> NGE fails as a war story

It's not a war story. HTH!

I mean, it should be pretty obvious from the fact that they are never explained in any way that the angels really aren't very important at all to the actual story. A whole lot of Evangelion is just window dressing, really.

What the angels are, is a heirloom from the giant robot tradition that Evangelion both builds on and transcends. They're a silly cliché, which evokes memories of childhood wonder at giant robot anime.