| Aya Brea | |
|---|---|
| Parasite Eve character | |
 Aya Brea from Parasite Eve | |
| First appearance | Parasite Eve (1998) |
| Created by | Hironobu Sakaguchi |
| Designed by | Tetsuya Nomura |
| Voiced by |
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Aya Brea (Japanese: アヤ・ブレア, Hepburn: Aya Burea) is the main protagonist of the video game adaptations of the 1995 novel Parasite Eve by Square Enix (formerly Square or SquareSoft). An original character created by producer Hironobu Sakaguchi for the 1998 role-playing video game Parasite Eve, she is an NYPD detective who faces off against Eve, a being created by sentient mitochondria wishing to conquer life on Earth. In the 1999 sequel Parasite Eve II, Aya, now working for the FBI, is investigating further activities involving mitochondria. In the 2010 game The 3rd Birthday, an amnesiac Aya is found by the Counter Twisted Investigation (CTI) unit to fight against the "Twisted", mitochondria-spawned creatures that have gradually taken over the world.
Tetsuya Nomura was largely responsible for Aya's design after her original artist failed to realize Sakaguchi's vision for the character. Nomura ended up blending two different character designs to create her final appearance. He also returned to design her in subsequent sequels of Parasite Eve. Aya's depiction in The 3rd Birthday was meant to make her likeable for both men and women while retaining her sex appeal.
Aya Brea is an early example of a prominent female lead character in the video game industry who was notable for her down-to-earth qualities. However, The 3rd Birthday's destructible clothing mechanism and unlockable scene which shows the character showering nude had received criticism for the gratuitous depiction of her sex appeal.
- ^ a b c "Behind the Voice Actors - Voice of Aya Brea". Behind the Voice Actors. Archived from the original on 2014-09-09. Retrieved 2014-09-09.
- ^ Ashcraft, Brian (2011-10-21). "Lady, That Isn't an iPhone. It's an iPod". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2015-05-30.