Rei III

"Rei III" is the twenty-third episode of the Japanese anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion, created by Gainax. The episode was written by Hideaki Anno and Hiroshi Yamaguchi and directed by the animator Shōichi Masuo. In the episode, Rei Ayanami, the pilot of the giant mecha Evangelion Unit-00, is attacked by the sixteenth in a series of enemies of mankind called Angels, Armisael, and decides to commit suicide to defeat the enemy. Following her death, her fellow pilot Shinji Ikari and Misato Katsuragi, head of the strategy department of the military agency Nerv, discover thanks to Dr. Ritsuko Akagi that Rei is a series of replaceable clones.

The episode is characterized by dramatic tones but still by a speed and dryness in the exposition of the series's mysteries. Critics also interpreted some imagery from the episode, including a nude scene involving Ritsuko and Rei's battle against Armisal, as sexual imagery of rape. "Rei III" contains cultural references to Christian iconography, quantum physics, the concept of death drive postulated by Sigmund Freud, and Sailor Moon, among others.

"Rei III" was first broadcast on 6 March 1996 and drew a 6.9% audience share on Japanese television. The episode received an ambivalent reception from critics. Some of them praised the revelations of Rei's true identity and the action scenes; other reviewers criticized said revelations, plus the animation quality and the voice acting.