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So I just watched this show for the first time, and my initial impressions were that the music and atmosphere were both excellent. I loved the overall aesthetic of the show. However, the story was somewhat difficult to follow, especially the ending. But I just have to ask, does Neon Genesis Evangelion's Rei Ayanami have autism?
I mean really, the evidence is plentiful. Autism is characterized by troubles with social interactions and interpersonal communication, often to the degree of completely lacking intuitive social skills. If we just take a look at her school life we can see she clearly displays extremely poor social skills and has no friends as a result (and no, Shinji Ikari doesn't count because their relationship is different). She just keeps quiet and reads all day; poor/lack of speech being another indication of autism.
Furthermore, she also quite evidently manifests inappropriate reactions in situations and clearly has trouble reading the emotions of others. There are many situations that display this. One such is the scene where Shinji's hand has a one-on-one with her breasts, and not only does she have no reaction but she doesn't realize that Shinji was freaking out about it. She does, however, get extremely agitated when she percieves the glasses on the table might be in danger. One symptom of autism is an unusually strong attachment to objects, e.g. those glasses. Slightly tangentially, her room is very austere in decoration. This would make sense if she were easily susceptible to sensory overload.
Another telltale moment is when Rei I begins to insult Naoko Akagi by echoing phrases spoken by Gendo, not realizing that her words were clearly making her very angry, enough so that she got herself murdered. In this instance she not only displays difficulties in emotional understanding, but shows a real lack of a sense of danger, which is also a symptom of autism. Furthermore, echoing is also often a symptom present in autism.
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In yet another scene, the elevator scene, Rei II angers Asuka Langley Sohryu to the point where she gets slapped, though she shows no reaction to the slap (pain insensitivity is another common symptom of autism).
A strongly implicating moment comes after they fight Ramiel, the Fifth Angel, and Shinji comes to save her from the pod ejection. At this moment, despite feeling a very clear emotion, she doesn't innately know the proper way to express and release that emotional energy until Shinji explains it to her.
Also, as can be seen in the internal psychological look we get in episode 14, she herself shows how she has troubles relating to others, finding great difficulty in being able to self-conceptualize her role in society, which all seemed to come off as almost alien.
She also shows an instance of inappropriate laughter when she is speaking with Gendo Ikari, as Gendo sucks the joy and happiness out of any room and it is typically impossible to laugh when engaged in conversation with him. This inappropriate laughter would later return when the Armisael, the 16th Angel, begins to fuse with her and also begins to display inappropriate laughter (having picked it up from her, obviously).
One more really minor plot point that also points towards Rei Ayanami having autism would have to be where she becomes a god or something along those lines in the 1997 classic film, End of Evangelion. I don't really remember this part too well, it was pretty minor, but I do remember she displayed more inappropriate laughter during this scene and showed a complete lack of sense of personal space. This part didn't really matter too much and barely took up part of the story, so I don't count this too strongly for the argument.
All in all, i think this is more than enough evidence to convince me that Neon Genesis Evangelion's Rei Ayanami does in fact have autism.
Thoughts?
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She's autistic because she's a literal emotionless doll.
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>>155307808
It is possible, I mean Shinji legitimately suffers from depression. I think Anno took inspiration from dissociation though. When you see how she was raised it's easy to see why she'd have low social skills and is generally withdrawn.
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>>155307798
>>155307808
You know I thought this was a shitpost and would give you a meme response but this is pretty well written.
This probably explains why so many anons like her.
So Shinji has Depression, Rei has Autism, and I remember an anon (maybe Anno poster) describing what Asuka had
Pretty cool
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>>155307798
>>155308056
wew
I have aspergers and was brought up in an abusive home so I also have dissociative issues
all my NEET friends joke about how they hate shinji for reminding them of themselves too much but I always related much more to rei
explains a lot I guess
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>>155307798
>third paragraph
She doesnt care about being touched because she has little regard for her own safety or wellbeing(she lives in a slum)
Isnt autistic attachment to certain items more random than having sentimental attachment to an item associated with an event when a person displayed actual care for her? and the emotional attachment created from it?
its not 'austere' because of sensory overload. SHINJI had sensory overload coming into her house because he saw how colossally dingy and dirty and rundown and beatup the whole place was
continuing to read OP's wall...
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>>155309593
>4th paragraph
Rei I was a little kid ostensibly repeating words said by adults around her without knowing the implications, she dont know what baa-san (grandma) is in context of calling someone who's not actually a grandma
also she gets slapped when she tries to HELP asuka because rei understands that asuka is really distressed about her sync ratio and probably understood she might get slapped for it
continuing to read....
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>>155309733
>5th paragraph on
The Ramiel scene actually has the biggest chance of wondering if there's some kind of abnormality in emotional 'intelligence', as she's seeing Shinji cry out of relief and doesnt know how to respond to a situation like it
her monlogue in 14 has a lot to do with how, well, you find out later on her whacked issue. She has trouble relating to others in a way that she literally isn't 'related' to others in the normal sense
i dont understand your inappropriate laughter comment. whenever Gendo and Rei speak they are both smiling with each other, hell the comfort they have speaking to each other is even reflected briefly when Asuka spies on Rei and Shinji at a trainstop and they seem to be conversational with each other (she cant hear what they are saying)
continuing because i have no idea why
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>>155309935
>EoE
i really don't recall any inappropriate laughter in the halo-angel fight or in EoE. The 'laughing' was from the freaky spectres or whatever associated with the angel merging with Rei II in her last fight and the only display of emotion with Rei III in EoE i recall was naked disdain for Gendo Ikari
End i guess
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>>155307798
>>155307808
>Thoughts
Not autism. Severe depression, yes.
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