Eva is really good at introducing some neat concepts or planting little nuggets of curiosity throughout and then just completely acting like all of those things never existed outside being vaguely referred to. They don't even make the smallest attempt to explain any of the nonsense sci-fi jargon that they throw at you every episode. The whole show just ends up being a tangled mess of all questions and no answers. I remember specifically there was one episode in the last half of the show that actually managed to have me interested. It was showing some weird concept that actually made me kind of excited to watch the next episode so they could expand on it. But no, instead they just do what they do every time and just drop it into the abyss of plot points that aren't worth talking about ever again. Not to mention the show is extremely boring and repetitive which is the main reason it was such a chore to watch. Almost every single episode is the same but I mention more about that later.
This is the part about Eva that I think confuses and frustrates me the most. Every time I see people talking about this show they constantly say how Eva's characters are the highlight of the show and praise them constantly. They talk about how deep and complex these characters are. I mean I guess would be fine except for the fact that they aren't deep or complex in the slightest. Asuka and Shinji are the most insufferable pieces of shit characters I have ever seen in media. Extremely one-dimensional characters who go through the same exact cycle of emotions in every single episode. Every single episode Shinji goes through the cycle of not wanting to pilot the Eva, getting essentially guilted into doing it, hating that he did it, and then crying about how he doesn't want to pilot it/people only like him for the sole reason that he can pilot it. But then oh look at that he goes and does it all over again in the next episode. Yippee! I mean honestly, to be fair to those characters Shinji has no redeeming personality traits so if I was in their shoes that would be the only reason I would put up with him either. Rei and Shinji's dad are probably the most interesting characters in the entire show and they get shafted so Shinji can come to the realization that he's just a shitty person.
Another point people bring up is how "Oh the plot isn't really that important, the characters what's important in Eva.". Having a show with a bad/unstable plot along with bad characters, trying to represent a metaphor, doesn't make your show deep let alone good. Just because the characters vaguely represent some "deeper metaphor" doesn't mean it did a good job doing so or overall make a good show. The philosophy in this show is like the stuff you teach kids in grade school. This isn't some Reddit 5head big-brain stuff that's being put on display here. It's just bad, surface-level thinking.
I could be here all day talking about the issues with this show. The only points I'll give this show are that the Eva designs are pretty cool, there were a couple of cool moments during fights, and the opening is a banger. Other than that most of what the show has to offer isn't enjoyable. Like they don't even give the Evas cool weapons or anything. They just get normal ass guns and a knife that vibrates. It's super uncreative. I might eventually make myself watch the movies or read the manga to see any of this shit is actually redeemable but I won't hold my breath.
