"Newtype" praised the fifth and the sixth episode, describing the scene in which she smiles at Gendo (episode 5) as "excellent", and the scene where she greets Shinji before the battle against the Angel Ramiel (episode 6) as "an impressive moment". In February 1996, "Animedia" magazine ranked her smile scene from the sixth episode among the most memorable anime moments of the month. Justin Wu ("The Artifice") also praised the scene, describing it as a "powerful" and "iconic moment", since it is "the first time she has deliberately shown an emotion, and one of the handful of times she has done so throughout the whole series". WatchMojo described it as a "touching" moment; it also found Rei "an undeniable glimmer of light" among the dark tones of the series, as "her progressive relationship with Shinji demonstrated just how much charm she had hidden beneath that cold shell". Screen Rant and Comic Book Resources praised her development and the various revelations about her identity, placing her among the best characters in the series. Luke Penn (CBR) expressed his appreciation for the differences introduced in Sadamoto's manga and the increased space dedicated to her. A column in the September 2007 issue of the "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" newspaper said, on the occasion of "Evangelion 1.0" theatrical release, that there were over one million dedicated Rei fans in Japan and that, "This bandaged Goddess is an icon of Japanese anime." She had a place in Mania Entertainment's 10 Iconic Anime Heroines written by Thomas Zoth, who commented on the large amount of merchandise based on her and that she started "the "moe" boom in anime". While reviewing the series and "Rebuild of Evangelion" films, writers from Anime News Network commented on Rei. On "Evangelion 1.0", Carlo Santos noticed that Rei's personality is the same as in the TV series, and "those who hated the original "Evangelion" for its highly dysfunctional characters still won't find anything to like in this version", while Justin Sevakis praised her response to Shinji's kindness in "Evangelion 2.0".