In Defense of Rei Ayanami

REI ayanami has hands down the most contentious fandom in all of Evangelion in fact despite her overwhelming popularity in Japan in considerable popularity in the west the obsession Eva fans have of her has been considered a symptom of ingrained cultural misogyny and emotional regression according to schizo evangelion's editor which is an anthology comprising of several gainax employee interviews and essays written about the series oizumi mitsunari said the following Rey is a sacrifice offered to all the Japanese Mama's Boys and sadists and to further parallel this claim about Rey having an appeal to those with arrested emotional development series Creator hideakiano claimed that Rey's popularity with Japanese youth was a result of a stunted imagination originating from Japan's defeat in World War II stating since that time the education we received is not one that creates adults in other words hideakiano and oizumi mitsunari find that Rey's appeal as a character is misguided and embraced for the wrong reasons in essence you're not supposed to like Rey now as someone who finds Rey to be their favorite character I was clearly confused by these attitudes so I went down the rabbit hole of Ray ionami's history and biography in order to see if the elements of her character that I enjoyed the most were the ones that were being criticized by both critics and developers of her character what I learned however was that indeed you're not supposed to like Rey at least not in the way that her popularity would suggest because her Acclaim has been largely due to a set of characteristics that are degrading and show a dark Collective Consciousness among Japanese Millennials and weebs abroad hello funkers Tony Funk here and today we're going to explore the disturbing reality behind Rey ayanami's popularity and then despite that we're going to defend her not because of the attributes that made her popular in the first place but because beneath the surface she is the most fascinating and uniquely written character in Evangelion and perhaps all of anime so welcome funkers to my defense of Rey ayanami [Music] thank you Ray ayonami was originally conceived as the personification of hideyakiano's unconscious mind perhaps as a result of the NF ability of such a concept Rey was quickly neglected in the writer's room often having an amorphous intent within the greater scope of the Neon Genesis Evangelion narrative Rey was also spitballed as being shinji's unconscious mind but was not cemented as having a fixed character profile with hideyakiano admitting that he did not know what to do with the race character halfway through the series him claiming that he did not know where life was taking his staff this means that that Rey was a stand-in character to represent something perhaps personally meaningful to Anna or to his staff and her character development was continuously pushed to the back burners during the series's production the result of this was a character whose presence was limited and mysterious amongst the cast of characters whose psyches were heavily explored and developed this is not to say that Rey ayanami had no character development whatsoever but that due to her neglect her story incidentally concluded in the sixth episode of the series though this was not intentional her character's development was truncated for the rest of the series episode 6 marks the end of her journey as a character when her schizoid-like personality is challenged by shinji's encouragement to show emotions you see up until the sixth episode Rey was seen as a loner without social awareness nor a desire to connect to her peers this Behavior created an aura of mystery around her exacerbated by her limited appearances and lines the biggest mystery regarding her however was built up around her seemingly positive relationship with gendo this early on in the series there was anticipated Revelations regarding the nature of her relationship with gando and why she seemed to act differently towards him than with anyone else consequently everything we needed to know about her relationship with gundo as well as why she seemed to have schizoid personality disorder was revealed in a single scene as we all know Rey had conflated gendo's concern about her own utility to his goals with sympathy towards her situation when she was rescued from the entry plug after unit 0 went berserk this was shown when Shinji rescues her from the entry plug in the exact same manner gendo had and racism flash of gendo's face as she begins to realize that Shinji cares about her well-being unlike gendo but not only did this scene reveal the mystery behind her one-sided relationship with gendo but it also presented her change as a person when she stated that she did not know how to react to catharsis Shinji encouraging her to smile and her doing so completed her story arc right then and there she learns to become human from that point forward and we view Rey in a completely different light until the series concludes this consequence of not planning her character properly doomed her to remain static after that turning point and to make matters worse the instances when their character aligned with her new personality were far and few between due to hideyakiano's lack of interest to further develop her don't take it from me though according to hideakiano and I quote at the end of the sixth episode when Rey says I don't know what kind of expression I should have at a time like this and Shinji says I think you should smile and Ray smiles when I thought about it afterwards I cursed I thought in short that if she has already communicated with Shinji there then isn't she over with at that moment Rey for me was finished all at once so now we can see how from hideaki on his perspective Rey wasn't interesting for the majority of the series because her personal narrative was squandered early on this attitude towards Rey persisted throughout the rest of production and later in his life as evidenced by interviews where he expressed little interest in race characterization it then came as a surprise to Anno to