Rei Ayanami

Rei Ayanami is one of the main characters from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise.

Rei is the First Child (First Children in the Japanese version), pilot of the Evangelion Unit-00 and one of the female main characters.

At the beginning of the series, Rei is an enigmatic figure whose unusual behavior confounds her peers. As the series progresses, her personality evolves and she becomes more involved with the people around her, particularly her classmate and fellow Eva pilot Shinji Ikari. She is revealed to be a key factor in the events that conclude the storyline. Her role in this conclusion is not made clear in the TV series, but is one of the principal plot points of The End of Evangelion.

Appearance
Rei has a short light-blue hair and has red eyes. She has a pale skin tone and has a stoic expression.

Personality
At the start of the series, Rei is socially withdrawn, seemingly emotionless, and rarely interacts with anyone, except for Gendo, to whom she initially displays loyalty but with whom she has a generally distant relationship. She lives by herself in a dull sparsely-furnished apartment in Tokyo-3. Toward the end of the series, Shinji comments that her apartment is very similar to the place where Ritsuko says Rei was born.

As the series progresses, she begins to develop relationships with others and to show moments of genuine emotion, to even become sad and cry. Her English voice actor, Amanda Winn-Lee describes her saying, '"Rei is not totally devoid of personality, otherwise she would not be interesting." There is a small spark of humanity, but it is "clouded by this huge sense of negative self-worth and the realization that she is expendable." The joy of playing Rei is exploring that small spark.' And also said: "I got into a weird mode - I can't describe it. It's a good thing I'm in a little padded room when I'm doing it because that's where she belongs.She knows she's expendable, but the thing is, she's still human so you can't do her totally catatonic."

Abilities
Powers and Abilities: Normal Human Abilities, Piloting | Superhuman Physical Characteristics, A.T. Fields (Can be used both defensively and offensively, such as in the form of optic blasts), Large Size (Type 1), Regeneration (Mid-Low; Unit-01 regenerated a broken arm, likely Low-High over time; like an angel, an Evangelion should be able to regenerate from its core alone given enough time) | Fusionism, Durability Negation and Soul Manipulation (Using an Anti A.T. Field, she can break down A.T. Fields, the fields that separate living beings from one another, turning their physical bodies into LCL and freeing their souls), Energy Projection, Intangibility, Large Size (Type 4)

Attack Potency: Human level | Mountain level (Should be comparable to other Evangelion units) | Multi-Continent level (Her A.T. Field surpassed those of Tabris and Adam, and she can release teratons of energy just by walking)

Speed: Human level | Supersonic movement speed with Hypersonic+ combat speed and reactions (Able to react to the Angels, who are capable of dodging Mach 14+ rounds from the Pallet Gun") | Unknown. At least Hypersonic+, likely higher

Lifting Strength: Regular Human | Class G (Was able to match the mass of a descending Sahaquiel reinforced by an A.T. Field for at least 1 minute) | Unknown (Large enough to be seen from space)

Striking Strength: Human Class | Mountain Class | Multi-Continent Class

Durability: Human level | Mountain level (Should be comparable to other Evangelions, who tanked Israfel's destruction), higher with A.T. Field | Multi-Continent level

Stamina: Average Human | Essentially indefinite when it has its Umbilical Cable connected, has a 5 minute internal battery otherwise. | Limitless (All angels have infinite stamina)

Range: Standard melee range | Extended melee range. Hundreds of meters with ranged weapons. | Hundreds of kilometers. Planetary with the" Anti A.T. Field".

Standard Equipment: A Progressive Knife, Pallet Gun, and Sniper Rifle.

Intelligence: Average.

Weaknesses: Unit-00 can be easily separated from its Umbilical Cord and only has 5 minutes of internal battery.

Key: Rei | Unit-00 | Lilith

Note: This profile covers Rei in the original series.

Trivia

 * Like many of Evangelion 's characters, Ayanami's surname comes from a Japanese WWII naval vessel, the Fubuki class destroyer Ayanami. The exact meaning of the name is intentionally unclear, but is supposedly a reference to the Sailor Moon character Rei Hino. It is also notable that the Japanese word "rei" can mean "zero" as well as "spirit/ghost", "cool/cold", or "actor".
 * Rei is a kuudere, a general anime trope in which a character does not express emotions, but occasionally shows her caring side.