Was Poka Rei really what the fans wanted

[xPearse]

I remember reading somewhere that Poka Rei was what the fans wanted, so they got it in 2.0. That said, was Poka Rei really what the fans wanted in Japan and the west? Because it wasn't what I wanted, or expected. Then again, I'm not everyone. Furthermore, was it what the community here wanted for her character, also? I'm just curious.

Slightly edited. Please don't use the '-fag' suffix here. - NemZ

[Shoujo Kakumei Asuka]

From what I've read, there are a few people who claimed Rei had good development that was ruined in 3.0, but otherwise I'd say it's not what they wanted for the majority of Rei fans. In fact, Rei fans in general have been relatively mad about everything relating to Rei throughout the Rebuild. They are even more mad about Rei Q, but it doesn't change the fact that they generally seemed to not like Rei in 2.0 that much. The ironic thing too is that more casual fans seemed to prefer Poka Rei over the obsessive fanbase.

Now Shinji. Tons of people were excited about "badass" Gurren Lagann Shinji in 2.0.

[unitM]

I actually liked Rei Q. I feel the previous iteration of Rei(2.0) was too predictable. Oh wow, she's cooking for Shinji. Oh wow, she's menacingly glaring at the sharp knife. How brave of you Rei. I felt the development was... More than Rei Q, but it wasn't in a direction I personally liked. It was sorta predictable once it got started. And while Rei learning to express her emotions could have certainly led up to the conclusion of 2, it was imho done in a linear(predictable) strategy(though the events that transpired in 2 were most definitely not).

Rei Q was lobotomized(which added to the dark outlook of the whole movie). Sure this meant for a lot less real interaction but it also slightly paralyses us at first, in the same way that it scares Shinji. It's like "Rei was cold before but now she's just incapable and empty. What the hell happened?" Plus, her development at the end of the movie - she actually showed signs of having a will(I personally extend this to her "growing a soul," which could be very interesting for Final) - was not ordinary nor expected.

I guess I'm really fond of Rei Q, but I have been on the sidelines, cheering for previous Reis too.

[NemZ]

'Rei Q' is her own person, and I'll be interested to see what sort of person she will become. I would be very annoyed if she were somehow just sacrificed to bring 'Poka Rei' back in Final, as that's a severe disservice to her as an individual.

[Sailor Star Dust]

My hunch is that if anything, Rei 2 will be the one sacrificed (so to speak) while Rei-Q will be the one to live on.

More interesting dynamic that way, I think.

[pwhodges]

Well, I'm sure we won't end up with two Reis having a conversation and comparing notes! If they both survive, they will at least be in different forms.

[Guy Nacks]

Did we ever get confirmation that it was really 2.0 Poka-Rei that Shinji heard calling out to him in the first act of 3.0? Or was that Rei-Q?

[pwhodges]

Not as far as I can recall. I expect we won't have more information until the last film, or even the CRC (I'm assuming that the CRC for Q will be delayed until after then to avoid spoilers).

[Guy Nacks]

I expect we won't have more information until the last film, or even the CRC (I'm assuming that the CRC for Q will be delayed until after then to avoid spoilers).

Yeah, there's no way the CRC is coming out before Final at this point. It's been 2 and a half years since 3.0 came out, so I think we should all just conclude that Anno & co. are intentionally delaying it because of too many questions they would have to say "No comment" to...and 3.0 left us with a LOT of questions.

[LightDragonman]

Being the Rei fanboy that I am, I am overall pleased with her character in Rebuild, including her Q version. Heck, it's arguably her relationship with Shinji that acts as one of the main center pieces of the entire saga so far. Even in Q, it's Poka's absence that leads to many of the plot developments in the film.

Personally, I really hope that Poka Rei at least gets some closure regarding her character arc. I hate it when authors just drop someone's development because the plot says so. She doesn't have to survive, but one can't just ignore her altogether. As for Rei Q, it will be interesting to see how she progresses, now that she, like Poka Rei, is also beginning to develop beyond just an unfeeling clone. However, she's a soulless shell, so that kind of makes her character hard to write for and predict. Without her soul (which is in Unit 01), she can't really become human.

[Sailor Star Dust]

Only thing we know for sure to differentiate the Reis is Rei 2 = 1.0 and 2.0, since her tank collar (...creepy) in 2.0 even says "Rei II" on it.

We still don't know if the source of that voice in Shinji's head was Rei 2 in Eva-01, or Q-Rei...I'm sure FINAL will clear things up, unless it intentionally wants to leave things ambiguous.

LightDragonman: I've noticed in all the Rei threads, you're concerned about Rei's overall development being dropped for FINAL, and I highly doubt they would drop it. It's been a major relationship throughout the NTE film series, it wouldn't make any sense to ignore either Rei in the final part of the story.

[Sicarius VI]

Only thing we know for sure to differentiate the Reis is Rei 2 = 1.0 and 2.0, since her tank collar (...creepy) in 2.0 even says "Rei II" on it.

We still don't know if the source of that voice in Shinji's head was Rei 2 in Eva-01, or Q-Rei...I'm sure FINAL will clear things up, unless it intentionally wants to leave things ambiguous.

LightDragonman: I've noticed in all the Rei threads, you're concerned about Rei's overall development being dropped for FINAL, and I highly doubt they would drop it. It's been a major relationship throughout the NTE film series, it wouldn't make any sense to ignore either Rei in the final part of the story.

Well that means we are waiting till that 2016 release date then.

Did they officially announce there would be a 3.0 CRC? Or are we all thinking there will be due to pattern with 1.0 and 2.0?

