadamoto imagined Rei with a similar voice. Ukina, a character from Sadamoto's previous work Koto, served as Rei's model, and Sadamoto gave Rei a messy, layered bob haircut. Sadamoto also drew inspiration from The Snow Goose, a novella by Paul Gallico that describes a painting of its protagonist as a thin, pale girl in an empty room.

Anno wanted a melancholic character with short hair, so Sadamoto originally designed Rei as a brunette with dark eyes. To distinguish her from the other female protagonist, Asuka Langley Soryu, he gave Rei eye and hair colors that contrasted with Asuka's. One of his artbooks also includes, among Rei's designs, a drawing of a dark-haired character named Yui Ichijō, although Sadamoto did not specify whether she represented an early version of Yui Ikari. While Sadamoto conceived Asuka as occupying the position of an idol in the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion and as representing heterosexual desire, he conceived Rei as a symbol of motherhood, and as Asuka's opposite. Anno also suggested giving Rei red eyes, which he believed would strengthen her personality and distinguish her from the other characters. Sadamoto changed her hair color to blue, echoing the protagonist of Aoki Uru, the unmade film sequel to Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (1987). Sadamoto also gave her black stockings, inspired by a women's handball team he saw playing in middle school. Black also distinguished Rei from characters in contemporary series and ran counter to prevailing design trends.

Development

Anno adrew on Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic concept of the Oedipus complex when developing Rei's role. He conceived the Evangelion and Rei as surrogate maternal figures for Shinji; Rei's emotional closeness to Shinji's father, Gendo, added another layer to this Oedipal structure. An abandoned version of Rei's background portrayed her as more sensual than the final character; unlike Anno's more direct and explicit approach, Sadamoto chose to give her a more enigmatic and subdued eros. Kazuya Tsurumaki described Shinji's feelings for Rei as sexual and incestuous, while Kentaro Takekuma called her an "eternal virgin". Animator Mitsuo Iso proposed further ideas for the character. In his plans, Rei had a connection to Arqa (アルカ, Aruka), an ancient ruin located deep beneath Nerv headquarters that served as her metaphorical mother. Iso envisioned Rei dying upon experiencing her first menstruation. Rei fed on Arqa's flesh in another scenario inspired by Daijirō Morohoshi's Kōshi Ankokuden (孔子暗黒伝, Dark Biography of Confucius); Iso also associated her with a substance called Adamah (アダマ, Adama) and proposed that only Gendo could touch her. He gave Rei the baptismal name Karuya (カルヤ, Karuya). Other proposals connected her existence to Gendo's attempts to recreate Yui and to a covenant with twelve final Angels, which Iso envisioned with a mood reminiscent of Osamu Tezuka's Dororo.

During Evangelion's production and first broadcast, Anno struggled to write the character because he lacked personal interest in her and found her difficult to understand or relate to. He nevertheless regarded Rei as a representation of his unconscious mind, and originally conceived her as "the unconscious Shinji". Even in the fifth and sixth episodes, "Rei I" and "Rei II", which center on her character, Rei speaks only sparingly. Anno's lack of affinity with Rei led him to neglect her personality for much of the series and give her limited narrative space. In the eighth episode, "Asuka Strikes!", for example, she never appears; during production of the seventh installment, "A Human Work", Anno remembered Rei and added a scene for her. As with other Evangelion characters, he incorporated aspects of his own life into Rei, including his vegetarianism and avoidance of meat. Early in production, Anno also said that uncertainty about his company's future left him unsure what would happen to Rei and the other characters. The character's backstory changed during development. According to Sadamoto and assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki, the staff originally conceived her as an alien entity before making her at least genetically human. In an interview, the two described Rei as possessing Yui Ikari's human genes and those of the first Angel, Adam [sic]; Tsurumaki likened her condition to that of a Devilman, the human-demon hybrid from Go Nagai's manga Devilman.

