Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 23:56, 10 August 2006

Template:Infobox Neon Genesis Evangelion character Rei Ayanami (綾波レイ Ayanami Rei) is a fictional character from the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion and the films Evangelion: Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion.

Rei Ayanami is the First Child (First Children in the Japanese version) and pilot of EVA-00. She is socially withdrawn and hardly interacts with anyone, except for Commander Ikari, to whom she initially displays some loyalty but with whom she has a much more distant relationship than is commonly believed (she says in Episode 15 that she "doesn't know what kind of person he is", and seems confused by Shinji's belief that the two are close). She lives by herself in a nearly barren apartment in Tokyo-3. Toward the end of the series, Shinji comments that her apartment is very similar to the place where Ritsuko Akagi says she was born.

Throughout the series, Rei's stoic personality compounds intrigue about her, which later results in arousing the scorn of Asuka, who at one point refers to her as a "doll" or "puppet." Rei is the diametric opposite of Asuka, not only in terms of personality, but also physically within the female archetype, emphasizing key aspects of their roles throughout the story. Asuka is outspoken, emotionally extreme, and violent; Rei is the opposite of Asuka in all these respects. Asuka has red hair and blue eyes, while Rei has red eyes, but blue hair. This color shift between the characters may also relate to the difference between how they are seen by others and what their true feelings are: Rei is frequently mistaken for being unemotional, while Asuka feigns arrogance to hide her insecurities. Rei and Asuka are believed to be caricatures of the respective female ideals of Japan and Europe. Rei also shares the traits of light hair, pale skin, and red eyes with Kaworu Nagisa, leading some to suggest that these traits are angelic in nature, and leading others to believe that these characters have albinism. The show's character designer, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, later said that these features exist solely to make Rei look more "distinguished" from the rest of the cast, though he did not specifically mention any of these theories. Rei describes blue as "agreeable" and red as the color that she "hates." She says that she dislikes eating meat, but does not call herself a vegetarian. Her color and food references might be due to an association with blood, which LCL is known to smell like, or due to some aspect of her origins, though these possibilities are pure speculation. Similarly, Ayanami's creator Hideaki Anno is a vegetarian as well.

Origins

Template:Spoiler

An important fact about Rei is that her origin and heritage are left deliberately unspecified, so she might not even be entirely human. Ritsuko Akagi says that Rei was born in a certain room deep in the lower levels of NERV headquarters, but this is all that is known for certain about her creation. Her mysterious background has led fans to find multiple theories of just what exactly went into creating her.

Kaworu cryptically mentioned in their only conversation that she is "the same" as him. This statement was expanded in the "director's cut" of the episode, in which Kaworu goes on to say that he and Rei are human vessels for the souls of Adam and Lilith, respectively; but since he was misinformed by SEELE as to the location of Adam's body, there's no way to know how much of his information is accurate. He is definitely a counterpart or parallel to Rei in many ways, suggesting that the two have similar origins.

Gendo Ikari introduces Rei to the NERV staff in 2010 as an "acquaintance's child" whom he is temporarily taking care of. However, there is evidence that he probably created her and almost certainly named her; he said when Yui was pregnant with Shinji that he would have named the child "Rei" if it had been a girl. The Red Cross Book states that Rei was created from the "salvaged remains" of Yui Ikari after Yui's absorption into Unit 01. Others, however, believe Rei to be an accidental by-product of the contact experiment that caused this absorption, or of the attempts to "retrieve" Yui afterward. She is reported to be 14 years old in 2015, as is every other Eva pilot/candidate, which would make her about four years old during the contact experiment and nine years old in 2010. The character model used in the 2010 scenes is based on development materials in which her age is only 4, thus causing confusion among fans as to her real birth year and date. Many are led to believe that she was only four years old in 2010, making her nine years old when she appears to be and is stated to be 14. One possible explanation for this inconsistency is that Rei and her clones were artificially aged from 2010 onward for unknown reasons. There is no evidence to suggest that NERV has artificial aging technology, or that they would have any reason for trying to conceal her true age.

