Why do you people like Rei so much?

[Dream]

She's human, but not quite human. Even when, at the beggining of the series, she seemed like a common, if aloof and cold, young girl, you could tell there was something "off" with her, something lacking. I think that's what most drew me towards her at first, the idea of a human who felt very much in doubt of the nature and rightfulness of her existence, someone who wondered what defined existence and humanity, and what those things meant to her and whether or not she could count as "human".

And then, as the series progressed, we got just a bit more of development in those aspects of Rei before learning about Lilith.

Then my interest in Rei grew even more. It's not that i knew the reason behind what seemed "off" with her, what separated her nature from that of humanity, but rather, that inner conflict between keeping herself and her life/identity, or surrendering to her true nature and thus irrecovably losing herself. The idea of surrendering, dedicating, or sacrificing/delivering all of you to a higher concept at the cost of your life and ego/self is something extremely fascinating, and seeing it developed/represented as it was in Rei's character arc was a very enjoyable experience and one of the favorite aspects of NGE for me. After Rei spent the entire series questioning the value and nature of her existence (And knowing deep down that even if she forsake Lilith and decided to remain as human, there would always be something "off", she would always feel something wrong, or broken, or lacking in her existence) when she finally accepts or succumbs to her true nature in both endings... It was a somewhat heartbreaking end for her character arc, but i think it was the best possible ending.

So, basically, both her non-human nature, her detached, alien-like interests and thoughts regarding the world, and her conflict of remaining a human as a wrong/unnatural existence or losing her life/self for the sake of her higher/"true" nature/call.

[A.T. Fish]

Boobies, duh.

[Hyper Shinchan]

Rei is a bit like Tribbles, but with less hair.

and more:

Boobies, duh.

But the irony of all of this is that it was unintentional at the time

This is my consolation when Anno/Gainax/Khara piss me off, I never gave shit about their intentions nor I will ever start doing it.

[Darkwing]

Also right from the get go Rei has a mystery to her. Why did Shinji see an apparition of her right at the begining of the first episode?

[user-02]

There are really two questions being conflated in this thread, and there have been from the first post:

1) Why do PEOPLE like Rei so much (generally speaking)?
2) Why do YOU like Rei so much (personally speaking)?

It's a little useless trying to answer #1 by providing an answer to #2, as subjective anecdotes do not add up to reliable generalizations. Even the population of this board, active and large as it is, is too small a sample size to reliably represent the general NGE fanbase. (It's also culturally overrepresented by Americans, so it's even less reliable at representing the Japanese fanbase).

If we're trying to be objective in answering question #1, then I don't believe it's shallow or reductive to state the obvious: Rei is sexualized/overdeveloped physically, she is inadvertently fanservicey in her lack of shame (esp. when Shinji finds her naked and falls on top of her), she is mysterious, and yet, at the same time, she is somewhat approachable* -- meaning that she seems less immediately threatening to a (presumably shy) fanboy than someone like Asuka would be.

Finally, there's the novelty factor. Encountering a girl like Rei in real life -- blue hair and red eyes notwithstanding -- would be an extremely rare occurrence. You don't often meet cute girls who are completely nonthreatening and reserved. At least not in the States. Especially as a teenager. You're far more likely to run across an Asuka or a Misato, who can be more intimidating to the (again, presumably shy and introverted) anime fan.

Denying that physical attractiveness and emotional approachability/relatability are major factors in Rei's general popularity is intellectually dishonest. She's popular for many of the same reasons that hardcore gamers fantasize about girl gamers (not the real ones, of course, but idealized versions who are hot, nonthreatening, and would theoretically see the gamer's flaws as strengths).

Now, as for question #2: as you can probably guess from my username and avatar, I'm more of an Asuka man myself. I find her character much more interesting. I don't mind Rei at all, and I quite enjoy her very subtle character arc throughout the series. But Asuka is such a fun puzzle to put together.




*Note that, by "approachable," I don't mean to suggest that Rei is warm or friendly. Rather, I'm saying that she is socially nonthreatening. If you interacted with her, she wouldn't, say, tease you (Misato) or tell you to fuck off (Asuka).

[pwhodges]

If you interacted with her, she wouldn't, say, tease you (Misato) or tell you to fuck off (Asuka).

Um, she is the one who slapped Shinji across the face, though.

[Hyper Shinchan]

Um, she is the one who slapped Shinji across the face, though.

And she's the one who gave a truly withering glance to Asuka when she entered in her autistic mode.

SPOILER: Show

[Kendrix]

I don't mean to suggest that Rei is warm or friendly. Rather, I'm saying that she is socially nonthreatening. If you interacted with her, she wouldn't, say, tease you (Misato) or tell you to fuck off (Asuka).

She (at least version 02) very much is warm and friendly once you get to know her properly. Have you SEEN episodes 15 - 19? Among the whole bunch, she is probably among the ones who are more likely to express worry about her teammates.
Just rewatch stuff and count.

And she's the one who gave a truly withering glance to Asuka when she entered in her autistic mode.

SPOILER: Show

She's also generally fond of brutal honesty.

"Do I have to climb into that scary mecha again?" ["Please tell me I don't have to"]
"Yes."
"And If I don't want to?"["Please say you guys totally need me"]
"Then we'll do it all without you."

Reaction: *dude gets his act together* makedly NOT *dude has her as a safe retreat point where it doesn't matter wether he moves his ass*. She won't urge him to and accepts his choices, but she ain't pampering him, either. She tells him what the reality is.

Or here:
"Sorry, but if you close yourself up, you won't get that mecha to move"
"You're saying IM closed off? Me?"
"uh, yeah."

