"Shez" <see.sig@nospam.demon.co.uk.invalid> wrote in message
news:JgnVEOIyUQ5+EwKA@xerez.nospam.co.uk...
> Once upon a time in the faraway land of uk.media.animation.anime, Chibi-
> Light <chibiwibi2002@YUM-SPAM.yahoo.com> said:
> >On Mon, 9 Jun 2003 06:13:34 +0000 (UTC), arromdee@violet.rahul.net
> >(Ken Arromdee) wrote:
> >
> >>I suspect that a lot of Rei's popularity has to do with the Spock
archetype--
> >>having an emotionless, hard to understand, character who does have
hidden
> >>emotions that the viewer imagines s/he can get him/her to express.
> >>
> >>Of course it's a lot harder to give that a feminist slant than to go on
> >>about how the fans like submissive women.
> >
> >I always figured that she was popular due to her submissiveness being
> >very unthreatening to socially awkward fanboys.
>
> Actually I think she's probably popular for the same reason as Osaka in
> Azumanga Daioh - she shares a mindset with a lot of fans, a weird
> outlook on life. In the case of Rei, a troubled psyche and questioning
> of meaning of existence, and in the case of Osaka, escaping mundane
> everyday existence by wrapping it up in exotic fantasies.
>
> I think it's very telling that Osaka came head and shoulders above every
> other Azumanga Daioh character in the Newtype magazine poll - it wasn't
> the docile or sexy characters that won. Now transfer this to Evangelion
> - amongst the females, who but Rei fulfils the role of the weirdo?
>
> -Shez.
> -- 

Oh, you mean besides all the other characters?

                                    Vaughn L.Porter
                                     Toji summed it up perfectly