it's a crime to reduce asuka and rei to a nonexistent love triangle with shinji. obviously, rei+asuka are visual opposites—blue/red, cool/hot, quiet/loud, feminine/masculine; thematically, they represent the collective vs the individual, the self sufficient vs self sacrificing.

but their visual/thematic opposition is insufficient to explain their contempt for one another. rei's sacrificial attitude draws asuka to her darkest, most painful place. before asuka resolves to be independent, she relents with her mother out of love: "okay, i'll die with you."

asuka's abrasiveness betrays an unsoothable wound, while rei's calmness, and, in asuka's words, denseness, betrays a repressed rage. ritsuko explains the dummy plug is not a "true" imitation, but i sense rei's fear+understand her anger. (note the dummy plug are asuka's colors.)

asuka does make active, repeated efforts to befriend and include rei. asuka explains to misato that rei does not eat meat, so they forego steak for ramen. ultimately though, like asuka's mother, rei rejects her.

rei associates asuka with red, with rage, with the colors of the dummy plug, with selfishness. all these threaten rei's assumptions about her self-worth. like asuka, rei comes to terms with her agency-- that she does not need to die because she's told to.

[sidebar: we see rei's anger early on. shinji's attitude toward gendo causes rei to slap him. this is rei's 1st time hearing someone undermine gendo-- her creator and totalizing+godlike force in her life. note her use of 'faith' vs shinji's 'trust'.]

this will be a separate thread, but asuka+rei's experiences with arael and armisael are unambiguous rape metaphors. they both respond with attempted suicides, but for one reason or another, both fail. rei III's regression+asuka's catatonic state mirror each other.

finally: with their backs to the audience, both girls face the color they hate. i am not a puppet/you're so much like a puppet.