Voice actresses

Megumi Hayashibara voiced Rei in the original series and all of the character's subsequent appearances, including the later films, spin-offs, video games, and the Rebuild of Evangelion film series. In 1995, Hayashibara said Rei's laconic personality intrigued her and presented a new challenge: "I have to challenge something new." Hayashibara also auditioned for Asuka and Misato Katsuragi. Anno instead cast her as Rei after hearing her performance in the original video animation Ichigatsu ni wa Christmas (一月にはChristmas), believing her voice better suited the character. Hayashibara recalled that few taciturn, emotionally cold characters existed in anime before Neon Genesis Evangelion; lacking models to imitate, she developed her own approach to Rei. During the recording sessions, Hideaki Anno guided Hayashibara and instructed her to deliver her lines in the flattest tone possible. She recalled his explanation: "It's not that she doesn't have emotion, but that she doesn't know what it is.'" According to Hayashibara, Rei's inability to understand emotion leaves no distinction between her words and feelings. She also attributed Rei's appeal to her lack of calculated pretense, arguing that her beauty stems from the fact that "she has feelings". Hayashibara said that discovering the warmth hidden beneath Rei's detached exterior allowed her to relate to the character.

While voicing the mahjong game Shinseiki Evangelion: Eva to Yukai na Nakamatachi (新世紀エヴァンゲリオンエヴァと愉快な仲間たち; lit. 'Neon Genesis Evangelion: Eva and Good Friends'), Hayashibara said she came to understand the difference between "lack of intonation" and "absence of emotion" in speech. She interpreted a lack of intonation as a sign of "self-confidence"; in her view, insecure or insincere people tend to emphasize their words, whereas Rei speaks plainly because she is honest and truthful. Hayashibara reprised the role for the Rebuild series. During production of the third film, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012), she recorded scenes before the animation was complete and therefore asked Anno to explain the action to her. She recalled delivering Rei's short lines repeatedly to find the precise nuance the staff sought. She had to voice Rei as indifferent while taking care to convey her feelings of happiness with just the right nuance.

Regarding the final installment, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021), Hayashibara found it difficult to portray another Rei clone as she gradually matures; the staff criticized her both when she tried to make Rei sound pure and when she gave her a less emotional performance. Anno wanted the characters to sound younger and express fuller emotions, making it difficult for Hayashibara to capture the nuances he sought. Rei's role increased Hayashibara's popularity and helped establish her as an icon of anime fandom. Shunsuke Nozawa, assistant professor at Hokkaido University, noted an explosion of interest in Japanese voice actors during the 1990s and placed Hayashibara at the center of this shift, attributing it to the "enormous, societal-level fascination" with Ayanami. As a result, Hayashibara received interviews about the series and regular invitations to appear on television as a celebrity.

Appearances

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The series introduces Rei Ayanami as an enigmatic girl who pilots an Evangelion, a giant biomechanical humanoid deployed by special agency Nerv against hostile beings called Angels. Rei attends school with Shinji Ikari, the series's protagonist and a fellow Evangelion pilot, and is later revealed to be a clone of his mother, Yui Ikari. The other Evangelion pilots refer to her as the First Child. In 2014, she enrolls at Tokyo-3's First Municipal Middle School, with Nerv's Commander Gendo Ikari serving as her legal guardian. In 2015, the Angels begin attacking the city, prompting Gendo to summon his son, Shinji, to pilot an Eva unit. When Shinji refuses to pilot, Rei first appears severely injured and physically frail. Shinji's sympathy for her prompts him to accept the role of Evangelion pilot. In the episode "Don't Be", the Angel Arael subjects Rei's fellow pilot Asuka Langley Soryu to a psychic attack that forces her to relive her painful past. Gendo then orders Rei to retrieve a weapon named Lance of Longinus from underground and use it against the Angel. Rei retrieves the lance and hurls it at her target. As the series progresses, Rei pilots her assigned Evangelion unit under Gendo's command and develops a friendship with Shinji, gradually changing her attitude toward others.