see that Rey became Eva's most popular character despite her having the least amount of development one instance that helped Anno understand Rey's popularity in the eyes of the Japanese public was after a set of Rey figurines and bandages sold out in record time ahead of every other merch item fujia magazine put it plainly stating arguably it is because of anno's dictates on design that few Evangelion toys were initially made but figures of Rey and all her bandage Beauty sold like wildfire this is probably the first and only example of an animated Mecca series for the reproductions of human characters outsold those of the robots it must have been telling then that in a Mecca anime with giant robots destructive angels and a relatable protagonist the most coveted merch item was a briefly featured neglected emotionally stunted 14 year old in bandages as Evangelion matured as a series in the 90s Zeitgeist an anime Trope known as Moe exploded often attributed by Ray ionami's depictions as naive inexperienced and chronically injured to this day many anime rely on vapid characters that use their Moe appeal to Garner popularity and viewership nowadays we all know how effective Moe is in fomenting giant audiences and lucrative merch sales but ultimately the question is why what's the appeal Moe enthusiasts claimed that the biggest appeal of Moe is the fact that characters represent Purity in a need of protection their cuteness is alluring because it fulfills a fantasy of preserving the innocence of childlike Wonder think of it as a desire to be a good Big Brother for a defenseless little sister though there is nothing wrong with wanting to protect innocence since it is the duty of the powerful to protect the weak I found that similar to other forms of escapism such as in the way that true crime documentaries overwhelmingly appeal to women Moe appeals to a fantasy that is to say an ulur to Moe does not equate to activism for the innocent but rather the formation of parasocial relationships with the Moe characters what does this mean though it means that people want to feel like they're in relationships with Moe characters and though this is literally normal when we watch films or shows often with us identifying with the protagonists and wanting to be their friends what's disturbing about this is how Moe characters either intentionally or unintentionally as is the case with Rey ayanami are on the submissive end of power dynamics parasocial relationships with Maui characters then mean that the viewer has complete control over the Moe characters in their mind in essence then Moe characters satisfy the fantasy of being in complete control of someone naive by being the more experienced party fans of Moe essentially wish they could have relationships with people as depicted in these animes which is harmless Until you realize that in real life wanting to have a big brother-like relationship with an unrelated young naive girl is creepy and would raise some eyebrows I'm going to let everyone read between the lines here as I trust you all understand what kind of fantasies I'm hinting at because after all most Moe characters are children as is in the case with Rey but it's not just the fact that Rey elicited Maui fantasies that made her so popular but also because her personality is basically the personification of the Japanese ideal woman referred to as Yamato nadeshko this term literally meaning caressable child refers to a woman that ascribes to the culture of Domesticity viewing domestic virtuous kind gentle and honest women as wife material not only is this creepy because Rey is 14 years old but it also paints a picture of how many Japanese otakus relate to female characters as hypothetical wives jeez no wonder the Japanese don't [ __ ] now let's look back at what hideakiano said about Japan's obsession with Rey again when referring to what he thought caused Japanese otakus to gravitate towards Rey he alluded to post-world War II culture in education stating since that time the education we received is not one that creates adults what connections does post-world War II education have with an Allure towards Moe when we look at Japan in the lead-up to World War II we find a highly militaristic and imperialist Society similar to the end industrialized European nations during the height of colonialism among the many mantras in public discourse hard work and a collective superiority were the most important this Collective Consciousness created a predatory engine that brutally conquered Manchuria and devastated its population masculinity was linked with honor and sacrifice and was ingrained in every citizen of Imperial Japan though toxic this belief held the nation together under the guise of stability up until Japan's unconditional surrender to the United States when an idea so pervasive and ingrained was suddenly removed a vacuum occurred in the collective Consciousness and new ideas quickly took their place after Japan's surrender its entire identity of isolationism was finally lifted and the empire was subsequently emasculated this emasculation was interpreted as the idea that Japan was no longer Mighty and since then became the second fiddle to the west and the United States this cultural and economic domination was ultimately what led to the creation of anime as we know it today and it became a form of escapism from Japan's tumultuous past and from accepting its own domination at the hands of the West Japan's fate did not change as it was backstabbed by the West during the 1985 Plaza Accord that caused a pricing bubble in the 90s Japan's economy plummeted due to the artificial depreciation of the U.S dollar against foreign assets and the era of Japan's inferiority complex reignited according to Nihon kazai shimbun a Japanese Financial publication when Ray ayanami first appeared the self-esteem of the Japanese population was at an all-time low as the economic bubble Hedges burst the empathy towards ayanami a wounded girl who climbs into an artificial humanoid and silently fights her enemies is rooted in that particular era a figure is a modern Idol that embodies