Regardless of age, if Rei was created deliberately, the reasons for her creation are also debatable. There exist many hypotheses for this: for example, that Rei and Kaworu (and the many clones of them) were created solely to be the cores of the dummy plugs, and that giving them souls was merely an afterthought, or possibly even an accident; or that she may have been created to reunite Gendo with Yui because putting the soul of Lilith into a more easily controlled and influenced vessel — a human child — would have allowed Gendo to control the Instrumentality process to accomplish his own personal agenda in defiance of SEELE. Regardless of whether or not Rei is some kind of hybrid creation, she does display uniquely angelic abilities in latter episodes and the movie. How this came to be so is not explained, and fans are left to speculate on it.

Loose evidence is shown in the anime to support a Rei/Yui connection: Shinji tells Rei that he thinks she'd "make a good mother," and later compares Gendo's manipulation of her to his manipulation of Yui. Naoko Akagi says that Rei physically resembles Yui, suggesting a genetic link between the two; Rei and Yui have the same seiyū and English voice actors; Rei and Yui also have the similar pageboy haircuts and high foreheads, Rei is even believed by some fans to be a partial or complete clone of Yui, although the pigmentation differences are again a source of debate. Episode 25 of the TV show makes the connection between Rei and Yui very clear (Yui is described as the person "underneath" of Rei), but episode 25's replacement by the movies leaves this in canonical limbo. Though a genetic link between Gendo and Rei is not evident, some fans figuratively or even literally regard Rei as Shinji's twin sister because of the Yui connection.

In the final episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion (and in the spin-off manga, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days), we are introduced to an alternate reality, with a different Rei. Unlike the original, this Rei is not a clone of, nor was created from, Yui Ikari. She is a natural full-human. Her personality is also the exact, if you could say, opposite: she is cheerful, hyperactive, gregarious and far more emotional (for example, she shows embarassment and anger when she thinks Shinji looks up her skirt).

Relationships

Shortly before Shinji's arrival at NERV, Rei was involved in a Unit 00 activation test that ended in disaster. She was severely injured during this test, and Gendo burned his hands on the entry plug while opening it to "rescue" her. Afterward, she kept a pair of his glasses (which had been warped and cracked by heat from the entry plug) as a souvenir and developed something of a loyalty toward him. She even slapped Shinji for his negative remarks about Gendo as a father. However, her loyalty to Gendo erodes over the series as she witnesses his interactions with Shinji. She disobeys Gendo's orders on a few occasions, yet still says near the end of the series that she'd obey an order from him to kill herself; she probably said this only because she knew that Gendo values her life more than she does, and more than he values destroying the Angels, so he'd never give such an order without a reason that she'd agree with. In fact, the only way in which she disobeys combat orders is by endangering her life. By the day on which Third Impact occurs, her loyalty toward Gendo has dissolved completely. She crushes the melted pair of glasses, then betrays Gendo by sabotaging his plan for Instrumentality.

Although Rei at first treats Shinji as neutrally as she does any other stranger (with the possible exception of a certain post-shower scene that can be interpreted in "interesting" ways), she and Shinji break the ice after the battle against Ramiel. Rei slowly grows closer to Shinji as the series progresses, though their classmates seem to think that their feelings are obvious to everyone except themselves; Rei doesn't realize that she cares about Shinji until Toji Suzuhara tells her. She later notes that Shinji is the only person to whom she has ever said "thank you." These feelings between Rei and Shinji are suspected by some fans to be familial rather than romantic, due to the suspected genetic link with Yui. Their association lasts until Armisael partially fuses with Rei and attempts to fuse with Shinji. At this point, Rei realizes that she loves (or more specifically "wants to become one with") Shinji, but afterward, she cannot remember this revelation and Shinji begins to fear what she might be. The common explanation for this scene is that the Rei that Shinji meets after the battle with Armisael is a new Rei clone who replaced the one who died in the battle. A simpler alternative is that Rei is simply suffering from normal Eva-related memory loss, as happened to Shinji in the fight against Sachiel.

