>>2236164It's strange
I remember watching the first half of NGE when I was eight years. I liked the mechas and the creepy crosses at the time but I lost my interest in NGE rather fast and dropped it after I saw episode 13. I didn't really care about the characters at the time nor did I find them special in any kind of way.
Fast forward to 2013. I just turned seventeen and I was bored in the summer vacation. I was at the time very immersed in philosophy and existentialism and lo and behold, I saw Neon Genesis Evangelion at the Film and television section of the existentialism page on Wikipedia. I immediately looked on the internet about the relation between existentialism and Neon Genesis Evangelion because I couldn't believe that some rather boring mecha anime had anything to do with existentialism. I, of course wasn't aware of all the themes since that I only watched till episode 13 and never saw the other episodes succeeding it.
So I started watching NGE again and the first thing that I noticed was that I really started to like the characters, especially Shinji and Rei. I couldn't understand why I dropped this anime in the first place and I became even more intrigued by everything that NGE had to offer.
After watching NGE and EoE, I was flabbergasted and amazed by everything that I've seen. I fell in love with Rei and I want to do everything to make that sad and lonely girl happy. She always brings a smile to my face and give me warm feelings, "love" perhaps. I will always think fondly of her and NGE.
Tl;DR: Rei is love, Rei is life.
