Popularity Reception to Rei's character has been positive. Since 1995, she has become the subject of homages from the
Neon Genesis Evangelion fandom, including
fan fiction,
fan art, and
dōjinshi, proving popular. The writer Patrick W. Galbraith described her as "the single most popular and influential character in the history of
otaku anime". She also ranked highly in popularity surveys. Immediately after ''Evangelion's
first airing concluded, the 1996 and 1997 Anime Grand Prix survey by Animage magazine elected Rei as the best female character of the moment. When Revival of Evangelion
was released in 1998, she ranked fifth as the most popular Evangelion'' female character. Rei also appeared in the magazine's monthly surveys, remaining in the top ten in 1997 and 1998 and the top twenty in the 1999 polls. In 2002,
TV Asahi ranked her 36th among the 100 most-loved characters in anime history. TV Asahi later published the results of polls on anime's greatest scenes; all the
Evangelion scenes that ranked in the lists were related to the character. Rei Ayanami also won first place in
Newtype magazine popularity charts. In July 2005, for example, she emerged tenth, and the magazine praised her ability to awe fans ten years after the anime aired on television. In August and September 2009, after the release of
Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance, she ranked fourth and second. In October, she took third place, becoming the most popular
Evangelion female character. Rei was also voted the most popular female anime character from the 1990s in a
Newtype poll in March 2010. In 2015, nearly twenty years after its debut, she ranked in first place among the female characters favored by fans, thus beating all the heroines of the season's anime. In 2018,
Rebuild Rei was included among the best thirty characters of the previous decade. In 2013, the
NHK Shibuya Anime Land radio show ranked her among the ten top anime heroines of all time. For
Oricon News, Rei's character has become
Evangelions emblem. She also ranked in
Evangelion popularity polls, usually in the top three. A column in the September 2007 issue of the
Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper said, on the occasion of
Evangelion 1.0s theatrical release, that there were over one million dedicated Rei fans in Japan and that: "This bandaged goddess is an icon of Japanese anime." The newspaper also stated that "empathy towards Ayanami" came from a time where the Japanese economy was in a low state and people had low self-esteem, but even though "the economy recovered", people still feel a sense of emptiness. In March and April 2021, after the release of the final
Rebuild film, she finished as the eighth and sixth most popular female character in a
Newtype poll and in sixth and second place in May and June.
Critical reception Rei has been well received by anime critics. Japanese cultural critic Hiroki Azuma described her as "an extremely impressive character", praising the performance of Megumi Hayashibara and its psychological realism since "Rei's solitude is grounded in a completely tactile substantiality which gives us extremely realistic images of the discommunication that children of the present face."
Newtype praised the fifth and the sixth episodes, describing the drawings of the scene in which she smiles at Gendo in "Rei I" as "excellent" and the scene where she greets Shinji before the battle against the Angel Ramiel in "Rei II" as "impressive". In February 1996,
Animedia magazine ranked her smile scene from the sixth episode among the most memorable anime moments of the month.
The Artifice writer Justin Wu also praised the scene, describing it as a "powerful" and "iconic moment" since it is "the first time she has deliberately shown an emotion, and one of the handful of times she has done so throughout the whole series".
IGN ranked her tenth on its list of the top twenty-five anime characters of all time. Writer Chris Mackenzie described her as "a hugely influential character concept"; Mackenzie also found Rei different from similar characters created after
Evangelion since: "The difference between Rei and so many almost-Reis is that there might be something behind the façade." Other critics expressed a negative opinion of the character. Although the writer for
Anime-Planet appreciated some revelations about her past and still considered her "by far the most interesting character", they criticized the lack of exploration of the depth of her character. A writer for
The Anime Critic wrote, "[Rei] has absolutely no personality to speak of, and she remains an enigma for most of the series. Part of the intrigue in the series is discovering the secrets she holds."
THEM Anime Reviews Raphael See criticized the characterization of the whole
Evangelion cast for being "cliche", saying he did not understand the reasons for her great popularity.
