Elf Sternberg

oh, I agree here. Aquarion did (Real-type) super giant robots better. RahXephon does a very similar story (at a base level, peripherally it's completely different). Ayato and Shinji are rather similar characters, but they just end up so very different. Part of it might be the horrid english voice acting in Evangelion, but though Ayato had problems, he wasn't a whiny little bitch who was impossible to empathize with. Really, the first Half of Evangelion was fine, with wonderful potential. The second half simply fell apart. Kind of like The Ninth Gate. (http://imdb.com/title/tt0142688/)

Rei's an archetype for later characters like Ruri in Nadisico and Dorothy in Big O. The pale not-quite-human, brilliant and socially awkward loli.