#Rei Ayanami

[i-was-a-teenage-eldritch-horror]

Happy birthday to Rei Ayanami!

In celebration, I want to share an observation from episode 5. Towards the end of the episode, when Rei's test with Unit 00 is completed, we see her relax, slump backwards into the seat, and exhale. What happens after that? Air bubbles come out of her mouth.

In episode 1, Ritsuko tells Shinji to relax and let the LCL enter his lungs. He does this, albeit hesitantly, and so the only times we see air bubbles in the entry plug of Units 01 (and 02, for that matter) are when the Eva is jostled or being attacked.

So, what does Rei exhaling air bubbles tell us? Well, it tells us that Rei's body is in a constant state of trauma response. She's taking shallow breaths and holding them because she's afraid and tense. It's very difficult for her to relax and she has very few chances to. Rei embodies the "freeze" response to trauma, just as Shinji and Asuka embody the flight and fight responses respectively (though it's more complex than this). It's well-documented going back decades (and even back to Freud, whom Eva borrows a lot from) that traumatic stress can be stored in the body. Given how dedicated Eva is to verisimilitude, this isn't surprising.

[sleepy-40400]

Redraw for Rei Ayanami's birthday 🩵

Favorite girl in the rebuild

[wowthwtslame]

happy bday sweet girl

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

Happy Birthday Rei

Source: @key35461 on Twitter

[ekdsc]

asuka is a little confused about the purpose of pride month

[chronocrump]

yotsuba makes an important decision

[sajanrai]

Farmer Rei commission for Spencer!

[nyaa]

[c301@ninanoninini]

[motorskates]

Art project for school

[fffkorobka]

[1nternetangel]

[myszkaa]

School days

[soulspark]

[plutomaris]

BECOME A LEGEND

[duckmeat-woohoo]

Rei can you pilot the EVA today?