According to the Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Unofficial Guide by writers Kazuhisa Fujie and Martin Foster, director Hideaki Anno instructed Yoshiyuki Sadamoto on Rei's character design saying, "Whatever else, she needs to be painted in as a bitterly unhappy young girl with little sense of presence.

"[3] The band Kinniku Shōjo Tai's theme song "Doko e demo ikeru kitte" and its line "hotai de masshiro na shojo" (包帯で真っ白な少女, lit.

[6] Another source of inspiration was The Snow Goose, a novella written by Paul Gallico; the story describes a painting portraying the protagonist, a thin and pale girl in an empty room, and the artist tried to create a character similar to her.

"[34] Hayashibara also attended auditions for Asuka and Misato Katsuragi,[35] but after hearing her performance in an OVA named Ichigatsu ni wa Christmas (一月にはChristmas) Anno felt her voice more suited to Rei.

[43][44] Shunsuke Nozawa, assistant professor at Hokkaido University, noted how in the 1990s there was an explosion of interest in Japanese voice actors, believing the figure of Hayashibara to be at the center of this change, thanks to the "enormous, societal-level fascination" exerted by Ayanami.

Officially, Rei is chosen by an organization called the Marduk Institute[51] as the First Child and pilot of Eva Unit-00 to defeat creatures named Angels for the special agency Nerv under the command of Gendo Ikari.

[56] Her body with albino-like traits was created in absolute secrecy from the salvaged remains of Yui Ikari,[57] a brilliant researcher who lost her life in a testing experiment by Evangelion Unit 01.

[72] Assistant director Tsurumaki was asked about this after the release of the feature film; according to him, the impression of a strategy to bring Shinji and Rei together was a result of the complex script writing, and "Anno probably hasn't thought about that very deeply".

Here Rei interacts with the adult Toji Suzuhara and Hikari Horaki, old schoolmates of the previous clone, with the children and women of Village 3, helping them to work in the fields; with time the new Ayanami begins to develop her individuality, gradually discovering the world around her and learning to socialize with the inhabitants.

[98] In addition to games based on the original series, Rei has appeared in media not related to the Evangelion franchise, such as Monster Strike,[99] Super Robot Wars,[100] Tales of Zestiria,[101] Puzzle & Dragons,[102] Keri hime sweets, Summons Board,[103][104] Puyopuyo!!

Quest,[105] Line Rangers,[106] Unison,[107] MapleStory,[108][109] Valkyrie Connect,[110][111] Ragnarok Online,[112][113] The Battle Cats[114] and in an official Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion crossover episode.

[124] Gualtiero Cannarsi, who cured the Italian adaptation for the series, similarly described Rei as a girl "unaware of the most basic rules of life and hygiene", as she has had no one to teach them to her, resulting in her being disinterested in them.

[131] Anno also likened the Japanese national attraction to characters like Rei as the product of a stunted imaginative landscape born of Japan's defeat in the Second World War, because "since that time, the education we received is not one that creates adults".

[140][141] An official Death and Rebirth booklet describes her as "an expressionless noh mask" and "a girl who does not dream",[142] while the book Schizo Evangelion as "a dreamless mind, completely separated from Jung's collective unconscious".

[153] Patrick Drazen noticed that, like other Neon Genesis Evangelion characters who have traits of some deities of Shinto mythology, Rei has affinities with the goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu, who is reborn at every dawn.

[199][200] A column in the September 2007 issue of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper said, on the occasion of Evangelion 1.0 theatrical release, that there were over one million dedicated Rei fans in Japan and that, "This bandaged Goddess is an icon of Japanese anime.

"[201] She also had a place in Mania Entertainment's ten iconic anime heroines list written by Thomas Zoth, who commented on the large amount of merchandise based on her: "Shops in Akihabara struggled to keep Rei Ayanami figurines and toys in stock.

[219] The Fandom Post appreciated the fact that she becomes progressively more independent from Gendo,[220] while Anime News Network's 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".

[247][248] According to one estimate, plastic models before Evangelion sold about three thousand units, but Rei's figures managed to reach ten times that amount, and 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".

[249] 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.

[202][257] Critics regarded Rei and her success as the beginning of the moe phenomenon,[202] with the creation of characters according to definite stereotyped features easily recognizable and consumable by the Japanese otaku audience.

[258] As a result, even authors who were not deliberately thinking of Evangelion began to produce characters resembling Rei, using newly registered moe-elements, such as a quiet personality, blue hair, white skin, mysterious power and an absence of emotions.

[260][261] Critics compared other characters to her, including Miharu in Gasaraki,[262][263] Vanilla H in Galaxy Angel,[264] Maya in Geobreeders,[265] Neya in Infinite Ryvius,[266] Aruto Kirihara in Kagihime Monogatari Eikyū Alice Rondo,[267] Riza Hawkeye in Fullmetal Alchemist, Dorothy R. Wayneright in The Big O,[268] Anthy Himemiya in Revolutionary Girl Utena,[137] Chise in Saikano,[269] Yuzuriha Inori in Guilty Crown,[270] Miyu in My-HiME,[271] Ai in Zaion: I Wish You Were Here,[272] Diya in Butterfly Soup,[273] Yashiro Kasumi in Muv-Luv[274] and the female cyborgs in Gunslinger Girl.

[279] The Artifice writer Justin Wu regards Rei as the prototypical mukuchi (無口, "mouthless", "silent"), 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 only 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.

[280][281] 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.

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.

[287] Celebrities paid tribute to Rei cosplaying her, including Shoko Nakagawa,[288] Natsuki Katō,[289] Miu Nakamura,[290][291] Yuuri Morishita,[292] Umika Kawashima,[293] Rio Uchida,[294] Kokoro Shinozaki[295] and Shōma Uno.

[296] During Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2012 English model Jourdan Dunn wore a dress similar to the character's plugsuit; Gainax only learned about the outfit from the Internet and was perplexed by the situation.

[299] Further references have been identified in other Japanese animated series, including Joshiraku, Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Gurren Lagann, and Nisemonogatari, in which her line from the sixth episode "You won't die, because I'll protect you" is parodied.