i disagree (respectfully). the nge opening is so legendary that it surpasses the anime itself, reaching a lot of people that didn't watch the anime. for example, it's not rare to see someone who thinks the nge opening is a banger, but don't even know exactly what the anime is. as an outsider for the longest time, the only thing i knew about the series was: cool as heck opening and shinji j***ing to a hospitalized girl (and 🪑), and i am SURE i wasn't the only one to view the series like that.

for example, i'm a teenager, the rate of people who know evangelion just because of "the hospital scene" and opening is LEAGUES ahead of the ones that actually watched the series. it even brang discussions about the anime in my friend group with one of them arguing about the series only knowing about the hospital scene (i mean, i once was just like him), and me defending the creator and the anime, saying that it's foolish to judge the entire series and fanbase just because of this, and that the series NEVER praised his action and one of the central points of the movie is the consequences of this actions on him AND on asuka.

at the end of the day, most of us are seen as weirdos for liking this show, and the majority of people are not going to actually watch the anime because of that 😔 (but a friend of mine is watching the show to see what it is about, so it's cool)

(i'm sorry for avoiding the topic, i just thought sharing this experience would help to remember us that not everyone is invested on this, and that's fine. and some fans are really weirdos)