Neon Genesis Evangelion - my weird thoughts, maybe overrated?

To many anime fans, Neon Genesis Evangelion (EVA) is a staple of the genre. A must see, EVA is a critically and commercially successful series which excelled in animation, plot and most importantly character design. Despite being an anime fan (I would never classify myself as an anime lover) I have somehow managed to avoid the series, (which might seem next to impossible for those who know their anime) yet I have heard and read from many friends, critics and general anonymous internet threads that EVA accomplished the holy grail of entertainment; a successful mixture of intelligence and entertainment, combining adult themes with philosophy, psychology, religion, teenage angst and most importantly, giant sci-fi bio-mechanical humanoid robots.  If you're not an anime fan, I wouldn't be surprised if you're immediately put off by 'giant sci-fi bio-mechanical humanoid robots', however, EVA manages to avoid being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the sci-fi plot due to the introspective premise of the series; the protagonists (and in particular Shinji Ikari) struggling with their interpersonal relationships, traumatic events in their pasts, the significance of life and death and their own respective struggles with their inner demons. 


My opinion on the series has changed multiple times. It is very rare for one franchise (in any format) to have such a level of commercial and critical success, perhaps this universal appreciation unfairly raised my expectation of the series as I found that I was having to force myself to watch the opening few episodes. However, when attachments and understanding of the characters formed the series became far more enjoyable, at first I found the huge majority of screen time that was being devoted to character development rather than plot progression slightly odd, but I soon realised that the plot was progressing through character development, something that was more than apparent in the final two episodes of the series. It was this ending that was the cause for so much controversy. In EVA their are seemingly two plots; the physical happenings and battles partaking in New-Tokyo 3 and the world and the psychological happenings and battles in each characters respective minds. Controversy occurs, as the series ending only really finalises the psychological plot and leaves the physical plot ending open to interpretation and guess work. Whilst of course it's satisfying watching each character overcome their inner demons, it is a huge anti-climax when you realise that you won't get to see them push on after their triumph. 


I can say without hesitation that I did enjoy EVA, yet I also felt slightly let down by it as well. In retrospect, I can't help but feel that EVA is one of those things that people push huge acclaim on due to it's more complex nature, don't get my wrong it does brilliantly manage various psychological and philosophical/ethical themes and does an outstanding job at blending these with character development, yet, I just feel it neglects other important story telling features, the more basic elements that make a story go from good to exceptional. I must be careful not to sound too critical, I just think there is a definite cultural habit to heap praise on things just for the sake of being complicated. Complicated doesn't mean auto-cool, but Neon Genesis Evangelion as a series (although a less than  sensational ending) is cool.