When Hideaki Anno started working on theNeon Genesis Evangelionremake, visual enhancements were at the forefront as animators were no longer restricted to limitations of the past. This also means cosplayers have more sources of inspiration when it comes to representing their favorite characters fromRebuild of Evangelion.
Whether it’d be for story purposes or merely aesthetic reasonsRebuild of Evangelionbrought along new characters, threads, and looks as the anime continued to expand. However, for most fans, the original EVA pilots really can’t be beaten, and such is the case for cosplayer and model Miss Mononoke.
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Rei Ayanami was one of those characters to geta small refresh inRebuild of Evangelionsince she eventually leaves behind her classic white EVA unit-00 plugsuit in favor of a black model that looks a lot like Kaworu’s SEELE suit. With that in mind, Miss Mononoke puts on the blue wig to recreate a Rei Ayanami reimagined by illustrator Shunya Yamashita and sculptor Mitsumasa Yoshizawa to fit herRebuild of Evangelionmold.
The new Rei instead goes for a mostly black suit with smaller details in dark red and green, and her new gear also has a tiny “09” in red that shows quite a few more pilots have joined the NERV ranks besides, Shinji, Asuka, and Rei. Miss Mononoke, who can also be found as Tami Yuurei on social media, ditches the lower half of Rei’s plugsuit in her cosplay for a racier look that’s a bit bewildering considering Rei’s more timid personality.
Of course, Rei is still a clone, so her personality is pretty much a blank canvas that can be colored differently in each iteration, as shown from the differences between anime Rei Ayanami and the later clones inEvangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo.Neon Genesis Evangelionfans love debating who their favorite EVA pilots and units are, though very few prefer Shinji and his exasperating outbursts, so it usually becomes a case of choosing the best girl between Rei and Asuka or maybe opting for a more obscure character like Toji, Kaworu or newcomer Mari.
There’s no telling where the finalEvangelionfilm3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Timecould take all these characters, and Western audiences will have to wait extra long before the movie makes it out of its record-setting run in Japanese theaters, which itself saw setbacks on account of the pandemic. Until then, well there areplenty of Asuka cosplays to go around.
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Timeis now playing in theaters in Japan.
