/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>10788957
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, one of the founding members of Gainax and the character designer for the television series created Rei.

Sadamoto speaks in an interview, which was published in volume 2 of the official manga, about the sources of inspiration and the influences that shaped Rei's design.
“ The first time you see Rei, she is all bandaged up. The group Kinniku Shojo Tai has a song called Hotai de Masshiro na Shojo [The Girl White with Bandages]. When I heard that song, an image popped into my mind; I thought, "I'd like to draw a girl like that," and then I drew Rei from that image. „

Further into the interview Sadamoto says the following.
“ I played around with this character I called "Ukina." She came from a story I wrote a long time ago for NewType magazine called Koto no Oni [The Ogre on the Desert Isle]. You take Ukina, give her shaggy, bobbed, wolf-like hair, and it's Rei. Really, I just played with her a bit -- with the way the eyes are drawn. The basic character is the same. Her character was locked in as translucent -- like a shadow, or the air. The kind of girl you can't touch. The girl you long for, but there is nothing about her that you can hold.

And no, there was many blue-haired-red-eyed-almost-emotionelss girls way before Rei and Ukina. Pic related - OC , do not steal.