When Asuka arrives in Tokyo-3 and speaks to Rei for the first time, she suggests becoming friends "because it would be convenient," to which Rei replies that she would only become Asuka's friend if ordered to. Asuka repeatedly jokes about and pries into Rei and Shinji's relationship, and may view Rei as competition for Shinji's attention. Toward the end of the series, Asuka views Rei as an obedient, emotionless doll, and hates Rei as such because of extremely traumatic childhood events, one involving a doll. However, Rei still attempts to help Asuka by advising her about her Eva and later rescuing her from Arael, which only damages Asuka's ego and makes her hate Rei even more.

Ritsuko also does not view Rei as a person, and feels that Gendo somehow rejected her in favor of Rei, in a sense; her jealousy over "losing" to a "thing" becomes thinly veiled hatred towards her, and she takes her anger out on the Rei clones by destroying them. Rei does not express any animosity toward her, just as with Asuka.

Rei has only one conversation with Kaworu (not counting the one that images of them both have with Shinji in End of Evangelion), during which he seemed quite friendly but she regarded him with confusion and suspicion more than anything else.

Clones and Dummy Plugs

Dozens of soulless clones of Rei are kept in a tank in the lower levels of NERV headquarters, and are said by Ritsuko to be the cores of the dummy plugs. Rei is seen spending unknown lengths of time in an LCL-filled tube underneath a structure resembling a giant brain in the dummy-system room, and it is suggested that Rei's memories and/or personality traits are copied onto the clones during this time. The ending credits of every episode in this series also depicts Rei floating listlessly in liquid, but whether or not this is LCL (as if she's "floating for the day") or just a random symbolism is up for debate.

Ritsuko also refers to Rei's clones as "spare parts;" this probably means that Rei's body parts can be replaced if they become too badly damaged in combat. Rei herself, in heavy bandages after the battle against Armisael, but possessing neither memories of nor injuries from the battle, says "I think I must be the third one," thus spawning the theory that she can be replaced entirely, with her soul being transferred to a clone body every time she dies (and her memories having been transferred ahead of time). The quasi-canon Red Cross Book supports this theory. Other supporting evidence in the anime include her earlier line that "if I die, I can be replaced" (though she may mean replaced by a different pilot, as Asuka was replaced by Kaworu). This theory holds that Rei I, the very first, is murdered by Naoko Akagi in 2010; Rei II, who may not have appeared until as late as 2014 (when she is transferred to Tokyo-3's Class 2-A), dies when she sacrifices herself and Unit 00 to destroy Armisael; and Rei III is the version seen from the second half of Episode 23 through to End of Evangelion. In the manga, this is explicitly stated to be true.

There exists a minority of viewers who doubt the authority of the Red Cross Book, and some of them believe that Rei never died in the TV series and has never been fully replaced as described above, often finding simpler explanations for evidence presented in the series (see memory loss argument above and rapid healing argument below). They have also pointed out evidence against the replacement theory. For example, Gendo's excessive concern for Rei's physical safety, as noted by Fuyutsuki, would make extremely little sense if Rei could be resurrected so easily. Additionally, Dummy systems were ordered to be put into the entry plugs for Units 01 and 02. If the core of every dummy plug is a clone of Rei, no less than five Rei bodies must be located outside of the clone tanks for the replacement theory to be correct. In Episode 23, the controller that Ritsuko uses to destroy the clones in the dummy system clearly indicates that "Rei 004" and onwards are still inside the tanks, meaning that only three (or possibly four if there was a Rei 000) have been removed, not five or more. The evidence in favor of Rei having died can be easily explained by other means; for example, her rapid healing as demonstrated in End of Evangelion would account for injuries from the battle against Armisael having healed by the time the bandages were removed. The only major counterarguments against this logic depend on either the possibility that Rei's replacement bodies come from somewhere other than the clone tanks (which would make memory transfers somewhat less easy), or the possibility that the Rei clones are not contained within the dummy plugs, but are the "core" of the system in some other way. The latter possibility would have Rei 001-003 being Rei I-III, rather than being Rei and the cores of two dummy plugs, while the former can optionally be expanded by saying that Rei's replacement bodies are not even created until after a death, and are artificially aged by 14 years in a few hours.

