"Anno intended Rei to be creepy"

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Postby Stryker » Sat Mar 17, 2012 7:06 pm

Technically, Rei was killed with fire.

But, we get off track. Perhaps, we can talk on how Rei being killed with fire makes her [s]hilariously[/s] creepy.
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Postby Kendrix » Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:23 am

The fire-killed hand (which I only noticed after someone pointed it out in this forum, after having watched that episode countless times *gulp*) is doubtlessly unsetting, expecially since it was reduced to charcoal, but that's more because out brains are wired to recognize faces/humans as something different from the rest of the world and thus don't like to be reminded that we're made of malleable moplecules.


For example, poor Asuka got gutted and had her eye splotched, and while both these processes were disturbing, we can all agree that it's the eye-dsplotching and eviscerating itself that's creepy, not Asuka.

Similarily, the role she was set to play in instrumentality and the fact that she was produced via cloning wasn't exactly Rei's fault.
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Postby Bagheera » Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:21 am

View Original PostKendrix wrote:Similarily, the role she was set to play in instrumentality and the fact that she was produced via cloning wasn't exactly Rei's fault.


Do you find spiders creepy? Most people do. It's not their fault they look the way they do, you know.
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Postby Na7e » Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:28 am

View Original PostKendrix wrote:Similarily, the role she was set to play in instrumentality and the fact that she was produced via cloning wasn't exactly Rei's fault.


Ok, your comparing two things that are nothing alike. Of, course we can't blame her produced via cloning. She doesn't have a choice in the matter that's just how she is made. Her role is a different matter, because it's her choice. Sure, she's meant to follow Gendo's plan, doesn't mean she has too. In fact Rei III pretty much leaves Gendo hanging. Oh, never mind she jumps right to the other Ikari. So, gaining all that power, she gives it to the person in the worst mental state possible. So, she shares a major piece of the pie that there's a red earth in EOE.

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Postby Mordicaii » Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:10 am

I wouldn't say that Rei is "creepy", I don't find her so. She seems more robotic, really. She has little emotion until near the end of the series (where she sacrifices herself for Shinji). In the series, I find her to be the antithesis of Asuka, the fiery, flamboyant, in-your-face character. Rei is calm, collected, quiet, and emotionless, she balances out Asuka. Asuka is the selfish one, and Rei, the selfless one. She sacrifices herself for Shinji and puts herself in harms way to aid him. I think she is the way she is because nobody really ever cared about her before Shinji. Even Gendou just used her as a tool to engage Third Impact for The Human Enhancement/Instrumentality Project. That is, she is cold and uncaring for life. Then again, all of our heros are more than a little nutty. In the Rebuild series, Rei is obviously the love interest. Asuka is killed off before her and Shinji can really connect.

The love interest element is not really there in 1.11, but the self-sacrifice one sure as hell is. Rei risks her ass for Shinji during the battle with Ramiel. She was so sure she was going to die that she went so far as to say "Goodbye" to Shinji, and not something to the effect of "See you later". I think the fact that Rei saw that Shinji opened her Entry Plug after defeating Ramiel told her that he gives a shit about her well being. This, among other things, is what makes her who she is in 2.22. She seems to be far more fond of Shinji in 2.22 than in 1.11 (and in the series). I've ever only watched the German and English dubs of 2.22 (and 1.11, the German dubs are good, I may add. I can only remember one line from the English dub, though. So my quotes are in German, with an approximate translation), so I'm not sure what the original Japanese is like, but it seems that Rei and Shinji have a little love story going on in the second movie.

The battle with Zuruel at the end of 2.22 shows more of the love interest, but it also shows the asskicking side of Rei, too. I mean, all I can say is "N2 Missile". Awesome. Shinji comes to realize that he cannot run away and that he cares for all of the NERV personnel, and must go back. I also think he knows that Unit-01 will not activate with the Dummy Plug, as Gendou angered Yui in the battle against Bardiel by forcing her to kill Asuka (or Toji) with Shinji's hands. Like I said earlier, a love story is apparent between Rei and Shinji, and I think Shinji realizes that Rei will not be able to fight Zuruel by herself, even Shinji can't. Shinji must go into full on rage-mode wherein he loses his humanity to save Rei. To quote Shinji in 2.22 (German) "Gib mir Ayanami, SOFORT ZURÜCK!", "Return Ayanami to me IMMEDIATELY", or, in the English dub: "I WANT Rei, GIVE HER BACK". I prefer the German version, just sounds more epic. Although, that line, in the English dub, portrays more pure rage over Rei's absorbtion into Zuruel, it feels more realistic (as realistic as teenagers in giant humanoid robots can be) and shows more of a devotion to Rei.

