The Original Series.
So the original series in all its confusing nature was in my eyes, addicting, relatable and to me a good embodiment of what happens when mankind decides to get way too close to a religious being (ie God) and such religious being reacts by telling mankind ,"Oi mate, sit down or I'll smack you in the gabber if you don't stop your rubbish I swear."
You could really see Anno's state of mind at the time rubbing off onto the characters what with the psychoanalysis, depression and unstable states of mind within the characters. Our 3 Eva pilots were pretty messed up and Gendo was an evil but slick womanizing dude, sorry Ritsuko and Mum. However for me, Misato took the crown. I had a bit of a hassle trying to understand Misato until I saw DemoD's analysis videos, thinking back to what I saw, I had a few eureka moments, not only with her though but with some other characters. Strangely though, I took a particular interest to Asuka despite her rather extreme 'Tsundere though I'm pretty messed up' nature. Maybe because some girls are like that in real life, well..... From what I've seen...
EoE after some thinking actually was a good ending to the original series. The Human Instrumentality Project to me was essentially just The Rapture. Leaving humanity to restart with Asuka and Shinji, though I think Shinji was just confused in the end. I agree with what
@SVX said though in terms of Shinji testing Asuka.
The Rebuilds.
Ok, the Rebuilds looked beautiful. Great to look at plus they were entertaining to boot. Though I do agree with what some hardcore Eva fans had to say, the characters lacked the same impact that they had in the original series. There was less of the psychoanalysis and less of the messed up nature coming from the original series. Honestly I think with the 3 films out so far, if the characters had the same impact as with the original series and if it was done nicely, then the first 3 films would have been beastly. Kaworu's death didn't really affect all that much, the descent into madness by Asuka (From the OG series) hit me more than that did.
Mari Sue irritated me a bit though (She looks good, yes, she has the glasses woooooooo) but she just felt shoehorned in just for some fanservice which bugged me. Well, I hope she will be elaborated upon in 4.0, if it ever comes out.
Overall, since I've now watched NGE properly, with an open mind and with some analysis involved, it made more sense and it was quite enjoyable. Though it didn't make complete sense...
Oi Anno, mate, finish that Eva 4.0.