Unit 00

As a pilot, Rei's synchronization ratios are unspecified, but are normally not as high as Asuka's or Shinji's. While both Shinji and Asuka are thought to synchronize with the souls of their mothers, which were absorbed into the Evas during contact experiments, Rei has no known mother and Unit 00 is not known to have been part of any contact experiments, thus raising questions about whose soul is in Unit 00. A simple possibility is that Rei did have a mother and Unit 00 was involved in a contact experiment with her, but this is unlikely and doesn't account for certain phenomena unique to Unit 00, as explained below. It has been speculated by some viewers that if Rei is a partial clone of Yui, then Yui's soul might have been divided between Unit 00 and Unit 01. This would account for Rei and Shinji's ability to synchronize with each other's Evas in Episode 14. The theory could also conceivably coincide with the fact that both Unit 00 and Unit 01 went 'berserk' at least once during the series, but Unit 02 never did (not counting a speculated few seconds in combat against the Sixth Angel or the last few seonds of its life in End of Evangelion). Hypothetically, an Evangelion that isn't supported by a full soul would not be as effective or stable.

During Rei's first synchronization test with the Eva, mental dissonance appeared to result from the contact between Rei and Unit 00; the Eva went out of control and seemed to attack Gendo. This problem, however, seemed to sort itself out. Later, when Unit 00 was activated with Shinji inside, the same thing happened, this time with Rei seeming to be the target. From this, some fans have speculated that the soul within Rei's Eva is that of Naoko Akagi, who has reason to hate Gendo (see Naoko Akagi for information on her relationship with Gendo) and already tried to kill Rei once. This theory is believed by other fans to be inaccurate for various reasons. One such reason is that Ritsuko believed herself to be the target of Unit 00's attacks, which raises the question of who would want to attack her (though her mother might conceivably attack her for her relationship with Gendo).

The distorted image of Rei that Shinji encounters within Unit 00 during the mutual compatibility experiment is sometimes believed to be Rei I. The Red Cross Book supports the idea that the soul of Rei I is present in Unit 00, and is seeking revenge against the daughter of its killer, though this would require at least Rei I and Rei II to each have a separate soul, which would contradict Ritsuko's statement that the clones are soulless vessels. The distorted image also has breasts, making it unlikely to be the soul of a prepubescent child (as Rei I would have been at the time of her death)

Innumerable other possibilities exist. For example, Unit 00 might have the soul of Lilith (if Rei doesn't already have it), or the soul of a random unnamed NERV employee who volunteered to be a guinea pig, or its own unique soul that didn't come from anyone else, or simply no soul at all. It's possible that Rei might have once had her own soul, but was absorbed into Unit 00, and the soul of Lilith was put into Rei's body to keep her alive. The show's creator might not even have had any particular soul in mind for Unit 00. No direct, official statement has been made regarding Unit 00's soul.

Rei's Poem

Rei's poem is a phrase used by some fans to describe a monologue given by Rei in the 14th episode of the TV series. It is not necessarily an actual poem, and may simply be Rei's comments on random images that Unit 01 is showing her. The contents of the speech in the English dubbed version differ somewhat from those of the original monologue.

Fans sometimes speculate about who Rei is referring to as a "woman who never bleeds". The most commonly believed possibilities are Lillith, because she has LCL instead of blood, and Rei herself, who has normal blood and may be making a reference to menstruation. The idea that Rei does not menstruate may be visually hinted at during part of her conversation with Armisael. When Armisael, appearing as Rei, is shown standing waist-deep in LCL, a dark streak (suspected to be blood) seems to be coming from her groin, and the "flow" increases sharply during that part of the conversation. This is extremely easy to miss due to the similarity in color between the streak itself and the shadow that Armisael is casting over it. The reasons for Rei's possible infertility are a mystery, but may be connected to her origins or to the pills that are shown on top of her mini-refrigerator.

