Rei II, The Suicidal Pyromaniac.

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Rei II, The Suicidal Pyromaniac.

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Postby Sachi » Sun Mar 28, 2010 2:27 am

Alright, so we all know that Rei II is the least normal and most withdrawn of her two counterparts seen in the series. And I believe I may have stumbled upon another piece to the mystery of understanding Rei II. Or simply how the writers wanted her to die.

Now it can be agreed that Rei II had somewhat of a wish to die, or to simply stop existing and fade away into nothing. This may be due to some feeling of unbalance within her, some restlessness within her soul, or whatever, but could Rei II possibly have had a fetish, or a preference as to how she wanted to die? Or is it a preference as to how the writer wanted her to die?

It is now my belief that Rei wished to die a fiery death, by exploding, burning, or whatnot, and that her writer planned to fulfill this wish.

Well, in Episode 23, when she finally does die, she dies by initiating the self-destruct sequence of Unit-00 in order to terminate the Angel Armisael. She goes up into a ball of flames and dies. You may be wondering, "how does her exploding make her a pyromaniac?" I'll tell you.

In Episode 6, when she's having her touching scene with Shinji just before the operation against Ramiel, she tells him something along the lines of, "You won't die. I'll be protecting you." In other words, she's going to stand in front of him and take of the heat of Ramiel's blast. Shortly thereafter, she says what may be interpreted as her final good bye to Shinji, as if she believed she was going to die. Was she expecting to die in Ramiels fiery beam of death?

In Episode 11, while she, Asuka, and Shinji are planning their attack on Matarael within the vents, Rei offers to defend against the corrosive acid. However, Asuka declines her offer, not wanting to be one-up'd, and defends instead. Had Rei been in Asuka's place, she would have surely been burned by the deadly acid, possibly even killed. She volunteered for this position, obviously expecting this to happen.

In Episode 13, Iruel infects the test body Rei is in synch with and the arm is blown off in order to sever the connection between Iruel and Rei. Not as important, but just something to note.

In Episode 18, when Bardiel is infecting the arm of Unit-00, Gendo has the arm severed by the same means the arm in Episode 13 was severed, by exploding the joints. We may get an insight to a very disappointed Rei screaming in her mind, "Only the arm?! You jack ass!", further development of Rei II's growing distance with Gendo.

In Episode 19, Rei downright planned on sacrificing herself in order to defeat Zeruel by means of exploding herself along with the Angel. She disobeys all orders in her attempt to go out in a ball of flames. This obviously fails because Zeruel and herself come out okay.

Lastly, there's Episode 23, the day her wish was fulfilled. Even as everybody tried to reason with her, Rei still decided to self-destruct the Eva with her inside in order to defeat the Angel. And boy, did she burn to a crisp.

In conclusion, Rei II teamed up with Anno, or whoever, in an attempt at burning to death. There are numerous occasions in which Rei willingly put herself out there to be burned or to explode, and more where the writer had to put her in situations to burn or explode in somehow. Ultimately, Rei did explode by her own hand, and finally got those tears she felt were so alien to her. Tears of joy, no doubt. Hopefully this new discovery can lead us to learning more about Rei II, and her overall role within the artwork of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
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Postby Sailor Star Dust » Sun Mar 28, 2010 2:32 am

In some ways I feel Rei is more normal compared to Shinji and Asuka in that she at least comes to terms with herself...although that's not until the very end of things.

Interesting observations, I think there's some truth to this theory if nothing else! :rei_hissyfit:
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Postby toe mash » Sun Mar 28, 2010 4:17 am

I'm not sure I agree with your view of things, but anyway I'm surprised you didn't mention episode 10 (magma diver :( ); where Rei wanted to pilot unit 02 instead of Asuka and dive into the volcano.
If this was an intentional recurring theme I suppose that should also be included.

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Postby Allemann » Sun Mar 28, 2010 4:57 am

I always knew Rei had something in common with Beavis.

