Rei Ayanami (Other Media)
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SPOILER WARNING! This article or section contains spoiler information from Evangelion media that has been recently released and/or is of limited distribution. Do not read any further if you do not want to spoil your experience of said media. |
Contents
In other media
Rei Ayanami features in much of the officially licensed Gainax media.
- Rei features as a character in all officially licensed Eva manga: Evangelion Academy, Angelic Days, and Shinji Ikari Raising Project.
- Ayanami Raising Project is a dating game licensed by Gainax that features Rei as the main character.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion on the N64 features Rei and Eva-00 as playable characters.
- Akihabara Hobby released a 1:1 scale model of Rei in 2007 (along with a large model of Eva-01) as part of Gainax's Eva Works series.
- The OST The Birthday of Rei Ayanami features recordings of A Cruel Angel's Thesis, Tamashii No Refrain, and Fly Me to the Moon sung by Megumi Hayashibara, Rei's voice actress. The OST also features most of the music in NGE that came to be associated with Rei.
There is also much unofficial media circulating which is cantered around or featuring Rei: garage kit models, dojinshi, etc.
Manga adaption
In the manga adaptation by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Rei's character comes off as being a much warmer and more open, at least with regards to Shinji and despite having the same initial reaction to Shinji in the anime, she soon becomes Shinji's romantic interest.
Unique to the manga, in Vol. 01 she pilots Eva-01 against Sachiel and loses, her injuries seemingly being a direct result of the defeat. Though Vol. 03 of the manga includes the Eva-00 berserk incident from Ep. 05 of the anime, and seems to be implying that she received her injuries at that time. If so, then she was piloting Eva-01 while badly injured, and when Gendo tried to shame Shinji into piloting, he was threatening to send a severely injured Rei into battle for the second time that day! Including the Ep. 05 material may have been an attempt by Sadamoto to retroactively correct the source of Rei's injuries to match the anime.
For information regarding Rei's psychology and for a examination of her character throughout manga:
Rei in other Eva based Manga
Most notorious is Rei's appearance in the Girlfriend of Steel 2 manga. She is regarded by some as being Rei in Appearance Only (RiAO), in that while she shares the same basic character design, her entire personality is different. Being based on the AU from Episode 26, Girlfriend of Steel 2 depicts Rei as a bubbly and excitable transfer student to Shinji's school, almost a mirror image of her character in the original animé series.
In the latest Neon Genesis Evangelion Academy manga, Rei is seen to be acting in a much more Rei-like manner.
Rei in Rebuild of Evangelion
Rei as seen in Rebuild of Evangelion is much the same as her anime counterpart. So far, she has been seen to have the same relationships with Gendo Ikari, and maintains much the same distance from her classmates. Rei sits on her own while other members of her class are swimming, or talking in groups.
Two important differences are worth noting in Evangelion 1.0. After the battle with Sachiel, Shinji is visited by an apparition of Rei in the first of the Personal Hell traincar scenes in the movie series. Gendo and Yui discuss how Shinji would've been named Rei, if he had been born a girl. Rei is heard repeating the names "Shinji Ayanami" and "Rei Ikari" before correcting herself with "No, Rei Ayanami." when an apparition of a naked and demented looking Rei appears--in much the same way as the moment Eva-00 runs berserk in Episode 14. Shinji wakes up in the infirmary after this.
In the film's final scene where Shinji is with Rei in the entry plug of Eva-00, Rei is depicted holding Shinji Ikari's hand.
Rei's character continues to develop in Evangelion 2.0, with Rei even asking Gendo for permission to hold a dinner for her fellow pilots, and putting a very determined effort at cooking for the party. She also shows visible shock after hearing about the Bardiel incident and Asuka's fate. Consumed along with her Eva by the Angel Zeruel, she and Shinji are absorbed into Eva-01 at the end of the movie.