In the twenty-third episode, "Rei III", Rei decides to sacrifice herself alongside Evangelion Unit-00 in the battle with the Angel Armisael to save Shinji and destroy the enemy. After her apparent death, Dr. Ritsuko Akagi reveals that the Laboratory for Artificial Evolution's third branch, located beneath Lake Ashino and Hakone, created Rei. The laboratory created her blue-haired body by cloning Yui Ikari, who lost her life during an experiment with Evangelion Unit-01. Ritsuko also reveals that Nerv keeps numerous Rei clones in the deepest level of its headquarters, allowing another clone to replace each Rei after her death. Rei also incorporates genetic material from Lilith, the second Angel. Nerv stores her memories in a spinal column-like object inside the Dummy Plug Plant in Central Dogma. A flashback in the twenty-first episode, "He was aware that he was still a child", reveals that in 2010, Gendo brought the first Rei clone, Rei I, to the Gehirn base, the predecessor of Nerv that developed and constructed the first Evangelion units, introducing her as the daughter an acquaintance had entrusted to him. Dr. Naoko Akagi, a romantic rival to Yui and a colleague of Gendo, killed this first Rei. During her visit to Gehirn, Rei I became lost in the laboratory's control room and encountered Naoko, whom she called an "old hag" as if to provoke her. She then revealed that Gendo used the same insult for Naoko. Recognizing Yui's features in the girl's face, Naoko flew into a rage and strangled Rei I before taking her own life.

Rebuild of Evangelion

Rei returns as a central character in Rebuild of Evangelion, first appearing in the series's first installment, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007). She pilots Evangelion Unit-00 and helps Shinji defeat the Angel Ramiel. The Rebuild series places Shinji and Rei's relationship at the center of the story and expands their interactions compared with the original series. In the second film, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009), Rei develops a closer and more explicit relationship with Shinji than in the original series. In a departure from her original characterization, she attempts to host a dinner party for her fellow pilots. Anno originally considered this idea for the fourth episode of the original anime, "Hedgehog's Dilemma", but abandoned it during production. At the climax, the Angel Zeruel devours Rei and Unit-00. After Unit-01 goes out of control, Shinji enters the Angel and pulls Rei free, and the two embrace; the battle ends with both trapped inside Unit-01 and their actions triggering the Third Impact. Fuyutsuki remarks that Shinji's behavior has improved, while Gendo states that his plan requires Shinji and Rei to come together. After the film's release, Tsurumaki addressed the apparent plan to bring Shinji and Rei together, attributing that impression to the complexities of the script and expressing doubt that Anno had developed such a strategy in detail.

In the third installment, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012), set fourteen years later, another Rei clone takes the place of her predecessor and displays a colder, more taciturn personality. In Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021), the series' final film, the new clone, named Ayanami (Tentative Name), travels with Shinji and Asuka Shikinami to Village 3, a settlement whose inhabitants survived the Impacts and live isolated from the largely uninhabitable outside world. Here, Rei interacts with Toji Suzuhara and Hikari Horaki, her former classmates who now live in the village as adults, as well as the village's women and children, and helps them work in the fields. Through these experiences, she develops a sense of individuality, discovers everyday life, and learns to socialize with the villagers. Eventually, Rei (Tentative Name), whose designation is Ayanami-Type No.006, loses the ability to maintain her form because she requires continuous exposure to the Evangelion's LCL liquid, and she dies in front of Shinji. During Instrumentality, Shinji reunites with the Rei from fourteen years earlier, who has remained inside Evangelion Unit-01. Now sporting visibly longer hair, Rei speaks with Shinji, who chooses to create a world free of Evangelions and give it a new beginning, Neon Genesis. The two bid each other a final farewell, shaking hands and smiling.

Other appearances

In Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's manga adaptation, Rei first appears in the first volume's second chapter, "Reunion" (再会, Saikai), which appeared in book form in September 1995. She initially regards herself as empty and useless, believing that she exists solely to pilot the Evangelion under Gendo's orders, but physical contact with Shinji begins to change her outlook. In a scene in the manga's fifth volume, Rei burns herself while preparing tea with Shinji at her apartment, and their hands briefly touch. Rei uses the occasion to encourage Shinji to talk to his father and open up to him. In a later chapter, she recalls the moment and wonders whether she will ever touch Shinji's hands again. During her battle with the Angel Armisael, Rei becomes increasingly aware of her sadness and affection for Shinji, and expresses a desire to become one with him. Sadamoto's manga also alters Rei's characterization, making her more empathetic and receptive to human contact than her animated counterpart. It gives her greater prominence than Asuka, who instead plays the more prominent role in the anime. Sadamoto placed particular emphasis on Rei's relationship with Shinji, using the symbolism of their touching hands and the theme of motherhood, for which he drew inspiration from Kazuo Umezu's The Drifting Classroom. Sadamoto described Shinji and Rei's feelings for each other as mutual love.

