Rei Ayanami

Rei Ayanami
綾波レイ
Age	14 (biologically)
Birthday	Unknown
Seiyū	Megumi Hayashibara

Rei Ayanami (綾波レイ) is the First Children, designated pilot of Evangelion Unit-00. Rei has the soul of Lilith as well as the DNA of Yui Ikari.

Past

Officially Rei's past has been erased, and next to nothing is revealed in the show. Gendo was accompanying the child Rei on a tour of Nerv facilities, and may have been her guardian when she was young, but this is purely speculative.

Tokyo 3

Rei pilots Unit-00, but as the story opens, she is unable to do so due to injuries received in a training incident. This prompts Gendo Ikari to summon his long-abandoned son, Shinji Ikari to Tokyo 3 to pilot Evangelion Unit-01. Rei is quiet and seems nearly unemotional; in fact she seems happy only when she is with Gendo, who saved her life during the training incident. She keeps and treasures a pair of his glasses that were damaged during the rescue. Rei is also a central part of the Dummy Plug System.

Psychological Problems

Rei seems to have some suicidally tendencies (although Shinji and Asuka do as well) as she has little regard for her own life during battle. This seems to be because as she says in her own words, "Even if I die, I can be replaced".

Rei I

Rei I appears for the first and only time in Episode 21 as a child. She is brought to Gehirn by Gendo Ikari where she is introduces as the "daughter of a friend". Naoko Akagi notes the similarity between Rei and Yui Ikari. Later in the episode, she is strangled to death by Naoko.

Rei II

Rei II appears from Episode 1 until Episode 23 where she sacrifices herself and her Eva in order to destroy the Angel Armisael.

Rei III

Rei III appears from Episode 23 until The End of Evangelion where she merges with Lilith.

Notes

• "Rei" in Japanese is (sometimes) a synonym for "zero", fitting as Rei is the pilot of Eva Unit 00. However, in the original Japanese dub of the series, characters refer to Unit 00 using the half-English "Zerogouki" ("-gouki" = "Unit"). "Reigouki" wouldn't be an entirely inaccurate alternate rendering of its name, though.
• "Rei" spelt with different Kanji is the word for "spirit". Rei's name becomes a double pun- she is the pilot of Unit 00, and the vessel for the soul of Lilith.
• Rei's surname Ayanami translates approximately as "twill wave". She was named for the Fubuki class destroyer Ayanami, which was lost at the Second Battle of Guadalcanal.
• Rei's first name comes from Rei Hino/Sailor Mars of the Anime and Manga series Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. This was done in an effort to get one of the series directors, Kunihiko Ikuhara, to work on Evangelion. While this effort failed, some of the staff and voice actors of Sailor Moon did work on Eva as well, including another one of Sailor Moon's series directors' Jun'ichi Satoh (Under the pen-name Kiichi Jinme as a Storyboardist) and the voice actress' for Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon Kotono Mitsuishi and Haruka Tenoh/Sailor Uranus Megumi Ogata, respectively.
• In Episode 12, Rei reveals that she "doesn't like meat", thus making her a vegetarian. Director and Creator Hideaki Anno as well as the main character from Gainax's previous work Nadia are also known for being vegetarians.
• The Rei that's shown at the start of Episode 01 (as the Girl on the Street) and in the Final Scene of Episode 26' (Floating above the L.C.L Sea) appears to be Rei 3. How or why this is possible is something that's speculated among fans; please visit This Page for more information.
• The Soul of Unit-00 is probably Rei 1. Please see the linked page for more information.

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Characters

Main characters: Shinji Ikari | Rei Ayanami | Asuka Langley Soryu

Nerv staff: Misato Katsuragi | Gendo Ikari | Ritsuko Akagi | Kozo Fuyutsuki | Ryoji Kaji | Maya Ibuki | Makoto Hyuga | Shigeru Aoba

Classmates: Toji Suzuhara | Kensuke Aida | Hikari Horaki

Other characters: Kaworu Nagisa | Yui Ikari | Naoko Akagi | Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu | Dr. Katsuragi | Mr. Langley | Keel Lorenz | Pen Pen

Rebuild of Evangelion: Asuka Shikinami Langley | Mari Makinami Illustrious | Sakura Suzuhara | Ryoji Kaji (Jr)

Miscellaneous: Minor Characters | Minor Characters (Rebuild) | Extracanonical Characters

Theory and Analysis: Name Origins (Warships) | Designs | Relationships | Profiles

Resources: 2015: The Last Year of Ryohji Kaji