Anime News Networks Kenneth Lee considered her
character arc a wasted opportunity, as he considered that "(Rei II, a 'dummy shell,' gaining a soul) could have had an entire series devoted to it". As writers from
Anime News Network were reviewing the
Rebuild of Evangelion films, they praised Rei's character development. On
Evangelion 1.0, Carlo Santos noticed that Rei's personality is the same as in the TV series, and "those who hated the original
Evangelion for its highly dysfunctional characters still won't find anything to like in this version". At the same time, Justin Sevakis praised her response to Shinji's kindness in
Evangelion 2.0. UK
Anime Network described
Rebuilds Rei as a more human character with whom it is easier to empathize. The Fandom Post appreciated that she became progressively more independent from Gendo. At the same time,
Anime News Networks Mark Sombillo wrote: "Her personality and plight form much more of the core motivation of the story and despite her still tryingly hesitant attempts at communication, there's genuine warmth beneath her actions and it's hard not to be won over by her." Her role in the last installment of the saga,
Evangelion 3.0+1.0, received a particularly positive reception from critics and reviewers, especially for its optimistic view. Critics praised her journey and campy scenes in the film's first part as "immersive" and "moving".
Crunchyroll's Daryl Harding described them as "one of the nicest parts of the film".
Paste magazine lauded the movie for showing Rei and the other pilots outside the militarized and violent context of the battles. According to
Gizmodo, she has "the most complete journey" among those presented by
3.0+1.0. Otaquest's Chris Cimi similarly praised her character development, saying that her actions "make for something different and warm but still
Evangelion".
Merchandise Mania.coms Thomas Zoth wrote, "Rei Ayanami proved such a popular character that she started a
merchandising boom." t-shirts,
action figures, musical instruments, life-size statues, makeup, accessories, and reproductions of her clothing. On March 30, 2001,
King Records launched an album entitled
Evangelion: The Birthday of Rei Ayanami. In 2012, a team built an tall figure of the character outside of the NTV Tower in the Shiodome area of Tokyo as part of the Shiohaku Expo 2012 summer amusement event. The following year, a reproduction of the girl's bedroom was built, and a life-size model was exhibited at the Eva Expo in Shanghai. In 2020,
Honda used Rei and other characters from the series for several commercials, which aired during a collaboration between
Evangelion and the
Honda Civic. In 2007, her costumes ranked first among the best-selling cosplay costumes of the year by the company
Cospa. Writer
Thomas Lamarre wrote that Sadamoto's design for the character became "
the sensation of the series", selling "an unprecedented number of figurines" and spurring expensive speculation about her character in the press and the world of anime criticism. According to one estimate, plastic models before
Evangelion sold about three thousand units, but Rei's figures reached ten times that amount. For Galbraith, "the series overlapped with a boom in figurines of anime characters and the spread of the Internet, making
otaku consumption and community more conspicuous".
Newtype USA magazine similarly wrote that: "Hordes of
otaku flooded Akihabara in search of the enigmatic Rei Ayanami, and companies realized for the first time that catering to the
geek crowd could be very profitable. [...] Akihabara itself has transformed from an 'electric town' famous for household appliances to the geek paradise it is today". In 2005, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first airing of
Evangelion, manga artist
Mine Yoshizaki designed several action figures of the Angels with anthropomorphic appearances; among the various models, he devised a figure of the Angel
Lilith inspired by Rei's character design. According to Japanese writer Kazuhisa Fujie, although models and toys in the series were a commercial failure at first, Rei's action figures immediately became so popular that they exceeded Evangelion's unit sales, thus creating the first and perhaps the only case of a robotic anime "where reproductions of the human characters outsold those of the robots." Furthermore, books and magazines portraying her on the cover were successful. She also appeared on the cover of an issue of
Rolling Stone Japanese edition, among others. An art book about her named was published in 1997. According to Fujie, sales of Rei-themed merchandise led Japanese media to call her "the girl who manipulates magazine sales at will", "the fastest route to the sold-out sign", and "the Premium Girl".