The animated series' final episode presents an alternate reality that departs from the preceding storyline. In this scenario, Rei joins Asuka and Shinji's class as a new student and displays a cheerful, absent-minded, and irascible personality. Spin-offs such as Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days, which takes place in the same alternate reality, retain this more outgoing characterization. The original net animation Petit Eva: Evangelion@School, a parody of the original series, features three Ayanami sisters: one has a diligent and introverted personality, another displays an outgoing, athletic personality, and the third is a four-year-old who loves stuffed toys. Neon Genesis Evangelion: Anima, set three years after The End of Evangelion in an alternate timeline, introduces multiple incarnations of Rei: Rei Troi, who pilots an Evangelion named Evangelion Unit-02 Type II Allegorica; Rei Quatre; Rei Cinq; and the seven-year-old Rei Six. Each pilots an Evangelion-0.0 unit. In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse, Rei's relationship with Kaworu attracts Shinji's attention. She also appears in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legend of the Piko Piko Middle School Students.

Rei also appears in media outside the Evangelion franchise. She appears as a playable character in Super Robot Wars, MapleStory, and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. Tales of Zestiria and The First Descendant also offer her as downloadable content. She also participates in an official Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion crossover episode. The simulation game Neon Genesis Evangelion: Ayanami Raising Project places the player in charge of caring for Rei. Players can also pursue Rei as a romantic interest in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel 2nd, Neon Genesis Evangelion 2, and Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji Ikari Raising Project. In the manga adaptation of Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji Ikari Raising Project, Rei becomes Shinji's distant cousin and transfers to his school, complicating his relationship with Asuka. Neon Genesis Evangelion RPG, a tabletop role-playing game adaptation of Neon Genesis Evangelion, also includes Rei as a playable character.

Characterization and themes

Basic characteristics

Rei Ayanami is a taciturn girl with few social connections who readily follows orders. She is introverted, uncomplaining, socially detached, and aloof. Hideaki Anno believed that Japanese society wanted girls who behaved quietly and avoided complaining. Sociologist Satomi Ishikawa analyzed a scene in the series' sixth episode, "Rei II", in which Shinji asks Rei why she pilots Evangelion Unit-00. Rei answers that piloting provides her only connection with other people, expressing a commitment to fighting the Angels that could cost her everything. Throughout the series, she both intimidates and attracts Shinji. Although physically fragile, she has an "icy decisive mind". Hoon J. Lee of Purdue University Northwest wrote that Rei repeatedly rescues Asuka when the latter can no longer exercise her will and instead succumbs to her torment. Rei also confesses that she wants to die and disappear from existence. Japanese critic Tamaki Saitō argued that the emptiness Rei experiences characterizes her as a "phallic girl", contrasting her with the "phallic mothers" represented by characters such as Noriko Takaya from Gunbuster and Queen Kushana from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, with phallic denoting authoritative behavior. He hypothesized, "If the phallic mother is a woman with a penis, the hysterical phallic girl is a girl who is identified with the penis. The penis here, however, is a hollow, empty one that will never function again." Conversely, Saitō argued that Rei's emptiness and her sense of belonging within fiction allow her to drive the narrative through acquired phallic behavior.

For critic Gerald Alva Miller, Rei experiences alienation and existential angst beneath her cold demeanor. Gualtiero Cannarsi, who curated the Italian adaptation of the series, similarly described Rei as lacking basic life skills because no one taught them to her, which in turn left her uninterested in such matters. Her apartment reflects this attitude through its neglected hygiene. In one episode, Ritsuko Akagi remarks that Rei, like Commander Ikari, lacks practical life skills. Her apartment floor is littered with scientific texts on biological interactions and genetics written in the Latin alphabet in the original series and The Happy Prince and Other Tales in the Rebuild of Evangelion series. Evangelion character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto compared her disposition to a shadow and to air, describing her as someone people desire but cannot attain. He also described Rei and Asuka as characters who possess different strengths. Hayashibara viewed Rei as celestial and said that the character's fluctuating emotions required meticulous attention during her performance to avoid repeating takes.

