A bit late on this one, but as I was browsing at Melon Books after taking care of visa business in Takasaki today I noticed that they had the September 2007 issue of Rolling Stone magazine (Japan edition) on their magazine rack. It was plain to see why; along with an Al Gore interview (“ROCK MEETS ECO”) the new Evangelion movie was featured prominently in the issue. Rei with the world floating above her hand was probably meant to evoke the synthesis of the ecological theme with that of the Eva movie, but intentionally or not I’d say it serves the far more effective purpose of symbolizing the global hegemony Gainax is plotting to achieve via the Eva franchise (and Rei in particular). A full image of the magazine cover is below:

Are you kidding me? Rei Ayanami is more of a pop culture icon in Japan than Al Gore? More so that she gets the cover not Gore? I’m not saying I’m an AG fan, but that goes to show how much power Gainax has with it’s Evangelion franchise.
And it seems as it teh Rei is very much indeed still the most sexually desired anime girl in history.
zOMG1!!! it really IS teh REI!
FAP*FAP*FAP*FAP*FAP*FAP
Rei ruling the world … that would be really depressing U_U. It’s a mythified but interesting character, that’s unquestionable.
As a fan of both the enviroment and Al Gores work in the eviroment, I’m glad to see the influence stretching out into what otherwise might be an untapped source for enviromental activism.
I’m not into the Eva stuff, never got around to it- but I understand the huge fan base it has. Good for them with this- and it’s a great cover to.