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Postby Archon Eva » Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:49 am

I'm not too sure about this, I think Rei wanted her body to be destroyed more than fire ect, fire was just the easiest option. I think she wanted never to return. It seems more she finds herself valueless and volenteered for those reasons, i think it's more a coincidence everytime it involved a flaming exploding death.
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Postby ran1 » Sun Mar 28, 2010 7:54 am

She just really wants to be subject to the male gaze. At the same time she wants to disappear due to the objectification of herself. (Anno-Freudian interpretation)

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Postby Sachi » Sun Mar 28, 2010 2:48 pm

View Original Posttoe mash wrote:I'm not sure I agree with your view of things, but anyway I'm surprised you didn't mention episode 10 (magma diver :( ); where Rei wanted to pilot unit 02 instead of Asuka and dive into the volcano.
If this was an intentional recurring theme I suppose that should also be included.

Oh, how could I forget Episode 10? Maybe I truly am like everybody else and thinks that's the worst episode of the series. :tongueflap:
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Postby Ironfoot » Sun Mar 28, 2010 4:28 pm

To support your theory there, it could be said that the only way for Rei to get off is to place herself on the front lines, near death itself so that she could feel something, anything for the people she cared about. Hell, just look at her fight with Armisael, she was more alive there than in most parts of the series! I'm sure there's an "ism" that one could place here, I could say suicidalism but that doesn't fit entirely, she doesn't seem to want to die, but rather simply doesn't care about dying. She finds love at the boundaries of death.
Last edited by Ironfoot on Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Postby NemZ » Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:37 pm

Suicidal I'll give you, but the pyromaniac part is a huge stretch.
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Postby LeoXiao » Sun Mar 28, 2010 7:54 pm

View Original PostNemZ wrote:the pyromaniac part is a huge stretch.


this.

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Postby child of Lilith » Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:40 pm

I don’t think Rei II really had a death wish. I think she just didn’t care if she died or not. She knew she would be replaced if she died so death probably had no real meaning to her.
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Postby Archon Eva » Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:27 am

View Original Postchild of Lilith wrote:I don’t think Rei II really had a death wish. I think she just didn’t care if she died or not. She knew she would be replaced if she died so death probably had no real meaning to her.

I disagree, i think now think she wanted to be blown up so the rest of nerv was, perhaps to destroy all clones.
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Postby NemZ » Mon Mar 29, 2010 10:20 am

Looks like some people need to rewatch ep25...

Rei 1:
You will cease to exist.

TEXT:
"It frightens you, doesn't it?"

Rei 3:
No, it makes me happy.
Because I want to die.
What I desire is despair.
I want to return to nothingness.

Rei 2:
But I can't.
I cannot return to nothingness.
He won't let me return.

Rei 3:
He won't let me go back yet.
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Postby Sharaz Destler » Mon Mar 29, 2010 12:41 pm

Now all we need is some fanart of Rei maniacally running around carrying a blazing flamethrower, cackling insanely.
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Postby Eva Yojimbo » Tue Mar 30, 2010 10:14 pm

View Original PostNemZ wrote:Suicidal I'll give you, but the pyromaniac part is a huge stretch.
This too.
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Postby LeoXiao » Tue Mar 30, 2010 10:17 pm

View Original PostSharaz Destler wrote:Now all we need is some fanart of Rei maniacally running around carrying a blazing flamethrower, cackling insanely.


Oh my god that would be almost as good as the picture of Asuka with the machine gun.

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Postby Reichu » Wed Mar 31, 2010 11:02 am

Congrats, Sachi. People took your thread seriously! :clap:

Now I have this strange yearning to dig the HQ scan of Michael Whalen's "Firestarter" from my archives and shoop the little girl into Rei 1.
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Postby Fazmotron » Wed Mar 31, 2010 11:15 am

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Postby Reichu » Wed Mar 31, 2010 11:20 am

View Original PostFazmotron wrote:Firestarter?

Is it wrong of me to get Alien 3 flashbacks from that?
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Postby Fazmotron » Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:37 pm

Now that you mention it.....
No more Alien discussions allowed though, because we all know it will devolve quickly into nothing but penises.
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