According to Sadamoto, Rei experiences emotions but struggles to express them and communicate with others. From the series's opening episodes, Shinji attempts to connect with her, while Rei struggles to interpret his words and actions. Although the two pilots occasionally converse, they fail to communicate on an emotional level or understand each other's feelings. After a major battle in the sixth episode, Shinji cries with relief at finding Rei alive, prompting her to smile, a major turning point in her character development. Their exchange brings them to a point of mutual understanding. For critic Manabu Tsuribe, Rei's smile in the sixth episode marks the climax of Neon Genesis Evangelion and, in terms of the "growth and independence of a boy", the conclusion of its Bildungsroman-like character arc. Through her relationship with Shinji, who is also her classmate, Rei becomes increasingly aware of her own identity and desires. Andrew Lapworth of the University of Bristol suggested that Rei's connection with Shinji stems from his desire for his dead mother. Konstantin Rayhert of Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University argued that the bond between mother and child surpasses that between spouses. He also noted that Ayanami, Rei's surname, was originally the surname of Shinji's mother and suggested that this connection could explain why Rei turns to Shinji during the Third Impact. According to scholars Artur Lozano-Méndez and Antonio Loriguillo-López, the paternal affection Rei receives, in contrast to Shinji, and her resemblance to his mother strengthen their relationship.

Psychoanalysis

During a show, a boy asked Anno what Rei likes, but he replied that he did not think about it. According to him, she does not appreciate her own life, hurts herself, and feels she does not need friends, being aware of her replaceability: "Her presence, her existence—ostensible existence—is ephemeral. She's a very sad girl. She only has the barest minimum of what she needs to have." Anno also compared the Japanese attraction to characters such as Rei as the result of "a stunted imaginative landscape born of Japan's defeat in the Second World War" and remarked about the lack of preparation for adulthood in Japanese education after the Second World War. Critics concurred on her unhappiness and ambivalence and linked her silent and inexpressive personality to alexithymia or a schizoid personality disorder. An official Death and Rebirth booklet compared her to a blank noh mask, and the book Schizo / Neon Genesis Evangelion characterized her as "a dreamless mind, completely separated from Jung's collective unconscious".

In the fourteenth episode of the anime, "Weaving a Story", Rei delivers a monologue describing the world she observes. Critic Dennis Redmond described this monologue as complex because of the effect that piloting Evangelion Unit-01 has on Rei, causing what he called an "astonishingly beautiful dream sequence". He linked the poem to the line "Who is No. 1?" in The Prisoner and "Who am I?" to Germania Death in Berlin, a 1973 play written by Heiner Müller. He also stated that science fiction in the 1970s influenced the depiction of the images of Rei in this sequence and the sequence includes various images from East Asian mythology and nature; and noted that Shinji cannot interface with Evangelion Unit-00, but Rei can marginally interact with Evangelion Unit-01. Another critic, Yuya Sato, compared this monologue to shōjo manga, or manga intended for girls, and said that Rei's question about who she is does not need a clear answer. Scholar Gabriel Tsang wrote that her monologue includes questions that Immanuel Kant described as "transcendental", and it appears nihilistic because of Tsang's statement that "there is no God who has granted human a purpose to survive". Conversely, he noted that existentialism builds on nihilism, and self-recognition requires prior self-denial. Regarding the question, "Who am I?", analyst Stevie Suan described this as a result of Evangelion allowing self-reflexivity and juxtaposing this question against neoliberalist individualism. According to Napier, Rei's questions about herself are characteristic of metaphysics, rather than only psychoanalysis.

Academic Frenchy Lunning described Rei as Shinji's anima. According to screenwriter Yōji Enokido, she produces in young men a feeling of distance as though they still depend on their mothers. In the first episode, "Angel Attack", Shinji sees a ghost of Rei Ayanami in a deserted city near Tokyo-3. The Rei visible in the sequence is not the real Rei; the appearance has been connected to the scenario of the film The End of Evangelion, released in 1997 as a conclusion to the classic series. During the film, humans come together in one being during Instrumentality as many Reis are seen "swimming like schools of sperm". Daniel Villa Gracia of Complutense University of Madrid likened Rei Ayanami's group of clones to an army and said this was a threat when Seele's failed to carry its plan out. Yūichirō Oguro, an editor of some of the contents of the Japanese home video editions of Evangelion, wrote that the ghost of Rei that Shinji sees on the avenue is "the existence that gazes upon man" and the scene symbolizes that throughout the series, his mother protected him.

