Rei Ayanami (綾波 レイ, Ayanami Rei) is a fictional character from the Japanese media franchise Neon Genesis Evangelion created by Gainax. She is the First Child (First Children in the Japanese version) and pilot of the Evangelion Unit 00.
At the beginning of the series, Rei is an enigmatic figure whose unusual behavior confounds her peers. As the series progresses, she becomes more involved with the people around her, particularly her classmate and fellow Eva pilot Shinji Ikari. She is revealed to be a key factor in the events that conclude the storyline. Her role in this conclusion is not made entirely clear in the TV series, but is one of the principal plot points of The End of Evangelion.
Conception
Like many of Evangelion's characters, Ayanami's surname comes from a Japanese WWII naval vessel, the Fubuki class destroyer Ayanami. Her first name comes from the character Rei Hino of the anime and manga series Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. This was done in an effort to get one of the series directors, Kunihiko Ikuhara, to work on Evangelion; however, this effort failed.
Hideaki Anno instructed Yoshiyuki Sadamoto on Rei's character design that "Whatever else, she needs to be painted in as a bitterly unhappy young girl with little sense of presence." Sadamoto was inspired to draw Rei by the band Kinniku ShÅjo Tai's theme song "Hotai de Masshiro na Shojo" (lit. "The Girl White with Bandages"). Ukina, a character from Sadamoto's previous work Koto served as Rei's model. Anno required a character "cool with short hair", and Rei was originally designed brunette with dark eyes; however, it was necessary to distinguish her at first sight from the other female protagonist Asuka Langley Soryu, so Sadamoto designed her with the colors of eyes and hair inverted compared to Asuka. Anno suggested to draw red eyes for the character, a feature that allowed to give her more personality. Also, red eyes distinguish her from the other characters. Her blue hair come from the main character of Aoki Uru.
An emotional change causes certain muscles in the face to tense, producing an "expression". Rei is expressionless but is it that she doesn't feel emotion, or that she is merely unable to express it?
As the series progresses, she begins to develop relationships with others and to show moments of genuine emotion, to even become sad and cry. Her English voice actor, Amanda Winn-Lee describes her saying, '"Rei is not totally devoid of personality, otherwise she would not be interesting." There is a small spark of humanity, but it is "clouded by this huge sense of negative self-worth and the realization that she is expendable." The joy of playing Rei is exploring that small spark.' And also said: "I got into a weird mode - I can't describe it. It's a good thing I'm in a little padded room when I'm doing it because that's where she belongs. She knows she's expendable, but the thing is, she's still human so you can't do her totally catatonic."
No specific information is given about Rei's origin or heritage. Ritsuko Akagi states that Rei was born in a certain room deep in the lower levels of Nerv headquarters. The Red Cross Book stated that Rei was created from the "salvaged remains" of Yui Ikari after Yui's absorption into Unit 01 in 2004. The connection between Rei and Yui is implied a few times during the series. Gendo introduces Rei to the Nerv staff in 2010 as an "acquaintance's child" whom he is temporarily taking care of. In episode 21, Naoko Akagi says that Rei physically resembles Yui. The character model used in the 2010 scenes is based on development materials in which her age is only 4. In the films, Rei herself suggests a familiarity with the regenerating Lilith and merges with the being, suggesting she has a genetic background matching the Angel.
Appearances
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Rei appears in Neon Genesis Evangelion as a main protagonist and pilot of Evangelion Unit-00. Rei first appears in the first episode of the anime in an injured state after a failed activation test with her Evangelion. After she recovers from her injuries, she goes on to assist Shinji in defeating the Angels with their first major victory being against Ramiel. Rei's next significant Angel encounter occurs during Matarael's attack on Tokyo-3 where she cooperates with Shinji and Asuka to defeat the Angel. Rei is seemingly killed saving Shinji from Armisael late in the series yet she returns under mysterious circumstances; it is then revealed that the resurrected Rei is in fact the third incarnation of Rei, the first having been killed years prior to the series and the second having died in the previously stated incident.
The End of Evangelion
In The End of Evangelion, the third Rei acts as the main catalyst behind Third Impact, which is initiated after her fusion with Lilith. During Third Impact, a shining figure of Rei is shown for a few frames looking down at Misato and Ritsuko moments before they die. These spectral images also appear over the corpses of the slain Nerv personnel.
