>>2866972>>2866644(cont.)
>Rei was portrayed as a motherly figure since the original NGE. Shinji even complimented her on it in an episode. It's very fitting to her character as she has Lilith's soul.There is a difference between being nurturing and therefore motherly, and being equated with someone's mother. The first one is a nice trait to have and and a compliment, but the second is what Asuka and Kaworu fans label Rei as to defend their own favorite pairings in the story. In the Rebuilds, Rei is now a clone of Yui, is juxtaposed on top of Yui, is now trapped inside EVA01 like Yui, and even loses her surname. Yui Ikari became Yui Ayanami in the Rebuild series.
The increased focus on tying Rei together with Yui while at the same time not allowing Rei to have any agency at all, is the perfect gift to shippers and people who hate Rei because it denies Rei's character while fueling their hatred towards Rei, as well as validating their own ships. Rei's characters was ruined to satisfy Kaworu and Asuka fans. The fact that you will deny this despite the above facts is in itself proof that it's true, since it's such a disgusting thing to do that you won't admit to it. But it is true.
>Anno's interviewWe've all seen this, and we've all understood how false Anno is being in this interview. There are other interviews which explain how Anno worked hard to define Rei's character and experiment with original writing methods like gathering poems and art by schizophrenics in order to understand them better, to write Rei. At best, the comment he makes only refers to what he thought for one single scene. It's obvious from Rei's paranormal appearances in ep 1 and other mystery that she was destined for more than a smile. Rei was destined for goodhood in NGE, and that happened as part of the canon.
Anno only says he thought it was finished because he hates Rei, due to her popularity. He is frustrated and jumps to the first negative he can say about her in the interview.
