Ever since the airing of Evangelion, Rei herself have had numerous reinterpretations by Anno himself. Her story in the anime series reflects, in an ironic way, her existence in the memesphere, as well as her own story in the meta-narative. She undergo some changes between the anime, EoE and Rebuid, a mirror to her various clones in the anime and manga medium. Consciously or accidently Rei is artificial, her story has always been how Anno saw the influence of anime and otakudom on the individual. The description Shinji gives upon encountering Rei gives the sense that he is naturally comfortable around her, yet it is wholly unnatural regardless of reasons, an impossible wish fullfillment fantasy, the protoype waifu. With the ending of 4th rebulld Anno makes it quite clear how he thinks about the Rei meme, but unlike Shinji otakus can't let her go.
I think my favourite post-Evangelion Rei-coded character was Eureka from Eureka Seven. In her case she did progress as a character from being stoic and alienating into a well-rounded person capable of comprehending other's emotions and reciprocating them, with that being the crux of the whole wild wacky mecha SF plot. Eureka Seven being a bildungsroman for it's male lead, there's also a strong element of... "What if Shinji pursued the Rei-route and succeeded" to the whole underlying narrative. Which despite Rei's significance in Otaku media you rarely get the main romantic interest be the Rei-coded character.
To add to this, there are a lot of elements in E7 that are based off plot points from the original ‘79 Gundam. The whole arc with Ray and Charles reminded me a lot of Ramba Ral invading the White Base. Almost like they were paying homage. And Renton himself falls somewhere between Amuro and Shinji (if such a spectrum exists.) I’d love to hear Pyramid’s thoughts on the series.
Rei's stoicism wasn't something I really felt was coming from a source of strength. Rather it made me sad, because it felt to me like she was indifferent to her pain not out of strength of will or perseverance. But instead like she never cared. In that sense she scared me a little bit. She felt like if you spilled hot coffe on her white dress or punched her in the face she'd be unfazed. Not out of maturity or self respect, but just any semblance of investment. It was like the wind to her. Events and the world around her slipped through her fingers and she never really tried to reach out and grab anything. Aside from her obsession with Gendo. Which, I never fully grasped. As I see it now I interpret it as a puppet happy to play for it's master. Her one and only "pride". That being her ability to "serve". For these reasons it warms my heart to see her in the rebuilds and manga. Growing. Learning about life and developing an attachment to the things she's surrounded by. Obtaining a sense of self and "place" with people. Lovely especially in the rebuilds as it comes from community, hard work and introspection. Eventually doing a reverse for Shinji what he did for her in the original by reaching out. Forming a connection. Both being pretty hard as the other is stubborn in their ways, but by the end a connection is formed. Man, I miss black Rei. And Rei with the long hair at the end of Rebuild? Sent me to the moon (pun unintended). Perfection. The Rei archetype is hard to pin down. I loved how it was done in Evangelion, but I've never seen another story quite catch that spark again for me. It's like there was something there that I've yet to quite see be done again. A special something that nobody really managed to grasp. I've yet to find it myself. Lately I've been super into versions of this be re-done with a twist. Characters like this being able to express emotions genuinely, but at rarer moments and makes you question and understanding their humanity. Done in the vein of say Griffith or Makima. Cold, stoic, indifferent and false smiles. Yet now and again you'll see them shed tears that you know come from the heart. This is profoundly beautiful.
I absolutely love Martian Successor Nadesico, I grew up with it my aunt used to work at an anime import store during the 90s so it was something other than what Toonami put on that I could catch. Love the ADV dubs of Martian Successor Nadesico and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
I'm happy you included Key: the metal Idol. Its been a show I found fascinating for a long time, all the way from seeing copies of it on the self of my local comic/anime shop being unable to forget the enigmatic and evocative cover art until I worked up the courage to buy it and see what it really was, to watching the scenes of painstakingly rendered machines attempting to industrialize the soul.