unconscious faiths although the economy recovered maybe Japanese people still have a hollow in their heart if Rey's defenseless nature in parallels to Japan's declining cultural prominence are what made her so popular does that mean she's just a bad character not at all though she may exhibit these traits she's got more depth beneath the surface and it's the subtleties of her character that really make her shine and interestingly I think it's precisely because of her forgotten Nature by hideakiyano that she became an unreplicable character by demonstrating maturity and achieving her objectives without being overtly performative unlike Oscar or Shinji who were given more development Rey's Redemption from being an object of power fantasies to being the most interesting character in all of anime starts after episode 6. once we've already realized that she is an a schizoid or void of personality but rather a victim of psychological abuse we can see how she deals with her lot in life with Gray's an unwavering resolve worthy of admiration you see Rey is not only mentally strong and mature for her age but she's actually the series most emotionally intelligent character out of all of the children's and adults in Eva Rey exhibits the most maturity and resolve in episode 11 during nerve's power outage Rey demonstrates that though she follows her every order to a t it does not mean she is devoid of agency and in fact exudes leadership skills in leading herself chinji and Oscar to the evil launch area when confronted by Oscar about being gendo's favorite she ignores her until Oscar gets in front of her then she Simply dismisses Her claims and says I don't act Superior and I'm not treated better either I know that quite well this means that by ignoring Oscar's Jabs until she physically blocks her path she's purposely avoiding unnecessary tension between them meaning that her social awareness is significantly more developed than previously believed the way she handles Oscar by not engaging her demonstrates an understanding of stoicism for only focusing on what's important during an angel attack Rey in doing so demonstrates an ability to delegate actions and an order of importance during a time of Crisis all while trying to avoid emotional conflict in episode 12 we get a glimpse of Rey's personality when we see that she's uninterested in attending misado steak dinner stating that she doesn't like meat possibly alluding to her nature as part Lilith mother of all living creatures or maybe because as we stated earlier she initially was supposed to represent anno's unconscious mind with Ono being a vegetarian regardless this isn't everything we learn about her personality in episode 12 as she shows genuine concern for saving everyone's lives when she asks masato who explain their grounds by which she inferred sahakiel's trajectory it's interesting then that the quietest and most reserved pilot out of the three was showing the most concern for Humanity's survival in episode 14 we get the most introspective look at Rey psyche here we see her true feelings regarding her sense of self gendo and her understanding of human existence upon testing her compatibility with unit 1 we get a monologue that details her thoughts as she begins to contact yui Soul within the entry plug she Begins the monologue by detailing the world in which she lives in as a metaphor for who she is as a person and I quote Mountain heavier than mountains but that changes over time sky blue sky what your eyes can't see what your eyes can see Sun there is only one water comforting commander akari and the first part of Rey's description she refers to mountains which are exaggerated reliefs of the earth yet she ensures to describe their transience even though the ground is comforting as it represents stability and something firm to keep us from falling Rey thinks of mountains as something that is in a constant state of change her reference to changing mountains then alludes to the transience of her own existence and the fact that stability is only temporary then she refers to the sky as something that can be seen by the eyes but also cannot the sky being an ineffable concept that can be perceived as a blanket of blue or orange but not really seen in its pure form alludes to race sense of self that can be perceived as her body but also cannot due to her self-awareness being intangible when she refers to the sun which can only be one she refers to the soul which transcends the body and similar to Rey being at her second iteration ultimately it still carries the Same Soul then she talks about the comfort of water a fluid with no predetermined shape Rey finds water comforting because it has no defined boundaries unlike solids there is no separation between waters as there is no way to determine when one unit of water ends and one begins the zamorphous nature is comforting because it symbolizes a lack of division in between individuals something akin to human instrumentality and LCL when she thinks about the comfort of water Commander akari comes to mind as she questions whether or not she finds an and comforting at the end of her monologue though it becomes apparent that she does not find him comforting as she lists him last in a list of her colleagues organized by her fondness of them this part of her monologue however acts as race Credo for how she views herself she sees herself as a being awaiting her own death in the same way mountains wither away with time but also as a being with a sense of self that cannot be categorized nor separated from who she is her allusions to the sun refer to the uniqueness of her soul yet her attraction to water refers to the disillusion of her ego basically Rey initially sees herself at odds with her own desire to die and to connect to others by having as little ego as possible this means that her perceived quietness and shyness stems from her desire to be loved and to connect in contrast to Oscar's ego which ultimately creates a barrier between her and everyone else Rey also expresses her disapproval of being used as a vessel for Lilith's soul in this monologue when she