Rei Ayanami Evangelion Unit-00 Pilot (Eva Unit-00)
Rei Ayanami is the 14-year-old pilot of Evangelion Unit 00 and is known as the First Child. She lives alone in an apartment and attends Class 2-A along with Shinji and Asuka. She has a rather unusual appearance when compared to most other characters in the rest of the series: light blue hair, red eyes, and fairly pale skin. In the original Japanese dub, she is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara. In the ADV Film English dub, she is voiced by Amanda Winn Lee, though she is replaced by Ryan Bartley in the Netflix re-dub.
Character and Personality
While most characters can display a range of emotions from despair to joy, Rei is seemingly characterized by her lack of emotion. When she speaks, it is spoken with little inflection or emphasis, creating a deadpan-like tone. Her expressionless personality is further emphasized when Rei admits that she does not know what to feel or how to respond to a given situation, like when Shinji rescues her after the battle with the Angel Ramiel.
Rei also displays an incredible lack of self-value and does not care for her own well-being. She believes that she is entirely expendable and that her death would mean very little to the world. This belief stems from the fact that she is aware that she is a clone of sorts and can be replaced at any time. There is one person that seems to get Rei to show emotion, however. That person is Shinji’s father, Gendo Ikari. When talking with Gendo, Rei is often shown with a smile on her face.
When Shinji’s mother, Yui Ikari is shown on screen, viewers may find that she bears a striking resemblance to Rei, albeit with a different hair color and skin tone. This is because Rei is an artificial clone that is based on Yui after the experiment with Eva-01 that resulted in her apparent death. There are, in fact, three different incarnations of Rei shown throughout the series. The first Rei (referred to as Rei I), is only shown in a flashback where Naoko Akagi strangles her. Rei II is the incarnation that is present throughout most of the series. In the battle with the Angel Armisael, she activates Eva-00’s self-destruct, resulting in the annihilation of the Angel, Eva-00, and Rei. Rei III appears to have lost what little emotion that Rei II gained through her interactions with the other Eva pilots, but also seems to lose the soft spot that she had for Gendo.
Ritsuko shows that there are dozens of other clones of Rei secretly stored at Nerv, but states that they are simply “spare parts” for the current incarnation of Rei. Rei is also said to have the soul of the Second Angel Lilith inside her, which plays a significant role in End of Evangelion.
Notable Relationships with Other Characters
Shinji Ikari: a fellow Eva pilot in charge of Eva-01 that works with Rei. In their first legitimate interaction, both characters have trouble trying to communicate, but Rei shows little interest in Shinji in general. As time progresses, however, she gradually learns that she wants to be with him. When Shinji rescues her from her entry plug after the battle with Ramiel, Rei gives him the first smile she has ever shown to anyone other than Gendo.
Gendo Ikari: Commander of Nerv and husband of Yui Ikari, the person Rei is based off of. Up until she began working with Shinji, Gendo was the only person that showed any kindness to Rei. This kindness is highlighted when Gendo opens her entry plug after a failed experiment with Eva-00 with his bare hands. Rei kept Gendo’s glasses that ended up being breaking in the chaos and keeps them displayed on a desk in her apartment. As the series progresses, however, her obedience toward Gendo and NERV begins to shift toward Shinji.
Asuka Langley Soryu: Fellow Eva pilot in charge of Eva-02. Most of the interactions between these two revolve the pair’s clashing personalities. Due to Rei’s experience as an Eva pilot and her cold, calculating demeanor, Asuka interprets advice given by Rei as belittling her, which often results in arguments between the two. This is often escalated by Rei’s quiet nature, which Asuka believes is Rei simply ignoring her.
Voice Actress
Rei Ayanami is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara is a Japanese voice actress that was born in Tokyo, Japan on March 30th, 1967. Hayashibara is best known for her roles in the Evangelion series, the Pokémon series, Ranma ½, Cowboy Bebop, and Slayers series.
Character Popularity
Upon release Rei and Asuka were both very popular with Evangelion fans. As polar opposites, the shy and cool Rei, and fiery and attractive Asuka, quickly became the poster-girls for the series. It was stated by Evangelion character illustrator Yoshiyuki Sadamoto that Rei was especially popular as the media renounced her character as "Premium Girl" and whenever Rei was on the cover of books, the sales went high. In addition her Rei and her white ‘plugsuit’ became famous world-wide with a boom in many fans choosing to cosplay as her.