Themes of trauma

In an interview with Anno, Japanese writer and academic Mitsunari Ohizumi likened the figure of Rei to the young women committed to the Japanese sect Aum Shinrikyō, which carried out the Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995, noting that they depended entirely on their leader Shōkō Asahara. A book he edited, Schizo / Neon Genesis Evangelion, describes her as an unsolvable puzzle; "a spirit that tears up the heart and body in eternity"; and "the most beautiful actress in the world"; and in a series of dichotomies, such as opium and euphoria, Satan and God, Eros and Thanatos, a cruel woman and a strong girl in junior high school, sarin for Gendo Ikari to destroy humanity and a keyhole to Pandora's box, the Great Bad Mother trying to take in her son, and hopelessness and eternal life. Azuma said that Rei Ayanami's austere and secluded lifestyle, the comparison of her impression to postwar problems such as what happened in Bosnia, and the combination of a room with a laboratory allowed Anno to combine "images of refugees/trauma with the 'scientific'", and her seclusion is realistic. According to Azuma, Rei's discommunication is characteristic of neither kogyal, or "child girl", nor otaku, despite Neon Genesis Evangelion being "extremely otaku-like" because of heavy details it uses from media before it. He also likened her room to Satyan, the scientific laboratory of Aum Shinrikyō.

A theme of Neon Genesis Evangelion is the use of child soldiers. Scholar Emily Muir said that this series critiques children's consent and the consequences they face once they join. Rei, like her colleagues Shinji and Asuka, is a child soldier recruited by Nerv. Muir described her relationship with Shinji in the early episodes as protective. Later in the series, Rei doubts her morality as she was previously loyal to Gendo, but decides to rebel against him and rescue Shinji by detonating her own Evangelion unit. Muir described this phenomenon as developing "human will". She exhibits amnesiac behavior when she becomes Rei III and weighs her ability to honor Gendo and Shinji. According to Muir, despite the amnesia when changing clone bodies, her emotional development continues. Therefore, Rei can remember human emotion better than memory. In another paper Muir wrote, she said that because Evangelion combines mecha and sekai-kei genres, Rei's religiously-connected robotic behavior is consistent with the mecha genre, but her love is characteristic of sekai-kei. The term sekai-kei (セカイ系) refers to "world-type", and Rei's portrayal in the series prompts viewers to believe they can overcome perceived defeat when she is used as a symbol well. Scholar Philip Brophy described the robotic behavior and lack of socialization as acting according to higher authority, despite Shinji's concern for her. Muir then states that Nerv specialized in mecha and clones, but because of its science, it was criticized by the Japanese military. In the seventh episode, "Fourth Children", the Japanese military had its own remote-controlled robots that did not require children to operate. Muir concluded that Evangelion romanticized child soldiers in its narrative and that the concept of jus ad bellum is ambiguous.

Comparisons and symbolism

Japanese architect Kaichiro Morikawa compared the distorted, deformed appearance of the first Rei to the installations of Tony Oursler and her bedroom to photographs by Gottfried Helnwein. Kentaro Takekuma associated Rei's bandaged appearance with photographs by Romain Slocombe, while Sadamoto compared her to the works of manga artist Sensha Yoshida. Throughout the series, images of the Moon frequently accompany Rei; the celestial body traditionally evokes motherhood, pallor, passivity, and femininity. Japanese engineer Yumiko Yano identified a hieratic, unattainable quality in Rei Ayanami and compared her to the Virgin Mary. Yano also linked Rei to the fragile, chaste women depicted in fin de siècle art, particularly in the work of Symbolist painters.