It's not any prospect of submissiveness AT ALL.
The fun in this "cold" character type in general, with Rei being perhaps the most triumphant example (though she has many other aspects to her than the comon character archetype), is that spark of humanity there and its exploration.
It's the defrosting process, the fragility appeal, more so with the female examples, the males are often badass because men are expected to, but it's a factor with the men, too, a feeling of being needed.
there may be a fantasy involved there, but it's a rather active one, it's imagining yourself in the role of the defroster, the thought that "If I'm nice to them, I might even win the loyalty and protection of someone who seems cold and distant.
(The hope that people can understand each other, so to speak. Of course, shallow perverts will still always exist, but it's not like there's no shallow pr0n of, say, Asuka. Also, there's fun stuff, there's serious stuff, and both has its time, and there's no reason not to enjoy both as long as you remember that last part. )


This is also why say, the Bleach fandom is way more enthusiastic about Ulquiorra (Who somewhat bonds with the human prisoner and has opinions, hints of personality (his favorite way of offing his victims) and character developement ) than they are about, say, Nemu Kurotsuchi. (Who is genuinely a doormat) she got no such "phenomenen-like" response. Did, say, Kanna from Inuyasha get such a response (before she was ultimately revealed to have some minimal will of her own after all)?


But it's not like any kind of hotness factor (another mayor factor being the classic unkempt beauty appeal - most ppl are most sexy when they're not actively trying to. And heck, they simply animated her breats very realistically. the part where they bounce just before she gets up in ep 5... mh... Sorry.) is the only appeal she has.

That's doing the makers of this show a real injustice, I mean, look just how much detail they put into her, down to color preferences and philosophic opinions, all sorts of little details about her living space and relationships with others.

You can also look at her from the "other side". (Maybe this is more apparent if you're a girl? ) Just like Asuka and Shinji, she's also relatable in the "I know that pain"-sort of way.
Yeah, there are probably few actual alien clones around her, but those things are metaphors, exaggerations for the sake of accentuation.
It's not like every directionless, depressed boy is forced into mecha battles, or like every success-obsessed girl out there witnessed their mother killing herself, not all women with father-complexes had the guy pull a heroic sacrifice on them, and not all girls who isolate themselves to live out their idiosyncracies will go as far as walking up to random people to sniff at them.
Many of the scenes from her life could be taken out of the life of an actual, somewhat socially-inept teenager.
The way her classmates talk about her, some popular girl mocking her, her not getting that declining an offer of positive interaction (because she didn't really know ther person in question) is seen as a negative, rejecting gesture, her feelings of insignificance and that whole story of her finding a person who used to be just as lonely as she is and forming a connection, it's all, in its own way, very true to life.
with all of Evangelion, I often had the feeling that "Hey, this exchange is totally very frequent in real life" or "I know people like this", it made me erase several phrases from my vocabulary because I realized how childish they were, but while, for example, Misato's two speeches about her father (ep 12/25) and quite a lot things about Mari really resonated with me, (allthough I'd say that Mari's closer to my present self, and that I was more like Rei when I first watched it) Rei was the one that I most recognized myself in.
On the other hand, she is someone with those same problems who's also kind and determined andso probably someone you could, on some level, even admire. (Sorta like Shinji does in-universe. "You're very strong, Ayanami.")

[Hyper Shinchan]

She (at least version 02) very much is warm and friendly once you get to know her properly. Have you SEEN episodes 15 - 19? Among the whole bunch, she is probably among the ones who are more likely to express worry about her teammates.
Just rewatch stuff and count.

In user-02's defence I'd say that he probably meant that she's not warm and friendly with people by default.
Besides that I pretty much agree with everything Kendrix said.

(The hope that people can understand each other, so to speak. Of course, shallow perverts will still always exist, but it's not like there's no shallow pr0n of, say, Asuka. Also, there's fun stuff, there's serious stuff, and both has its time, and there's no reason not to enjoy both as long as you remember that last part. )

The funny thing is that even in my perversions I don't enjoy her presumed submissiveness but her kindness and humanity, most LRS doujins luckily focus on these aspects.

[Kendrix]

he probably meant that she's not warm and friendly with people by default.

...which still defeats the point since that means you have to earn it in some way.

[Darkwing]

Lets face it you should never judge an Eva charecter by what you first see on the surface. Otherwise Rei is emotionless, Asuka is a bitch, Shinji a wimp, Misato a drunk, etc.

Honestly I didn't really find Shinji falling on Rei when she was nude fanservicy. Asuka shutting the door with her shirt hanging down was fanservice. Rei's reaction, along with how aweful her apartment looks was converying more a sense that she'd been neglected. To her it was normal, thus she has no clue how wrong it is. If you see a teenage girl living in condtions like Rei's in real life, you'd be calling child protective services, and hoping Gendo gets busted.

And just because Rei is someones favorate cahrecter doesn't automatically mean the want her as their Waifu. Honestly Hikari is probably the type of girl I'd like the most for a relationship.

[user-02]

...which still defeats the point since that means you have to earn it in some way.

Err...the whole "warm and friendly" thing was, at best, an extremely small side note to my post. Instead, it's being treated like my entire point. I don't see how a hair-splitting breakdown of her situational warmness vs. coldness refutes anything else I said.

In fact, pretty much nothing else you wrote refutes any of my points. I'm not sure if that was your intent or not. I find myself in agreement with a fair amount of what you wrote, though respectfully, it seems largely orthogonal to my points.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

Because she exhibits practically no emotion, whichever ones she does exhibit tend to stick with her for a long time. Her beauty comes out through the fact that she can display emotion.

Plus, she's hot.