Am I the only who thinks Evangelion is overrated?

Sure, there's plenty of depth to it, I can see that. The characters aren't totally terrible, and there seems to be some careful consideration in their writing but..

It's just so boring!

There are ways to give characters deep emotional development with out boring the socks off your viewers. Shinji's character development came way too late in the series and my that time I was so frustrated with him that I had stopped caring. Rei was interesting at first but I felt like I just didn't have a compelling reason to care about her at all. There's being stoic, and then there's not caring about anything ever, at all. Asuka was just... Terrible. Absolutely. At no point did I find any middle ground to appreciate her character or what she added to the show. And most of the other characters were about the same.

I just simply didn't enjoy it. Now, I should confess that I watched the series years ago, recently watched Death & Rebirth. As it stands I have no compulsion to watch The End of Evangelion.

Evangelion is excellent. Though I don't understand why you watched Death & Rebirth and not EoE, since EoE is a lot better.

Kaji and Misato provides contrast to Asuka and Shinji relationship. Been years since I last watch NGE as well so I don't remember too much.

I have the same feeling. It's not a bad anime, just overused as something to be revered like it's fucking citizen kane or war and peace level masterpiece. It's not k-on or clannad shit tier, but it's not Akira or Mobile suit Gundam 0079.

I think what makes people care so much about it is what it meant to the whole world of anime in general. It created a huge fandom, let anime spread all over and become popular and it marked the beginning of an era.

Well if you have to watch D&R to be up to date with EoE, and EoE is great but D&R is not good... It's just a bad way to capture a viewer.

Comparison: One of the main reasons I was so late getting into anime is that I hated DBZ. I hated the slow pacing and thought all anime was like that, while really it was ground work leading to series I enjoy so much.

You can skip D&R.

Misato was my first.

EoE is amazing and worth watching, Death and Rebirth are just a recap compilation and a teaser for EoE.

As for the series itself, Evangelion was groundbreaking in many ways, so no I don't think it's overrated... to an extent. The ANIME is the overrated one, and IMHO it's inferior to the manga when it comes to most stuff, especially character development (I'm of the opinion that the anime does a poor job at building/destroying the characters' personalities).

Still won't deny that the anime does have some memorable scenes, so it IS worth watching. Granted, it took me almost a decade to fully appreciate it for what it really is (when I first watched it back in 1999/2000 I was too dumb to see beyond the cool giant robots).

The Rebuild movies, well... the first two were awesome, and I loved the quiet desolation of the third, but such a dramatic shift from the second to the third with barely any explaination given made me lose almost any hope (actually, I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped the movies altogether and there will be no conclusion).

never watched it

I agree with you that the manga is better at building and developing the characters, it also gives the story much more depth. It feels like the story in the anime is just a means to give a message, while the manga gives the message and a good story by itself.

Well said, both of you.

The issue I have with the anime is that the core elements of Evangelion - that is, the psychological probing of the main cast - are touched in a superficial way, and not given enough depth. The manga, on the other hand, spends less time showing robot action and devotes much more to character development, and it shows. I mean, Gendou of all people gets SIGNIFICANT character development during the events of EoE as told in the manga, to say nothing of the many unsettling scenes Kaworu gets, which are absent in the anime.

Also, Shinji and Rei seem much more human. I agree, the character development in the manga is way better.

This as well. I won't lie when I say it was the manga and well-made fanworks that made me a devoted fan of Rei.

I found it to be ok, but i watched it mostly to see what they would do to the characters. But it was a really interesting up until episode 8 when Asuka was introduced since she helped breathing some life and action into it.

The entire series could fit into 8 episodes.

The slow pace of it is intentional.

If a character's trauma and development for self acceptance is to you worth 8 episodes, yeah, but I think it's better this way.