Also, to quote the Ritsuko/Ibuki dialogue:
Ritsuko: "Einheit Eins hat die Fesseln seiner Menschlichkeit gesprengt!" ("Unit-01 has broken its ties to humanity!")
Ibuki: "Plug-tiefe steigt über einhundertachtzig! Er ist bei dem roten Bereich!" ("Plug depth is over 180! It is at the red-line!")
Ritsuko: (Somewhat inaudible) "SHINJI-KUN MACH DAS NICHT! DU WIRST [inaudible] EIN MENSCH ZU SEIN!" ("SHINJI-KUN, DON'T DO THIS! YOU WILL NOT LONGER BE HUMAN!")


Then, to quote Shinji in pure pissed-off mode.
"Mir ist egal was aus mir wird! Und was hast [inaudbile] für das ist mir auch egal! Aber ich werde Ayanami retten, egal was ist dafür tun muß. ICH HOL' SIE DARAUS!" ("I don't care what I become! Nor do I care about [inaudbile, I think he say may have said "Der Welt", but I can't be sure]. But I will save Ayanami, not matter what I must do. I WILL GET YOU OUT OF THERE!")


This line shows a devotion to Rei that is obviously that of a love interest. Nobody would risk their life, the world, and their sanity for someone they are not in love with. Humans are too selfish. Right at that moment, nothing, absolutely nothing matters to Shinji other than getting Rei out of Zuruel. He is so determined to save her, that he risks absolutely everything, and, in doing so, starts third impact (only to be halted by Kaworu/Tabris).

Sweet Jesus! I went off on a serious tangent there.
Well, that's what I think, at least. Please, tell me what you think.

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Postby Someone » Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:57 am

Why yes, Rei is kinda creepy.
DISCLAIMER: The above statement might or might not be serious.

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Postby Na7e » Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:21 am

View Original PostMordicaii wrote:*snip*


I disagree with you being the main love interest in the story, they were really pressing home the oedipal themes, and the ending of 2.xx has them sharing a metaphorical womb/Eva-01. But, this is about the TV series, so talk about the Rebuild doesn't belong here. But, heres where you can put it Rebuild Sub-forum.
Last edited by Na7e on Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Postby Mordicaii » Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:29 am

View Original PostNa7e wrote:I disagree with you being the main love interest in the story, they were really pressing home the oedipal themes, and the ending of 2.xx has them sharing a metaphorical womb/Eva-01. But, this is about the Tv series, so talk about the
Rebuild doesn't belong here.


My apologies.

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Postby Ornette » Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:43 am

This kind of tangent may be better served in a thread like this one maybe: http://forum.evageeks.org/thread/9729/How-Gendos-plan-differs-from-SEELEs-plan/

It's not really so much about Rei being creepy or Anno's intention.

EDIT: Well, if you guys insist on continuing, I'm blasting the tangent.

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Re: "Anno intended Rei to be creepy"

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Postby TheCarkolum » Wed Aug 02, 2017 5:53 am

Rei is not only creepy, but a hundred more feelings at the same time. It's perfect.
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Re: "Anno intended Rei to be creepy"

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Postby silvermoonlight » Wed Aug 02, 2017 6:18 am

I remember in the manga Toji calls Rei creepy but I thought it was references to her behaviour as she doesn't act like a normal school children do as she so distant from everyone. The only thing I could see that might creep people out is her long blank stare because she doesn't blink but again I don't think this is her fault as its clear no ones taught about socializing and social cues.
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Re: "Anno intended Rei to be creepy"

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Postby imprimatur13 » Wed Aug 02, 2017 1:24 pm

Well, as this thread has apparently already been reanimated, figure I'll throw my own 2 cents in.