It would be a complete surprise if we don't get any development from ReiQ and closure from ReiII, which from every Eva fans stand point is impossible, Like SSD she is a major part of the Rebuilds and the one of the main reasons why 3.0 has the world go to poop in the first place.

[Seoul Gamer]

LightDragonman: I've noticed in all the Rei threads, you're concerned about Rei's overall development being dropped for FINAL, and I highly doubt they would drop it. It's been a major relationship throughout the NTE film series, it wouldn't make any sense to ignore either Rei in the final part of the story.

I think Rei Q will be a big deal, for sure. She's a "vessel of Adam" or something along those lines. She's guaranteed to be important. Not only that, but this time around her sense of identity won't revolve around choosing between Shinji and Gendo. She's already began making her own decisions towards the end of Q.

Rei II is a non-issue since she's essentially dead now. Her comment in 2.0 about how she was like the fish in that she couldn't "live anywhere else" was meant to foreshadow that she wouldn't be able to live in the physical world any more, in my opinion.

Honestly, I was hoping to see a dramatic and tragic story surrounding Shinji and Rei II's relationship in Rebuild, but that never materialised. Since Gendo was actually trying to bring them together he doesn't try to seperate them or do anything that would have made their mushy romance more interesting. The relevalation that she's a clone of Shinji's mother loses the horrifying impact it would have had on him since Rei's already beyond saving at that point. The Oedipul implications of that revelation are introduced at the worst possible time, since no one cares any more and any dramatic tension it might have caused is wasted.

Funnily enough, I actually preferred the original series Rei II, with all her philosophical pondering and her heroic sacrifice for Shinji. Rebuild's Rei II was...kind of wasted, really. :/

[Arcadia's legacy]

She's a "vessel of Adam" or something along those lines.

I thought mk.09 was the Adams vessel, with Mari warning Rei Q that she would become one herself if she didn't eject (whatever that is supposed to mean)

[Sachi]

I thought mk.09 was the Adams vessel, with Mari warning Rei Q that she would become one herself if she didn't eject (whatever that is supposed to mean)

Precisely. Mark.09 is the Adams vessel, and Rei is just a clone. I believe Mari said she'd be absorbed into the Eva if she stuck around too long, essentially equaling death. I wonder if that had happened to others in the Ayanami series.

[Ispellnogood]

I think poka Rei isn't what fans wanted. They definitely wanted something deeper from her character. I believe poka Rei to be kind of parody of Rei. A waifu that anno believes every Rei fan wanted her to be. It kind of is a waste of Rei's potential as a character. She really has been reduced to the S-DAT, and object that used to escape reality.

The whole "message to otaku" point of evangelion seems to be what dictates the characters and plot of eva. All throughout evangelion, there's a lot of potential that's been wasted because of this otaku message.

Honestly, I was hoping to see a dramatic and tragic story surrounding Shinji and Rei II's relationship in Rebuild, but that never materialised.

I was hoping to see something like that too. But Rei has become a major anime waifu, if it materialised it would give some subtance to anime waifus. Which goes against the point of evangelion.

[pwhodges]

I think poka Rei isn't what fans wanted

I'm sure the fans are pretty much irrelevant; what goes into Evangelion is what Anno wants.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

I didn't know I wanted Poka Rei until it happened. And then it happened, and I found myself rooting for a character that people never really knew to root for to begin with in NGE. Rei II in NGE always came off as a bit more mysterious than anything else. She was a case that needed to be solved more than she was a character going through development. What little she had in NGE was amazing, and when the case was solved it lead into only more questions about her relationship with Lilith and Yui.

Poka Rei, on the other had, set goals for herself and then set about accomplishing them. It was kind of charming to watch. Mind you that I don't think that this was better than NGE's Rei II, only that's strengths lay in a completely different narrative goal.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

I didn't really consider the concept that this Rei might be different, considering how close 1.11 was to the original. Poka Rei didn't really poke her head out (lololololololI'm sorry) until 2.22, so I didn't have time to think about if I wanted her until I had her, and then I went, "Yes, this is nice too."

[BlueBasilisk]

'Rei Q' is her own person, and I'll be interested to see what sort of person she will become. I would be very annoyed if she were somehow just sacrificed to bring 'Poka Rei' back in Final, as that's a severe disservice to her as an individual.

It wouldn't just be a disservice to her as a person, it would render her character arc in Q completely pointless. After spending an entire movie being confronted with the knowledge she isn't Rei Ayanami 2, the last thing she needs is to be body jacked by said person's ghost! Rei Q seems detached from the "Rei Ayanami" identity, so I'm hoping Final will give her a new name to go along with her new sense of self, one that lets her be something besides "that other Ayanami."

It might not happen until late in the film, even until the very end, but I think Rei II will return in Final. They could have simply killed her if she wasn't going to come back, and they had storyboards for that, but they decided to have Unit 01 take her instead, and I feel like that's significant. With all the god-like world ending power it possesses, surely Unit 01 could conjure up a new body for her.

As for Pokanami, I'm mostly in agreement with FreakyFilmFan4ever. Rei II intrigued me as a character, but after episode 5 I just didn't find her engaging. Pokanami started to develop her own agency. Like the dinner party; she drew conclusions from her interactions with others, sounded out the participants and came up with the plan all by herself, all because she wanted Shinji to be happier. She even gets to be sneaky! "It's nothing. I'll tell you later!"

The change in English voice actresses had something to do with it too. I'm probably in the minority here but I find Palencia's deeper voice a much better fit for Rei than Lee's.