I don’t think anyone *really* cares about Haruhi anymore, it definitely exists as a very specific time capsule I think, and its particular style and sense of humour doesn’t really work outside of that realm anymore so to speak. I watched Haruhi when I was like 13 because I saw it had HUGE scores on ANN at the time, advertisement EVERYWHERE and a lot of people talking about it, and I thought it was fun at the time, but never a series I felt that incensed to revisit. Another great vid btw! It’s cool that you were able to just gush about something you thought was cool to the point of just allowing these other asides to happen but to really own it and not feeling ashamed of it, all the while also pulling from some academic sources and analyses and trying to draw a throughline through these seemingly slight, aesthetic connections of “Rei clones” into a look at these recurrent figures of quiet, but strong individuals contending with a fraught, uncertain world that kinda informs how they are as they appear and also how they confront reality through that attitude, very cool!
I think i have to agree, although I do believe that the "first" season, the one containing the narative arc of Haruhi is still very good, with some rather very interesting ideas, the stadion scene for example, bogged down by what feel like obligations to a type of slice of life very much of its time. The second season on the other hand, the one where it's just "fun little stories" and the same episode eight times felt like even more of doing what is expected, even if in a way that feels unexpected. The characters feel like flanderisations of themselves and become incredibly insufferable, especially Haruhi.
I know younger milliennial weebs who've never heard of Haruhi. Like they barely missed the invasion. I think Haruhi is more iconic in its long term-cultural impact than in the show itself. You know, Haruhi walked so shows like Konosuba could run. The movie still holds up though, it's great.
Looooved this! Such a fun a idea and such a comfy watch and Reiclone's bit? Fantastic! I wasn't a Rei-like fan when I was young, but boooy is that kid relationship to Haruhi so relatable (also thanks for the shoutout, that was unreasonably nice!)
i own several animage issues from the late 90s and its crazy how popular ruri actually was. she was consistently ranked #1 in almost all the issues i have
I own an Animage magazine from December, 1999 (featuring Turn A Gundam on the cover) and Ruri ranked on place number 2 on the Top 20 characters of the month, behind Sakura Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura and above Tai Kung/Taikōbō from Soul Hunter/Hōshin Engi
That section on Yuki Nagato by your friend was incredibly sweet. Also I desperately need to revisit Key the Metal Idol and really want to give Cyber Team in Akihabara a shot because it looks thoroughly deranged. That's really all. Really liked this video.
Excellent video. As someone who actually really liked Akito in Nadesico (even tho yeah he is kind of generic lol), I actually really did like his direction in prince of darkness. A lot of Nadesico to me was about growing up and maturing as a person and not holding on to the past. Both Akito and Yurika lean into this imo. Yurika has this sort of idealized version of Akito she loves that's not exactly the real him, and Akito obssesses about Gekiganger as this like one remaining part of his childhood especially after you know who's death early on. You can even say the Martians do this too especially in PoD trying to retain this society they've built upon an anime of all things, and it just doesn't work. All three of these examples need to change and progress as people/things, and I think we see that the most in PoD. Yurika being fed shoujo manga I think also leans into this as them trying to have her hang on to this childhood romance ideal of who Akito is, when he wasn't that in the tv series and absolutely isn't that in PoD. While the show doesn't really ever have a chance to explore it since 2 more movies were planned after PoD afaik but oc never got made, I think it would have focused on Yurika and Akito's relationship and Yurika finally seeing him for who he is. You can maybe say she does this a little near the end of the tv series, but it's a little too vague especially with the insane ending of tv nadesico lol.
Would it be a stretch to say Lain (not so much Wired Lain) is “reicoded?” (That phrase is fantastic btw) The lack of emotion, the technical proficiency, the links to shadowy organization, I didn’t really see it until you mentioned it, great video!
On Izumi Maki, i didn't know her before watching the video, but the gloomy character that tells jokes only herself laughs at seems to me like a precursor to the gloomy otaku girl/Mojyo, like Tomoko, or Adenela from Kono Yuusha ga Ore(...), Oka Ruu from Asobi Asobase, etc. Usually a loner with a niche interest in manga, literature or horror-related things that's likely insecure and speaks in that same way, just mumbling to themselves, and in the more otaku versions laughs at their own jokes only, kinda reminds me of the way that the stereotypical neckbeard swaety otaku speaks- That's super interesting to me bc i've loved that archetype forever, so seeing like a non-otaku version of that is awesome. I wonder where Izumi Maki came from, like influences and such.
