We all know how drastically different the 90's anime version of Rei was in comparison to her manga counterpart, being far more feisty, cosmopolitan, and keenly-interested in (good-looking) boys. Whereas the original manga version of Rei was far more reserved, traditional, and completely disinterested in boys of any kind due to her strong distrust in them. And this manga characterization of Rei would later be reflected, to varying degrees, in both Crystal and PGSM.
Likewise, we know that her relationship with the 90's anime-exclusive character Yuichiro was a bit complicated. He mostly liked her at first because of how pretty she was, but this was before he got to know her better and basically came to worship the ground she walked on, whether out of affection, fear/intimidation/respect, professional loyalty, or a combination of these. Rei, however, never really returned his affections for her, or at least did a good job at hiding any feelings she might have had for him that went beyond platonic ones. On the surface, she mostly saw him as a bumbling goof who, supposedly, didn't interest her romantically. But over time, she did come to recognize him as genuinely nice guy with a good heart, and did show respect towards him at points. Though, that didn't stop her from still making him do things for her like cleaning the Hikawa Shrine from top to bottom or making him carry her load of shopping bags for her. Not helping Yuichiro's case was his status as a comic relief character who was primarily used as a foil for other characters to play off of. Thus, most of any hardship Yuichiro endured, whether from Rei or anyone else, was usually played for laughs with Yuichiro as the butt of the joke. But even then, at the end of the day, Rei and Yuichiro at least did uphold a genuine form of respect towards each other, even if it didn't really go any further than that.
With all that said, how do you suppose a version of Rei based more on the original Manga/Crystal/PGSM version would have treated Yuichiro? Imagine that the original manga version of the story (or a new version based on it) did the Yuichiro story thing that the 90's anime did, with him coming to live/work at the Hikawa Shrine as an extra workhand aiming to better himself, and with him similarly developing a crush on Rei like he did in the 90's anime. How do you think the more man-distrusting Manga/Crystal/PGSM version of Rei might have interacted with Yuichiro in comparison to how the 90's anime version of Rei interacted with him?
Would she be much meaner/colder/stricter towards him? Would she eventually warm up to him after getting to know him? Would such "warming up to him" lead to a friendship? To something more? Something less? Would she be constantly trying to get him to leave the Hikawa Shrine? Wold she eventually accept him as a acceptable addition to the shrine's residents/staff members? Any other possibilities?
Likewise, we know that her relationship with the 90's anime-exclusive character Yuichiro was a bit complicated. He mostly liked her at first because of how pretty she was, but this was before he got to know her better and basically came to worship the ground she walked on, whether out of affection, fear/intimidation/respect, professional loyalty, or a combination of these. Rei, however, never really returned his affections for her, or at least did a good job at hiding any feelings she might have had for him that went beyond platonic ones. On the surface, she mostly saw him as a bumbling goof who, supposedly, didn't interest her romantically. But over time, she did come to recognize him as genuinely nice guy with a good heart, and did show respect towards him at points. Though, that didn't stop her from still making him do things for her like cleaning the Hikawa Shrine from top to bottom or making him carry her load of shopping bags for her. Not helping Yuichiro's case was his status as a comic relief character who was primarily used as a foil for other characters to play off of. Thus, most of any hardship Yuichiro endured, whether from Rei or anyone else, was usually played for laughs with Yuichiro as the butt of the joke. But even then, at the end of the day, Rei and Yuichiro at least did uphold a genuine form of respect towards each other, even if it didn't really go any further than that.
With all that said, how do you suppose a version of Rei based more on the original Manga/Crystal/PGSM version would have treated Yuichiro? Imagine that the original manga version of the story (or a new version based on it) did the Yuichiro story thing that the 90's anime did, with him coming to live/work at the Hikawa Shrine as an extra workhand aiming to better himself, and with him similarly developing a crush on Rei like he did in the 90's anime. How do you think the more man-distrusting Manga/Crystal/PGSM version of Rei might have interacted with Yuichiro in comparison to how the 90's anime version of Rei interacted with him?
Would she be much meaner/colder/stricter towards him? Would she eventually warm up to him after getting to know him? Would such "warming up to him" lead to a friendship? To something more? Something less? Would she be constantly trying to get him to leave the Hikawa Shrine? Wold she eventually accept him as a acceptable addition to the shrine's residents/staff members? Any other possibilities?