Rebuild of Evangelion
Rei returns as a primary character in Rebuild of Evangelion and first appears in Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone. Her character remains the same as in the anime, acting as pilot of Evangelion Unit-00 and helping Shinji defeat Ramiel. In Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance her character develops and her relationship with Shinji is shown much more openly than in the original series. She attempts to host a dinner party for her fellow pilots and is shown to work very hard while preparing the food. During the climax she is devoured along with Unit-00 by Zeruel. When Unit-01 goes berserk, Shinji is shown forcing his way into the angel and pulling her out and the two embrace each other. At the end of the film, they are both trapped within Unit-01 as the act triggers Third Impact. In Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, it is revealed that when conceived, the name Shinji would have been given if he was born a girl, was Rei, and that his mother's maiden name was Ayanami. It is further revealed that Rei is a clone of Shinji's mother, Yui Ayanami, who herself was lost during the development of the EVA units when she was "absorbed" into the core of EVA Unit 01. The Rei that Shinji tried to save at the end of Evangelion 2.0 was also absorbed into EVA Unit 01, and the Rei that appears in a black plug suit in the 3rd episode is a new clone.
In other media
Rei appears in many spin-offs and other media related to Neon Genesis Evangelion including video games such as Evangelion 64 and the popular cross-over franchise Super Robot Wars and the various manga adaptations, such as Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's manga adaptation of the anime. In Sadamoto's manga, Rei is portrayed in a slightly different light than her anime counterpart, being somewhat more open. Aside from some minor personality changes, her role remains very much the same as in the anime. Aside from this manga, Rei appears in various other titles such as Angelic Days and Shinji Ikari Raising Project.
Rei also appears in the Petit Eva: Evangelion@School series where three different versions of Rei exist, and all live together as sisters. The three Rei sisters use a different numbering system. Rei I is the 'normal' Rei, shown in her standard school uniform. Rei II is the 'alternate reality' Rei, from the alternate Earth that appears in Episode 26 where Rei lives a normal girl's life, shown in a different school uniform. Rei III is the 'child' Rei, basically the first Rei from the normal Evangelion universe prior to her death, who carries various toys and dolls. Rei I's personality is fairly distant, but responds more readily to everyone, especially Shinji. Rei II's personality is very excitable. Rei III is childlike, and cries when she does not get her way or is bullied. Within these manga adaptations, Rei is generally portrayed on a much lighter note than in the anime.
Reception
Frenchy Lunning has described Rei as being Shinji's anima. Rei Ayanami's success as a character, according to Hiroki Azuma, became a catalyst in the anime industry to shift away from storytelling and towards depicting characters with moe-inspiring traits. As Rei became a more prominent character among fans, she "changed the rules" governing what people regarded as moe-inspiring. The industry then created many characters which share her traits of pale skin, shortish bluish hair and a "quiet personality". Azuma regards Ruri Hoshino of Martian Successor Nadesico as being directly influenced by Rei. IGN ranked Rei 10th in "Top 25 Anime Characters of All Time" with writer Chris Mackenzie noting Rei to be one of the most influential character in anime series, but he still commented that she was different from similar characters since "She's a mystery we never really solve, when you think about it." She had the same place in Mania Entertainment's 10 Iconic Anime Heroines written by Thomas Zoth who commented on the large number of merchandising based on her and that she started "the moe boom in anime." In the survey "friendship" developed by rankingjapan.com in which people had to choose what anime character they would like to have as a friend, Rei ranked 9th. While reviewing the films Rebuild of Evangelion, writers from Anime News Network commented on Rei; while in the first title, Carlo Santos criticized that Rei's personality is the same as the one from the TV series, Justin Sevakis praised Rei's response to Shinji's kindness.
Sadamoto's design of the three female leads created extremely high sales of merchandise. Figurines of a bandaged Rei "were the most popular, outselling all else". Due to her popularity driving sales of merchandise, Rei was called the "Premium Girl" by the media. A column in the 1 September 2007 issue of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper stated, on the occasion of Evangelion 1.0, that there were over 1 million dedicated Rei fans in Japan and that "This bandaged Goddess is an icon of Japanese anime." The June 2010 issue of Newtype ranked Rei #5 in its monthly top 10 character survey. In a Newtype poll from March 2010, Rei was voted as the most popular female anime character from the 1990s. The 20th Animage Grand Prix ranked her the fifth best female character of the year.
In the music video for "Girl's Not Grey" by alternative rock band AFI, an anime-looking girl appears with a strong resemblance to Rei. One of the anonymous Tiger Mask donations was signed 'Rei Ayanami'.
For the film Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, Brina Palencia replaced Amanda Winn-Lee as Rei's English dub voice actor. Palencia was very well received by fans for her performance as Rei, and many noted it was on par with Winn-Lee's performance, or in some cases, surpassing hers; Animation Insider described Palencia's voice-acting of Rei as having "subtle hints of emotion lingering under her facade".
Notes
References
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