When you spend as much of your time researching into and writing about the minutia of a 25 year old anime/manga series as I have, there’s always a bit of excitement that runs through you when you hear about a little tidbit for the very first time. As you and I both know, though, the internet is rife with baseless rumors, so proving it is another problem entirely.
Which is why I’m happy to say that it looks like it’s confirmed: Rei’s design is based off of a real world actress, singer, and model.