references many flowers and States how many of them are alike and how many are useless she states that her many versions are useless as they are mere copies of the the original though at this point in the story Rey is probably not aware of her future role in instrumentality she shows disapproval of her own replaceability and lack of originality as being one of a series of identical beings this disapproval regarding her own unfortunate existence is the reason why Rey suffers from Thanatos also known as the Death Drive therefore she finds her existence as a burden stating during instrumentality in episode 25. I want to die what I want is despair I want to return to nothingness but I can't I can't return to nothingness he won't let me go back he won't let me go not yet I came into existence because he needs me but it's over now I won't be needed anymore I'll be abandoned by him I had always longed for that day but now I am afraid basically Rey wants to fulfill her duties initially out of a misplaced fondness for gendo mistaking his attention for genuine care but because to her living as a replaceable drone gave her no meaning she had longed to return to the nothingness she felt before her creation when she is dismayed that genda won't let her go back she experiences buyer's remorse from helping him achieve instrument mentality thus dooming her to exist for eternity as a part of a collective Consciousness this is what to me makes Rey so fascinating Rey has the mental awareness to realize that her existence is predetermined but because she thinks by helping gendo she is contributing to the greater good she doesn't sabotage everyone like Shinji had done whenever his Tantrums would cause him to quit being a pilot but rather she sets her own wishes aside to die in order to help Humanity first sure her desire to die causes her to selflessly act as the punching bag whenever Shinji needed her protection but she ultimately continues her duties to help others and all without seeking any validation for her sacrifices we also see that aside from wanting to die she also has a deep bond with the world recognizing that even though existence is not her cup of tea her bond to everyone else is what keeps her piloting her Eva and tolerating being treated like a sacrificial lamb by nerve and gendo this is evidenced by her conversation with shinjin episode 6 where she states that the reason she Pilots her Eva is because of her bond with the world this Bond then causes her to consider lowering her guard and having as little ego as possible so that she may connect to others easily the problem is that Rey was never able to form connections until she met Shinji because of both the horrific lifestyle she was subordinated to have under gendo and nerve but also because everyone else in nerve had serious psychological issues making them incapable or uninterested in connecting with Rey even though Rey was far more aware about her condition than she seemed to be on the surface she made no attempts to connect to anyone because she had never been shown love in the first place and never had the opportunity to learn to make friends this is why she initially had an emotional attachment to gando for so long despite him never caring about her well-being later in the series when Shinji cleans a room and she says thank you for the very first time she contemplates how she had never stated words of gratitude as if realizing that she had never made a realistic attempt to connect to anyone once Rey feels loved however her character questions her own Thanatos and ultimately fears death in episode 23 Rey starts crying and expresses shock over her own emotional response to achieving the goal she had longed for before self-destructing in order to save Shinji Ray feel sadness that she can no longer connect to Shinji which tells us that the only emotion that could Trump her own discussed with herself was love as a consequence of Rey's narrative neglect she became significantly more interesting than the likes of Shinji Oscar or masato by representing a character who silently suffers but Braves the reality of their existence proficiently without seeking anything in return this is why Rey is the most unique character in Evangelion and even anime in general her strength is immense but is showcased not by her actions but by everything she doesn't do hideakiano's rebuilt series then decided to build on the subtleties of her character from the original series in order to relief the more profound elements of who she was this is why in the rebuild series Rey takes a more active role in trying to connect to Shinji and why Miss lookalike and Thrice Upon a Time begins to learn to live as a human despite her original demeanor being even more rigidly detached than her original depictions essentially once hideyakiano accidentally created Rey as a consequence of neglect he realized the character was special and needed to be represented in its entirety the end result was a mysterious character that was not as naive nor as emotionless as she seemed on the surface but one simply acting out of love an unrequited love mind you for a world that saw her as Expendable despite this she continued to work selflessly to save the world before she would get her wish and return to nothingness this is the brilliant tragedy of Rey ayanami so they'll raise overwhelming popularity stems from the fetishization of her perceived weaknesses as a quiet and defenseless damsel this interpretation of her character couldn't be any farther from the truth Rey is not only a badass heroine who saves Humanity multiple times but she is a paradigm of strength and selfless character for the greater good Rey is in anyone's Moe waifu instead Rey is the gigachan personification of strength and unwavering resolve foreign [Music]

Channel: Tony Funk

Views: 54,780

Keywords: Rei Ayanami, Neon Genesis Evangelion, moé, Fraulein Rei, Analysis, Evangelion, Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langley Soryu, Misato Katsuragi, Gainax, Hideaki Anno, Character profile

Id: FDHk7Gde3-I

Length: 21min 5sec (1265 seconds)

Published: Fri May 05 2023