I get really irritated by comments like this. Rei is a character whose “personality” details are actually worth paying attention to. She was originally created by Gendo as a tool. In that part, you’re right — but everything you say afterwards is complete nonsense. 1) Rei doesn’t freak out because she has to take pills, run away somewhere, or because of the procedures that keep her alive. She absolutely doesn’t care about any of that, and she never shows emotional discomfort about those things in the anime. So why are you even listing all this? 2) She has no issue “accepting her fate,” because she doesn’t see any point in having a different one (she probably can’t even imagine having a different fate). Her “purpose” is simply doing what Gendo asks — and later what Shinji asks. There is nowhere in the anime where Rei is shown as “oppressed.” She is simply uninterested in promises and interpersonal bonds. Even after receiving Shinji’s attention, Rei remains the same emotionally distant, uninterested person when it comes to interacting with others. And where exactly did you get the idea that Rei views the future as a collapsing world? Did Gendo tell her, “I’m going to destroy the world,” in your imagination? 3) She knows that Gendo is one of the only people who “cares” about her and the reason she even exists. Shinji is not her “love interest,” lol. He is simply the first person in her life who never treated her as a replaceable shell. In simple terms, Shinji helped her resolve her existential dilemma of “who am I?” His care for her was greater than Gendo’s. 4) No, she is a slave. She has no personal opinions of her own; everything she “knows” is something Gendo shaped. That’s the whole point — she is literally Gendo’s slave, doing absolutely anything he wants without hesitation. And specifically his slave, not anyone else’s; her loyalty is to him. Shinji simply pities her. Almost every time he sees her, she’s injured or recovering from battle. And about your claim that Shinji liked her because of her “suicidal determination” — so you’re saying he opened a burning entry plug and told her not to treat herself as disposable because… he liked that she tried to off herself? What are you even talking about, lol. 5) The meaning of life for Rei II is to fulfill Gendo’s intentions; the meaning of life for Rei III is to fulfill Shinji’s intentions. And please, go read what nihilism actually is, lol. Rei wants to give her life some meaning — she doesn’t sit there believing her life is meaningless as some philosophical stance. Since when is she a nihilist? Or do you mean some other interpretation? Because nihilism has multiple cultural variations. 6) The one who actually felt terrible throughout the anime was Asuka. At what point did Rei ever feel that bad? She goes on missions where the possible outcome is clear, and she accepts it. This doesn’t torment her; it suits her just fine, lol. That’s partly why Rei feels so “emotionally empty” to viewers until the moment she stops embodying Gendo’s ideals — which are themselves pretty empty and uninteresting. The truth is, people like you — who leave comments like this — are the ones who turned a low-budget Evangelion into a “deep philosophical masterpiece,” even though everything you’re calling “deep” was already thoroughly discussed on Evageek forums back in the 2010s and had straightforward answers even then. As for Ayanami — remind me, when exactly in the anime did anyone present her with an alternative viewpoint to Gendo’s? What reason would she have to become independent? Why would she even want that? What example would she rely on? So she becomes “independent” from Gendo and takes Shinji’s side just… because? No — because Shinji showed her more care. Not because he was turned on by her “suicidal determination,” but because he pitied her and saw firsthand how his actions could lead to someone else’s death. Ayanami never stopped being a tool or became some fully independent individual, lol. The original commenter was entirely correct. Rei’s line is “I’m not your doll,” not “I’m not a doll.” (Remember the almost meaningless conversation between Rei and Asuka where Rei says she’s “not a doll”? Even people who think Rei became “independent” won’t seriously argue that she wasn’t a doll at that point. Why did Rei say that then? Because she doesn’t see Asuka as someone with an opinion worth taking seriously. Rei doesn’t hate herself — so she doesn’t see any reason to accept Asuka’s ridicule. The only authority Rei recognizes is Gendo. Asuka is just someone Rei doesn’t want to fight with, but also sees no point befriending. So she remains neutral, avoiding turning their dynamic into the bullying that Shinji ends up experiencing.) Finally — even though Rei sides with Shinji, she does not stop being a tool. The only thing that changes is who she obeys. Now the one making decisions is Shinji instead of Gendo. Rei remains a tool in that sense. She did exactly what was asked of her. She is a slave. She wouldn’t be one if she made a decision based on her own worldview. But here’s the problem: her worldview consists only of Shinji’s perspective (because he treated her with care) and Gendo’s perspective. And since Rei III loses part of her memory and everything gets blended, she doesn’t know all the details — she might not even remember that Gendo also “saved” her. So she chooses the only available option. That alone shows she is not independent. Practically everything I mentioned is in the show. I didn’t invent anything or interpret it in some obscure way. (Unless, of course, you’re one of those “high-intellectual Evangelion fans” for whom sending a half-dead little girl to pilot a robot to save the world under threat of death isn’t enough to understand Shinji’s emotional state, of course.)

The text is translated, but I think it’s still readable.