I watch the series easily twice a year. Always notice something new or subtle on each viewing. Every character has its own version of depression and loneliness, and deals/or doesn't deal with it in their own way.
Anyone who goes into expecting robots and cute girls will end up being disappointed due to their simplistic tastes that they accrued from only watching Toonami.
....the show's about as subtle as a brick to the face. In the end it's a decent deconstruction of the Super Robot genre. Where a boy is given a super robot by a distant father figure and works together with his friends and mentor figure to save the day. Yes, there's some twists and turns along the way, but it largely boils down to monster of the week threatening the city.
And for all that....I quite enjoy it. The animation is cheap, the music uses a knock-off of the Little Nellie theme from You Only Live Twice, and it's a whole parade of awkward with the characters, with few escaping as someone you could look up to, or would like to meet...but neither of those is a pre-requisite for an interesting character.
I will say that EoE adds to this whole mix...but very rapidly takes away from itself with pretentious rubbish masquerading as something meaningful, and I maintain to this day that the film, complete with its filming of the death threat letters Anno received, is two things:
1. A gigantic troll to those who were upset with the TV ending and so wanted more. Liked characters are killed, flaws in characters are exaggerated, there is no redemption, no solution, everything is ramped to 11 with a middle finger aimed squarely at the viewer.
2. A way of bringing out those who demand greater meaning in the series. Anno himself has said that there's no real meaning to the Christian symbolism except "it looks cool". EoE does more of the same by wrapping a decent "bad ending" 45 minute ova up with a package of terrible overblown meaningless drivel.