I'm so glad me and my friends are not the only one who have an anime night over discord. It really is a highlight of my week and I love that other people are enjoying something similar!
Ah homie I was Just re watching your Fang of the Sun video the other day thinking how nice another video of yours would be. Then you bless the timeline this morning. Praise be.
This was fantastic. I'm really happy to hear the comparison about mecha shows and tng, because some series always bring that to my mind as well. I had friends that were obsessed with Ruri, and I thought that would always be the case, so it's so funny that she's been reduced to 'that moe girl.' Ah Cyber team, I haven't seen it in years, but it did have a fandom and merch following in Japan, but I haven't seen any merch in a long long time. I definitely remember seeing those late 90's early 2000's style sticker sheets way back when LOL Gosh I've been meaning to pick up Gasaraki for a while, I'll find it sometime ^^; Ah Ennui is such a good way to describe Key, a long time ago I was trying to make a list of the anime that give me that vibe. So I'm happy (oddly) to hear that description here. I really enjoy the way you describe anime in your videos, I can only imagine how long it takes you to write out each segment. The use of MW manga panels next to Hedorah footage personally speaks to me (god, what does that say about me LOL) The reiclone section was especially good ^^ Thank you both for this video ^^
Aww thanks so much for this comment, it's so thoughtful! I'm really fascinated by the success of Ruri and Nadesico generally, and how it seems to have totally dissipated now. Something about late 90s/early 2000s anime fandom is really evocative to me in general. Idk, maybe it's something about it being kind of right before anime sort of entered the mainstream. So happy someone got the MW and Hedorah references you have no idea hahaha.I think it says you have good taste, personally. :P
@@pyramidinu9449 Right back at you, clearly we have the same tastes ^^ I do think there is something to that nebulus period right before anime became 'mainstream' that you mentioned; and how a lot of fans (both irl and online) felt the need to "spread the word" of 1. anime is great, 2. support the industry, and 3. Please know and acknowledge my best girl/boy. All those points being interchangeable depending on how much you wanted to push best girl/boy. I feel like all of those points have cooled down, and that's not a good or bad thing, just different now. Anime is great still goes strong for all of us though lol
As I've gone through your essays, I've come to the conclusion that I need to give NGE a second chance now that my tastes have changed so much. When I first watched it in high school, I kind of dismissed it as a miserable show about awful people being horrible to each other. I think that back then I really wasn't capable of reading deeper into the media I consumed. I had basically dismissed mecha as a whole for a while. Now I'm known by my friends as Yoshiyuki Tomino's strongest soldier. Basically every piece of media I've consumed since 2019 has been mecha. Most of the fiction I write, be it original or transformative, is mecha. And as I spend more time in mecha circles, I see people discussing Eva and I wonder what it is they see that I didn't. Anyway, the point is, I'm gonna rewatch it. And go into it with your work in mind and I'm genuinely hoping my opinions change.
@@LimeyLassen she really does have some of the most unique eyes in any anime I’ve seen. I’m trying to remember if there’s any symbolism behind it as her eyes look bloodshot
I just finished watching Cyber Team in Akihabara thanks to this video and loved it! I personally still enjoyed the second half of the show despite the tonal shift; the show shares quite some similarities with Saber Marionette J (a previous show from the same creator), so I wasn't surprised by the direction it took. But yeah, the first half is definitely better; it has that quirky 90s vibe that you just don't really see anymore these days.
I dont feel much hate akito except when he kept rushing towards the boss in an early srt mission as an npc who cannot controlled or even protected or healed. Super Robot Taisen A Portable is infamous for being one of the harder releases out there. Nadesico and Prince of darkness gets a lot of love among the srt devs if all the effort in integrating its plot into the game is to be observed.
Would you consider Chirico from Votoms a proto-Rei archetype? I kinda asking this because these types of characters really started to click with me more after watching Votoms
That's a fun take I'd like to hear more about. A friend of mine pointed out that rei could be seen as an extension of mecha mysterious girl characters like Fyana, which sounds about right.
