>>2337658>>2337656One thing worth adding is that suffering or tragedy isn't necessarily a bad thing - not in fiction. It can bring out meaning, emotion and ideas, even growth for a character. When done correctly, it can produce fantastic results that sit deep.
But suffering and tragedy just for the sake of having suffering and tragedy is worth nothing. So having Rei "cry and say goodbye" despite ascending to full Lilith form is just down-right insulting.
In EoE we had Rei reach a level where going back to a human life would be unthinkable, and Rei after returning to Lilith is on a completely other level than anyone else. She's stolid but not without empathy, otherworldly but not beyond reach, and serves as both guide and eternal watch.
Not in the manga, where she inexplicably becomes an emotional fragile girl who has to "say goodbye" as if she was forced to. Then she falls to pieces.
In the meantime, the only character that gets to become that eternal watch is - you guessed it - Yui.
What happened is that Yui usurped much of Rei's character and existence in Evangelion. This is true in Rebuild, the manga spinoffs, and now for no reason whatsoever, it was forced into the ending of the Sadamoto manga as well.
Rei is left with nothing.
