I haven't watched the new Evangelion movie (and don't have plans to) but they really didn't do anything with Rei?? She was one of the most iconic characters of the show, and I appreciated her and Shinji's dynamic (shipped them only tbh). I'm massively disappointed. So she and Shinji barely interacted?? :(
Oh anon, where do I even begin! The thing is that, after the ridiculous amount of focus she (and Shinji) got in 1.0 and 2.0, and the effect she continued to have on his character on 3.0, you’d think we’d get some sort of acknowledgement of this and closure on 3.0 + 1.0. It seemed logical, like the very least Anno had to deliver for the narrative to come full circle and feel wrapped up.
Alas, going by the (confirmed) leaked script and the impressions I’ve read, Anno really doesn’t know what to do with Rei once she develops and it shows lol
HUGE SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE AND ITS ENDING BELOW THE CUT!
Basically, all of Rei’s meaningful screen-time goes to Rei Q, who despite whatever 3.0 set up... does kind of end up being Rei III. This would have been fine and dandy, except that Rei Q is still used as a tragic tear-jerker and literally bursts right before Shinji’s eyes after confessing to him. I kid you not.
This confession is, by the way, seemingly never acknowledged in the movie. As a matter of fact, it seems to me that Rei II herself and her arc with Shinji are hardly acknowledged. To the point that Rei II and Shinji reunite in Unit 01 and... there seems to be nothing emotional about it. Rei just apologizes that she couldn’t make it so he wouldn’t need to pilot again and Shinji thanks her and tells her that he’s ready to take it from there. Rei smiles and lets him take the reins and that’s it. Apparently. Because we can’t have nice things and, you’re telling me Shinji spent two movies bonding with this girl? Literally almost ended the world to save this girl? He had a mental breakdown over the fact that at the end, he didn’t actually get to save this girl? And now he’s finally reuniting with her and finding out that yes, he DID save her soul? Nope, none of that matters anymore because Shinji’s had Character Development and nothing phases him anymore. Plus he has to go fight his dad.
Hilariously enough, it seems that 3.0 also gets retconned. After everyone and their mother blamed Shinji for saving Rei in 2.0 and starting an impact, now it seems that Misato herself acknowledges that Shinji did the right thing and that they all would be dead if he hadn’t saved Rei. HILARIOUS.
Then we get another pseudo instrumentality scene, which is of course led by Shinji and Rei but by this point it honestly feels more like they’re just using Rei as a plot-device rather than anything. She has long, fluffy hair and looks utterly adorable though, so I guess that’s something?
Then by the end Shinji acknowledges that he liked Asuka at one point but tells her goodbye (she’s moved on and the movie ships her with Kensuke), then he tells goodbye to Kaworu (after comparing him to his dad) and Rei is the last person he parts ways with... which I guess has the potential to be very touching depending on how they handle the scene, but I have seen no one dwell on it yet so I’m assuming it isn’t actually that touching. He explains to her what kind of world he wants to create, apparently encourages her to live for herself, Rei accepts this with a smile and goes on.
And - get ready for this - Shinji ends up with MARI.
With MARI. In what is obviously simply Anno trolling the fanbase (and particularly, us shippers) because he can. In either case, it seems that Adult Shinji sees a slightly grown-up AU Rei with AU Kaworu in the Eva-less AU he creates and where’s he’s gone to live off his happy ending with Mari.
Anno making up things as he goes, not knowing how to handle his own emotions and changing everything at a whim at the slightest mood swing is literally the Eva curse and Rebuild is the very embodiment of this.
This man had NO idea what to do with Rei after 2.0 and it shows. The fact that he couldn’t even give her character arc a fitting send off and instead just literally recreated it with Rei Q before exploding her to bring back God Rei as a plot device is so bad that it’s almost comical.
Yashahime: confirms a pedo ship that had zero (0) romantic basis in canon thus retroactively ruining a beloved character and a perfectly harmless and heart-warming dynamic, all because the people in charge of the new anime have a crush on the male character and self-insert into the child.
Gou: sidelines my favorite characters & deliberately ignores my OTP (while throwing bones to the other ship) all while creating a trainwreck that goes out of its way to drain any joy from the original series, simply because the writer is a hack that wanted to betray the watchers.
3.0 + 1.0 : sidelines my favorite character & deliberately ignores my OTP (while throwing bones to the other ship and all but confirming a crack ship) all while completely ignoring that my favorite character was the focus of two (2) out of the four movies, simply because the writer is a petty hack that wanted to betray the watchers and “destroy Evangelion”.
Why oh why do the franchises where some of my all-time-favorite characters & OTP come from have to be handled by edgy manchildren who don’t know how to respect their own characters and separate their projecting and their desire for drama from said characters’ arcs and personalities.
Thank GOD that Shaman King is just a full-blown manga adaptation and nothing more. Yet there’s still the Hellsing live action movie to possibly continue this terrible, terrible running trend.
And. Worse yet. People won’t stop asking for a Persona 3 Remake. As if they didn’t know just how bad that could get depending on the things they choose to change and the agendas they choose to push. The idea that Atlus will give in for the $$$ is, quite frankly, terrifying.
I know I'm super late on this, but if you're still willing, Evangelion for the fandom thing.
It’s never too late to send me an ask meme, no worries, anon! :’D Your ask actually came at the perfect time because I’m trying to get my mind off work before going to bed haha
THE OTP: Shinji and Rei (no clue if they’ve got an otp name in tumblr). They are the bane of my existence to be honest. It’s gotten to the point where I’ve legit started to wish I could just enjoy them strictly-platonically because maybe that would lessen the hit every time Rei’s nature calls. M/F OTP: Shinji and Rei and… that’s about it. No wait, I think I did like Kanji and Misato, too. M/M OTP: None. Though I do like the fanworks where Shinji gets to be with both of his angel soulmates.F/F OTP: I (surprisingly) liked Asuka’s and Mari’s dynamic, so… AsuMari? MariAsu?Fav Female: Rei Ayanami. She has been my goddess for the last 12 years.Fav Male: Wow this got really hard to reply to. I definitely do care the most for Shinji, so I guess that makes him the closest thing I have to a favorite despite everything. But Kanji is awesome (less or more depending on the medium I suppose). Least Fav Male: Okay this is even harder. I seriously don’t know? I mean Gendou is the biggest jerk in existence but his character is so well done that I don’t dislike him. Love to hate him, sure; but I enjoy his screen-time a lot. I do remember that some retelling of the anime made Fuyutsuki start getting on my nerves; but I’m not sure if it was the manga or Rebuild, I would have to check.Least Fav Female: Asuka, even if Rebuild tonning her down to what can only be called a basic tsundere kind of made her easier to swallow. Still: NGE Asuka definitely is one of the characters I like the least out of everything I’ve watched, ever lolWhy I joined the fandom: I’ve actually never been a part of Eva’s fandom; I tend to just suffer about it from the sidelines haha But I got into the series when I was around 11; I turned on my TV and they just happened to air the scene where Shinji gets to Rei’s apartment to deliver her ID. I was struck by that scene; literally. It’s probably the most memorable scene for me out of everything I’ve ever watched. It took me a few months to finally find out what show it was and then I bought and watched the entire thing, EoE, Death & Rebirth; everything I could get my hands on. Needless to say, while falling for the series, what started as curiosity basically became devotion and Rei (and LRS) has been with me ever since lol