Critic Krystian Woznicki compared Rei's role to Pinocchio in the film 964 Pinocchio (1991), but observed that "Rei's character is quite realistic, whereas Pinocchio is completely removed from reality". Saitō described her as "the culmination of the Pygmalionism that began with Nanako SOS" and identified Ami Mizuno from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon as a forerunner of Rei. Kenneth Lee likewise drew parallels between Rei's path toward self-awareness and those of Pinocchio and Key from Key the Metal Idol. Patrick Drazen argued that Rei, like other Neon Genesis Evangelion characters, shares traits with deities from Shinto mythology, linking her to the Sun goddess Amaterasu, who is reborn at every dawn. He similarly compared the show's two other protagonists, Shinji and Asuka, to Susanoo and Ama-no-Uzume, respectively. Shinji, like Susanoo, displays poor social skills and an unsociable disposition, while Asuka is ebullient and flaunts her body like Uzume. According to Italian scholar Fabio Bartoli, Rei's three incarnations correspond to the three evolutionary stages of the soul postulated by the Jewish Qabbalah—Nephesh, the mere animal vitality; Ruach, the normal human soul; and Neshamah, the elevated spirit and result of the connection between man and God.

Cultural impact

Reception

Reception to Rei's character has been positive. Since 1995, fans have paid tribute to her through fan fiction, fan art, and dōjinshi. Writers Patrick W. Galbraith and Kathryn Hemmann have noted Rei's particular popularity among otaku, describing her as " the single most popular and influential character in the history of otaku anime". Hemmann further described Rei as representative of Evangelion itself. In September 2007, a column in The Nikkei, published to coincide with the theatrical release of Evangelion 1.0, estimated that at least one million men across Japan felt an attachment to Rei and described her as a modern goddess emblematic of Japanese anime. The column traced this attachment to the aftermath of Japan's economic bubble, when the collapse had left the country at a low point of self-confidence; it suggested that audiences identified with the wounded Rei silently and resolutely continuing to fight, and wondered whether a sense of emptiness had persisted despite the subsequent economic recovery. According to scholar Akiko Sugawa-Shimada, Rei's appearances in Neon Genesis Evangelion also helped establish a 1990s fan practice of watching episodes while simultaneously communicating online, a mode of participation that later developed through 2-Channel and expanded globally with social networks such as X and YouTube.

Anime critics described Rei as a realistic and influential character. Tasha Robinson of Science Fiction Weekly praised the conclusion of Rei's character arc. Chris Mackenzie of IGN distinguished Rei from the many similar characters that followed Evangelion, arguing that she possessed greater inner depth than the characters modeled after her. Other critics, however, faulted her characterization as lacking personality, trite, or an unrealized opportunity. Raphael See of THEM Anime Reviews also questioned the reasons behind her immense popularity. Critics also praised Rei's portrayal throughout the Rebuild of Evangelion films, particularly her development across the first two installments, her greater humanity compared with her characterization in the original anime, and her growing independence from Gendo. Reviewing the second film, Mark Sombillo of Anime News Network emphasized her central role in the narrative: "Her personality and plight form much more of the core motivation of the story and despite her still tryingly hesitant attempts at communication, there's genuine warmth beneath her actions and it's hard not to be won over by her." Her role in the final Rebuild film, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, drew particularly positive reviews for its optimistic outlook and its depiction of Rei and the other pilots outside the militarized environment of the Evangelion battles. Critics described her journey during the film's opening section as immersive and refreshing, while scholars noted the contrast between her life as a farmer and her former existence as an Evangelion pilot. James Whitbrook of Gizmodo highlighted the thoroughness of her character arc in 3.0+1.0. Chris Cimi of Otaquest similarly praised her development, describing her actions as something that "make for something different and warm but still Evangelion".

Merchandise

Rei's popularity resulted in high demand for merchandise. Merchandise featuring Rei includes figures, accessories, and a 2001 album titled Evangelion: The Birthday of Rei Ayanami. Sadamoto's design for the character achieved considerable commercial success, driving strong figure sales and extensive speculation about Rei in the press and anime criticism. In Japan, sales of Rei merchandise contributed to the expansion of the figure and fanzine markets and encouraged the creation of dedicated conventions. According to one estimate, plastic models before Evangelion sold about three thousand units, while Rei's figures sold approximately ten times as many. Evangelion's release coincided with the early expansion of the Internet and a surge in anime figure sales, increasing the visibility of the otaku community; groups of otaku searching for Rei also began frequenting Akihabara, contributing to its transformation from an electronics district into a center of otaku culture. Rei also featured in promotional collaborations between Evangelion and other organizations, including Turner Colour, which marketed a shade of paint named Ayanami Blue after her; Honda, which used her to promote the Honda Civic; Nagoya and the Aonami Line, as part of a campaign commemorating the release of Evangelion 3.0+1.0; and the Japan National Tourism Organization, which featured her in its "Cool Japan: Fusion with Tradition" campaign.

