This needs to be said: The Evangelion franchise is basically what's wrong with anime today. And why it's known as "animu."
* I'll start with the now-generic self-insert nobody known as Shinji Ikari. After him, discussions about "what makes a man" or "manliness" are now jokes. The kid is just pathetic; not even suicide can cure it. Him masturbating over a comatose girl (during End of Eva) was the last straw for me.
* Then we have this BITCH (because there's no other way of describing her) Asuka. She's "tsundere;" but she'd be one of those super-powered villain if she starred in a Marvel/DC comic. She's annoying, sadistic, and evil... And only the reality-challenged would cry over, or fap to, her lifeless body.
* Then there's Ayanami Rei. This girl is a doll with no personality whatsoever.
* Then there's Gendou Ikari. He'd be another super-powered villain; "the villain behind the villain," if he starred in a Marvel / DC comic. Why Superman or Wolverine didn't sock his face in while his crap was destroyed, I do not know.
* But the main blame goes to Hideaki Anno, Gainax, and the people behind this franchise for turning it into what it is today and keeping it alive for that long. Tapping into the darkness of the otaku-base (and squeezing money out of 'em) is very sneaky of these people. Taking the cherished "giant robot" theme and turning it into a mind-raping "snuff flick" / giving it a "glorified bad end" is very "deconstructionist" as well.
During that time; Anno said he was having issues, depressed, and considering suicide. (Based on what I saw from "Otaku no Video,") I thought he was some retarded super-otaku who was so full of it that an explosion was eminent.
So with all the current talk over how "anime needs to be saved..." Even though everybody's copying off of Evangelion, then Haruhi... And Mamoru Oshii had already said that anime now is "A copy of a copy of a copy." The animu industry, as of right now, can't even save itself as long as the people behind / around it fear and hate the outside world.
And although ADV / Section 23 / "Snickering Fat Guy" failed at trying to make a live-action Eva movie for the US; I can still see the babies latching on to Evangelion. Their umbilical cords are still attached to it, and they are unable to grow and mature. Sad, really.
