Rei Ayanami
| Rei Ayanami | |
|---|---|
| Neon Genesis Evangelion character | |
 |
|
| First appearance | "Angel Attack" |
| Created by |
Gainax Yoshiyuki Sadamoto |
| Voiced by |
Japanese Megumi Hayashibara English Amanda Winn-Lee (TV series and films) Brina Palencia (Rebuild of Evangelion) |
| Profile | |
| Title | First Child |
Rei Ayanami (綾波 レイ Ayanami Rei?) is a fictional character from the Japanese media franchise Neon Genesis Evangelion created by Gainax. She is the First Child (First Children in the Japanese version) and pilot of the Evangelion Unit 00.
At the beginning of the series, Rei is an enigmatic figure whose unusual behavior astonishes her peers. As the series progresses, she becomes more involved with the people around her, particularly her classmate and fellow Eva pilot Shinji Ikari. She is revealed to be a key factor in the events that conclude the storyline. Her role in this conclusion is not made entirely clear in the TV series, but is one of the principal plot points of The End of Evangelion.
Like many of Evangelion's characters, Ayanami's surname comes from a Japanese World War II naval vessel, the Fubuki class destroyer Ayanami. Her first name comes from the character Rei Hino of the anime and manga series Sailor Moon. This was done in an effort to get one of the series directors, Kunihiko Ikuhara, to work on Evangelion; however, this effort failed.
Hideaki Anno instructed Yoshiyuki Sadamoto on Rei's character design that "Whatever else, she needs to be painted in as a bitterly unhappy young girl with little sense of presence." Sadamoto was inspired to draw Rei by the band Kinniku Shōjo Tai's theme song "Hotai de Masshiro na Shojo" (lit. "The Girl White with Bandages"). Ukina, a character from Sadamoto's previous work Koto served as Rei's model. Anno required a character "cool with short hair", and Rei was originally designed brunette with dark eyes; however, it was necessary to distinguish her at first sight from the other female protagonist Asuka Langley Soryu, so Sadamoto designed her with the colors of eyes and hair inverted compared to Asuka. Anno suggested to draw red eyes for the character, a feature that allowed to give her more personality. Also, red eyes distinguish her from the other characters. Her blue hair comes from the main character of Aoki Uru.
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