The teachings of Abrahamic religions, like Christianity and Islam often describe 'womans' pains' (labour pains and menstruation) as the punishment inflicted on woman kind after Eve tempted Adam to eat the forbidden fruit. Lillith was created before Eve, so it is possible she was exempt from womans' punishment, having already been punished (banished from Eden, never to die and enter heaven, and so forth) for refusing to submit to Adam. However, fans are generally of the opinion that the religious symbolism in Evangelion is purely superficial, making this suggestion unlikely. It's also inconsistent with the idea, held by some of the show's more unusual fans, that Lillith menstruates LCL instead of bleeding it from an injury.

Manga version

In the manga, Rei is somewhat more "human", in the sense that she responds to human contact more readily. Shinji's interactions with her are implied as the main reason of her change. Indeed, it is strongly hinted that Shinji and Rei are in love with each other. In book 9, he acknowledged that the gap between him and Rei has considerably been reduced since they first met; still, he hoped that this gap could be reduced further.

Also, it's much more strongly implied that she's a clone of Dr. Ikari Yui in book 8 (corresponding to the aftermath of the fight with Zeruel in the anime), while Rei was praying for Shinji to "come back", she was able to communicate with Dr. Ikari's soul possessing EVA-01. She said to Dr. Ikari, "I'm you and you're me, the former me." Dr. Ikari agreed as much and demanded to know why Rei had interfered with her plans to keep her son in Unit 01 together with her.

After Shinji came out of the Dummy Plug, both he and Rei took a stroll to a pavilion at NERV HQ. There, she recounted the times where Shinji touched her hand and gave her thoughts on them. Then, she asked Shinji to allow her to touch his hand again, which he agreed.

Her desire to be recognized as a person, rather than as a "doll" (which most people unkindly call her), puts her in some awkward, even dangerous situations. Ritsuko Akagi tried to strangle her once when she talked back to the doctor. Also, on her first meeting with Kaworu, when Kaworu commented that they are the same, she thought for a while and replied, "No. We're not the same. We might be very similar... but we're not the same."

Template:Endspoiler

Miscellaneous

Rei was named after Rei Hino from Sailor Moon in an unsuccessful attempt by Hideaki Anno to get Kunihiko Ikuhara, director of Sailor Moon, to join the project. It is also a pun, in that "rei" can mean "zero," and Rei is, of course, the pilot of Unit 00. Before the name "Rei Ayanami" was decided upon, she was called Yui Ichijō, after Hikaru Ichijyo from Macross, which Anno worked on. Also, the name of "Yui" — another character who apparently has an uncanny connection with Rei — means "only one." To note is also the fact that in the opening credits of the TV series the public relations correspondant for TV Tokyo is credited (according to ADV's translation) as "Rei Anami". Whether or not this is either somehow coincidental, directly linked to the name of the character, or a pseudonym used by the credited individual, is uncertain. (Though the latter option would seem the most viable.)

Furthermore, like many of Evangelion's characters, Ayanami's surname comes from a Japanese WWII naval vessel, the Fubuki class destroyer Ayanami.

In fanfiction, Rei is often paired with Shinji as a romantic couple, although not quite as often as Shinji is paired with Asuka possibly due to their far more ambiguous relationship, in the series and especially the films. Also, there is a considerable amount of yuri fanfictions/fanart representing a homosexual relationship between Asuka and Rei. But in the TV series, manga, etc, that is not true.

Rei's seiyu shares the same given name as Shinji's seiyu (Megumi, although they are written in different ways in kanji).

Notes

1. In the anime, her birthdate is explicitly said to be unknown; the birthday misconceived to be official by some fans (March 30, 2001) is actually the birthday of, and suggested by, her Japanese voice actress Megumi Hayashibara, who released her album "Birthday of Rei Ayanami" on that exact date.

• Neon Genesis Evangelion characters
• Fictional albinos
• Fictional clones
• Fictional heroines
• Fictional hybrids
• Monotonous fictional characters
• Fictional orphans
• Fictional vegetarians