Legacy Rei Ayanami had a significant influence on Japanese animation. Critics regarded Rei and her success as the beginning of the
moe phenomenon, He also regarded Ruriko Tsukishima from
Shizuku as being directly influenced by Rei and
Ruri Hoshino of
Martian Successor Nadesico as a combination of both. Critics compared other characters to her, including Miharu in
Gasaraki, Vanilla H in
Galaxy Angel, Maya in
Geobreeders,
Neya in
Infinite Ryvius, Aruto Kirihara in
Kagihime Monogatari Eikyū Alice Rondo,
Riza Hawkeye in
Fullmetal Alchemist, Dorothy R. Wayneright in
The Big O, Anthy Himemiya in
Revolutionary Girl Utena, Chise in
Saikano,
Yuzuriha Inori in
Guilty Crown, Miyu in
My-HiME, Ai in
Zaion: I Wish You Were Here, Diya in
Butterfly Soup, Yashiro Kasumi in
Muv-Luv, and the female cyborgs in
Gunslinger Girl.
Lains principal screenwriter,
Chiaki J. Konaka, stated he was not influenced by
Evangelion, and although he appreciated their characteristics, he said he did not see similarities between the two characters.
Eureka from
Eureka Seven has similarly been compared to Rei Ayanami, causing dissatisfaction in series screenwriter
Dai Satō.
Rurouni Kenshin's author,
Nobuhiro Watsuki, compared
Yukishiro Tomoe to Rei. He said Yukishiro became an Ayanami lookalike, with the sole unique feature being her black pupils. The author initially conceived of her as a "cool beauty", but once she revealed her true feelings, she became a different character.
The Artifice writer Justin Wu regarded Rei as the prototypical , a term used by anime fans to describe reticent and emotionless characters, usually with a monotone voice, who speak to the point and avoid unnecessary conversations. This
moe element, which gained wide popularity entirely after Rei's success, can be found in numerous subsequent female characters, including Eva in
Black Cat, Ai Enma in
Hell Girl, and
Yuki Nagato in
Haruhi Suzumiya. Wu also wrote that Rei is responsible for expanding the anime merchandise market. He said that because
Evangelion allows people to visualize unexplained details and Rei's enigmatic personality lets readers imagine different scenarios she would be in, including
erotic comics,
Evangelion is a "doujin-friendly" series. According to Kaichiro Morikawa, a Japanese architect and academic, characters with physical defects before
Evangelion and Rei Ayanami were rare, such as
Char Aznable in
Mobile Suit Gundam, who has a scar on his forehead, and Princess Kushana in
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Justin Wu also noticed that the bandages gained significant popularity after the series's success, becoming the character's trademark and a common feature in
cosplays. Singer and guitarist Motoo Fujiwara wrote the lyrics of the song "
Arue", taking inspiration from Rei, with the English title "R.A." inspired by the initial letters of her name. Ging Nang Boyz's album
Door features a song named . According to the Japanese site Animentalism, the track "Ray" by rock band
Luna Sea, included as the B-side of their single "
In Silence" and composed by
Sugizo, could be a tribute to Rei Ayanami. Artists have produced fan art about her, including
Okama, Huke,
Hiroya Oku, and
Arina Tanemura. Celebrities paid tribute to Rei by cosplaying her, including
Shoko Nakagawa,
Natsuki Katō, Miu Nakamura,
Yuuri Morishita,
Umika Kawashima,
Rio Uchida, Kokoro Shinozaki, and
Shōma Uno. During
Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2012, English model
Jourdan Dunn wore a dress similar to the character's plugsuit, a bodysuit worn by Evangelion pilots; Gainax only learned about the outfit from the Internet and was perplexed by the situation.
Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend references the character. Rei's image appeared on a character's shirt from the ''
Veronica's Closet series. According to Vogue'', her plugsuit also inspired a piece of clothing for the spring 2016 line by the fashion house
Louis Vuitton. == See also ==