I can assure you that enjoying Eva is not a prerequisite for enjoying the stoic silver haired girl archetype as I personally consider Eva an enemy that hit me with enough existential dread to turn my life around. As I like to say, “My favorite part of the Evangelion fan base is the people who drive others away from Evangelion”
Great video and nice catch on the panopticon. I hadn't noticed that before. My first though was English utilitarianism though, but that is my historical baggage, not yours. On a side note, any chance on doing a video focused on something by Moto Hagio? It might not be popular, but it would be fun!
It will always be kind of funny to me that a character who was arguably designed to lampshade a kind of idealized anime girl ended up herself spawning an entire school of character archetypes.
Nadeshiko was really big when it came out, and got crushed pretty bad when the movie came out (though it had ending problems before that). Part of the problem is that it never decided what it was about, it has at least 3 plots going and never really commits to any of them. Like Cowboy Bebop, it’s a bit too episodic for its own good. First of all Nadeshiko is only tangentially a “Robot Show”, it really belongs to the long traditions of Yamato parodies, and is “modern” enough to riff on some of its predecessors. Yurika is basically riffing on the “Goofy Genius Captain” ala Tyler, when she’s not being the primary love interest. Izumi is from an adjacent source, world weary (2 dead fiancés), tall elegant gloomy women with tragic pasts, and hair in the eyes. She’s riffing on Leiji Matsumoto’s Maetel and Emeraldas, she just hasn’t gone off “looking for a place to die” yet. Several recent works have incorporated similar characters (heck there’s one in Girls und Panzer), and several bits of fan art have hinted that Asuka has a room reserved for her on the Arcadia, or 999 when she’s ready to start dealing with her issues (skinny one-eyed and German, likes to wear red, it’s not a stretch). In fact, Matsumoto himself riffed on this in one of his more recent shows. The Sand Sub Captain in “Ozuma” is a redhead wearing a White and baby blue striped scarf. So sometimes Nadeshiko is a riff on Yamato/Tyler, with some Macross tossed in with extra corporate intrigue (which is probably the weakest bit going). On the other hand, they do several very good Star Trek bits (both next Gen and Original, the whole “Fishing” episode is taking the piss of “Balance of Terror”/”The Enemy Below”). The problem is that the Jovian Reveal doesn’t really lead anywhere. There’s probably a whole show in comparing the idealistic and authoritarian sides of Japanese SF (and Yamato is a good template to build that off of, Matsumoto was pleased when the English remake internationalized the crew, while the director complained they were supposed to be the shinsengumi). Then he re-made the premise 3-4 times culminating in “Odin”. Nadeshiko doesn’t have the chops to work in something like that, “The Iron Dream” it is not. BTW, the secret sauce that makes Nadeshiko really work is the English dub. The Japanese cast is pretty obscure (they couldn’t afford Megumi Hashibara, so they made a character based on her instead). ADVs crew was near their peak, and just coming down from Evangelion, so their relief is palpable. Plus it adds another layer to the parody. Hearing Spike Spencer say “You mean episode 26 wasn’t the last episode?” puts an already funny bit over the top.
@@pyramidinu9449 That was how I felt in that moment for no good reason I get like this, bc I'm very frustrated with how Eva(& Gunbuster somewhat) overshadows many other mecha anime, gets credit for things that've been done before & with how annoying/stuck up some fans are I do see that you are defenitely not like this and I've enjoyed every video of yours that I watched I'm bad at managing my frustrations in general, just being reminded can lead me to write such comments on impulse
Also I have weekly anime nights with friends over Discord I do second this we've watched a bunch of stuff I wouldn't have watched on my own like Giant Gorg
with anime night make sure the guy streaming is not a linux user because discord can't really stream audio on the normal client and you need a janky modded client for it to work. Also dubbed helps with the lack of focus from two or me people watching and conversing
I don't know if stoic is the correct word. Looks more like female Asperger's in a lot of these cases. Social Awkwardness, obsessive habits, lack of emotional expression, there are more there. And when you factor in that many Otaku exhibited these traits, its almost a self-fulfilling prophecy that they would, at minimum identify with this type of character.
