it is weird how that dichotomy is because when you look at specific scenes and some shot choices and merchandising the way they treat women is so fucked up but the women in the story are really interesting and complex and an important part of the story to me at least was how they get mistreated (mostly by men). like if the protagonists are shinji and misato, then the biggest people around them story-wise are rei and asuka, and ritsuko and kaji (and the adults/teens reflect each other in neat ways, most noticeably with the protagonists)

evangelion has a lot of problems but it was super impactful on me as a young teenager so it still holds a place in my heart. its just hard for me to ever really recommend it to anyone without some caveats. >.<