In 2005, for the tenth anniversary of Evangelion's first broadcast, manga artist Mine Yoshizaki designed a series of anthropomorphic Angel action figures; among them, he created a figure of Lilith based on Rei's character design. While Evangelion models and toys initially recorded poor sales, Rei's action figures quickly gained popularity and surpassed those of the Evangelion units, creating the first and perhaps the only case of a robotic anime "where reproductions of the human characters outsold those of the robots." Books and magazines featuring Rei on their covers also achieved strong sales. Se also appeared on the cover of an issue of the Japanese edition of Rolling Stone. In 1997, Kadokawa Shoten published an art book devoted to the character, Evangelion Photograph – Rei (ＲＥＩ－レイ－ 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン文庫写真集, Rei – Rei – Shinseiki Evangerion Bunko Shashin Shū). Demand for Rei figures also stimulated interest in sculpting representations of the character, while her commercial presence established her as an example of a virtual idol.

Legacy

Rei Ayanami influenced Japanese animation. Following the fame gained by Evangelion, other characters with its aesthetic and character traits were created. Critics regarded Rei and her success as the beginning of the moe phenomenon. Moe signifies affectionate traits, and fans valued these traits in her personality. Her characteristics were responsible for the impact Evangelion had, rather than the mechas and lore. The term moe (萌え) means "sprouting" or "budding", and Rei's injuries were crucial to actions that happen later in the series and to sales of her merchandise. Dolores Martinez of the University of London and University of Oxford said that Rei redefined the term. Moe led to the creation of characters according to definite stereotyped features easily recognizable and consumable by the Japanese otaku audience. In the late 1990s, characters bearing a close resemblance to Rei were produced and consumed on a massive scale in comics, anime, and novelizations, both in the commercial market and the fanzine market. According to Japanese scholar Hiroki Azuma in his book Otaku: Japan's Database Animals, this output is not linked to a direct Evangelion influence since "the emergence of Ayanami Rei did not influence many authors so much as change the rules of the moe elements sustaining otaku culture". Scholars noted that a character who is centered on moe has elements derived from it and used elsewhere. Azuma called this phenomenon the "database model", where he posited that within a structure with two layers, messages are sent between each other and leave the database. Because the elements of said database can be used in many different ways, a copy of a work has no difference from the work it is based on. Authors who did not think about Evangelion began to produce characters similar to Rei using moe elements, such as a silent personality, blue hair, and an absence of emotions. Stuttgart Media University's Zoltan Kacsuk found that visual novels were more likely to have characters that shared moe characteristics with characters such as Rei than were anime and manga, and these characters were especially common in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

The twenty-sixth episode, in which an alternate reality with Rei running with a slice of bread in her mouth is shown, constitutes a turning point within the otaku culture. To Azuma, the scene represents the point where the era of great stories ends and that of moe characters begins. From that point on, the emotional response to the protagonists became more important than the plot of the series. The twenty-sixth episode depicts Rei displaying attributes and behaviors that do not align with how she is depicted before this point. For example, running with a piece of bread in her mouth signifies slovenly and unpunctual behavior. When she meets her class, she behaves cheerfully, as opposed to her usual somber behavior. Another situation that is antithetical to her general portrayal is at the end of Shinji's imaginative sequence, where she gets angry at him. Scholar Stevie Suan stated that this is an uncharacteristic example of sudden mood changes commonly seen in anime, even within Evangelion. He noted that this example reaches "a limit of particularity" and demonstrates that characters' established portrayals are relied on. Writer Gerald Miller found this imaginative sequence to be "blissful", whereas Galbraith described this sequence as "a parody of fan works integrated into the original" and said this sequence could lampoon Anno's original idea of the anime as intending to please fans of anime. Writer Selen Çalık Bedir wrote about another scenario of Rei acting out of character in Ayanami with Asuka Raising Project, noting that players can cause Rei to behave similar to Asuka and stating that Rei can be "reduced to her most defining parts". She wrote that the game's visuals show that players can interact with a different character and personality than Rei.