NGE: Nobody Dies 2: The Reevival

[GreggHL]

As for Rei, yeah.  I don't see her as a character.  I see Rei as part of the plot.

Which I think is part of the problem I have with the character.
Though honestly? I thinks its mainly the fandom. The same thing happened with Xelloss from Slayers. Everyone else was all "That... is a secret!" and grinning foolishly while talking about him and how awesome he was and I just reacted with visceral hatred when I actually encountered him in the show and their continued fawning praise of the character just exacerbated the feeling.
The ineffable trickster god archtype is a difficult one to pull off. I guess that's why I spent so much time deconstructing the trope in HT.
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Epsilon

Yeah, I remember reading that one of the things that truly ticked Anno off is how people loved Rei.  Not as much as a character as much as they saw her as, well, the hot chick.  Which itself I find odd because a) she's fourteen and b) she's so far in the Uncanny Valley that she owns a ranch and sells salad dressing.  The WoG is unreliable with Eva at best because Anno was/is something of a troll with his fanbase, but I'm pretty sure he intended Rei to be disturbing.

I just ran with it in the other direction.  If I ever redo the story, I'm going to try to make her more creepy.