No.538
This show reminds me of how a lot of fans of Gangsta Rap loved "Scarface" even though the ending is a clear admonishment of that lifestyle.
Anno made a indulgent self loathing anime which perfectly pandered to the self importance of his audience right down to the pseudo religious symbolism that Anno openly admits is bullshit. But gives fodder to the pseudo intellectual musings of ignorant anime fans that have never even looked at a bible much less read it.
The final act of the original run has Anno via his character proxies scold the audience for being hermit misanthropes but the audience apparently closes their eyes during this part.
To be fair to them, the show could not do more to kiss their ass all the way until the end, when like some druken father, goes from 0 to 100 in a second and rips them a new one.
I think the depiction of the dysfunction of the characters is pretty good but the story is so god damn butt fucking stupid. It reads like a fan fic, especially Shinji's "I'll show you dad" character arch.
People who are attracted to female characters were emotionally neglected by their mothers and are drawn to the same type of broken woman.
Except for Misato, I'm not sure why she's considered dysfunctional except for chasing a Chad.