ttp://tvwiki.sytes.net/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NeonGenesisEvangelion <-- long and in-depth review article suggesting that NGE was indeed all planned out in advance by Hideki Anno, who did what he did for a reason, possibly because his mental health was poor.

There are still rumors that Hideki Anno--the producer and head scriptwriter--was in a mental hospital when he wrote NGE.

I loved NGE up until around Episode 21. I was so hoping for a great ending, because so much of the series up to that point was so good. But at that point it stopped being about the war, or the Angels, or even Shinji, and became about gimping Shinji harder and harder and making him have a nervous breakdown. Most characters acted completely out of character, including Shinji himself, to help the gimp-a-thon along.

I hated the ending of the series and I hated End of Evangelion more. Hated, hated, hated. I thought I was going to see Shinji learn to believe in himself and find love. Instead I saw Misato, the one character who always seemed to believe in him, care about him, maybe even love him, losing everything and being cruel to Shinji, who was the one male character who might have been worthy of her love.

Meh. I don't want to start ranting. I'll become angry.