To me, the only time Rei ever actually struck me as somewhat 'creepy' was that look of pure... desire? GNR gave 01 during 3I. I like the idea previously mentioned in the thread, that that was Rei I coming to the surface. Aside from that, though, I don't find Rei creepy. She's extremely introverted, yes, but so are a lot of people. She's suffered a lot in her lives, but that's in no way her fault. When I think of 'creepy', I think the word has more of a malevolent, predatory association. Can't think of any time Rei exhibited anything close to malevolence, so, nope.
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Re: "Anno intended Rei to be creepy"

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Postby Sachi » Wed Aug 02, 2017 2:14 pm

Her creepiness ultimately comes down to how much you care about her true nature. She is the mother goddess embodied within a teenage girl, not to mention a clone of the protag's mom. Meanwhile, the show places her in extremely uncomfortable sexual positions (ep 04, and EoE). Incestual themes aside, there's this uncanniness about her, an otherwordliness that makes her off-putting and alien (visualized w/ blue hair/red eyes). She's not quite human. She is an imitation. A doll. Coupled with that is overall her lack of agency and emotion, her willingness to do as ordered, and her disregard for self-preservation. It's as if she lacks a soul or her own.

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Re: "Anno intended Rei to be creepy"

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Postby CommanderFish » Wed Aug 02, 2017 2:32 pm

Sachi wrote:She's not quite human. She is an imitation. A doll.

Asuka, is that you?
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Re: "Anno intended Rei to be creepy"

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Postby TheCarkolum » Wed Aug 02, 2017 4:03 pm

View Original PostSachi wrote:She's not quite human. She is an imitation. A doll. Coupled with that is overall her lack of agency and emotion, her willingness to do as ordered, and her disregard for self-preservation. It's as if she lacks a soul or her own.


She is a human. She has a human soul, Lilith's, therefore is human. The imitation is her body and it doesn't matter so much.
If you mean like a normal human, she isn't obviously, because she was conditioned since she was a little girl. She was forced to do what she was told since then and she didn't know a different thing, so that's coherent and makes the character more interesting.
Rei, emotionless? You clearly don't get the character. Saying that Rei is emotionless is so wrong, and so cliché. She feels loneliness, boredom. gratefulness,
embarrassment, fear, pain, overwhelming, angriness, and in a certain way love and happiness at the end. Yes she's shy and too pasive most of the time, but that doesn't make her emotionless. In fact, take a look at what she's like when she pilots the EVA:

Image
If you think that's emotionless, think again.
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Re: "Anno intended Rei to be creepy"

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Postby Sachi » Wed Aug 02, 2017 4:27 pm

I didn't say Rei has absolutely zero emotion, just that she's generally lacking in them. I guess better phrasing on my part would be to say that her emotions are very muted.

Also, calling Lilith human is like calling Sachiel or Zeruel a human. Yes, they technically are under the broad terms presented by the show. However, we're not using the show's broad definition to describe why Rei is creepy to normal people. Rei/Lilith is not a human by normal standards.

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Re: "Anno intended Rei to be creepy"

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Postby pwhodges » Wed Aug 02, 2017 6:12 pm

View Original PostSachi wrote:I didn't say Rei has absolutely zero emotion, just that she's generally lacking in them.

Or simply has no experience of exposing emotion - think of the "smile" scene, for instance.
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Re: "Anno intended Rei to be creepy"

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Postby KingXanaduu » Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:42 pm

Anno apparently glossed over (or did he), the idea that human beings can sympathize with all kinds of people, even the most "alien" and socially inept of people. Some people are drawn to that to want to understand why people are like that. :) It's probably one of our best traits as a species.

And her behavior about being expendable, even willing to sacrifice herself if ordered? Well, if you were practically from birth and taught that to the point of operant conditioning, you'd be a bit creepy too. Her tale is actually quite tragic more than "creepy".
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Re: "Anno intended Rei to be creepy"

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Postby Cybermat47 » Thu Aug 03, 2017 1:24 am

When I see Rei, I feel more pity than fear. Gendo's the creepy one.
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Re: "Anno intended Rei to be creepy"

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Postby Giji Shinka » Fri Aug 11, 2017 4:23 pm

For me, Rei never gave the impression that she's creepy.

Well, in the series and first two films at least.
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