This is something I've been holding back on a long time, and I think it's specifically because of the gravity and nature of the cult following behind the show of which I'm about to speak.  This anime was basically the door to 'higher' anime power levels.  If things like Sailor Moon or Dragonball Z were the gateway drug, then this anime was the threshold.  A lot of people have fond memories of this show from their teenage years, and even now, just the whispering of reboot will cause a frenzy of discussion on the internet.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Now, my friend and I have had many discussions about it, and after thinking about it for a long while, I've come to realize that I believe there are two camps regarding NGE.  You either love it, or hate it.  Which isn't an odd thing to say or even new frontier into that discussion.  But what I've found is that a majority of people love it or hate it for a very polarized reaction to one specific thing in the show, and that thing is the main protagonist himself, Shinji, and realizing the fact that the entire plot of the show revolves squarely around him.  Yes, there are other things in the show, such as giant robots, angels, the relationships between the other characters and their complications.  However, when you boil down the show to it's rawest form, you find that the entire structure of everything is designed solely around the character of Shinji and how he reacts to things.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that this show is essentially a serious version of a later Gainax anime, FLCL.  The anime attempts to obfuscate it's message with robots and angels and a shit ton of other things going on, but the secret of the show is that it's ALL about the boy at the center.

Once you get this out of the way, then your reaction to the show will be defined by one thing, and one thing only:

How do you react to Shinji's character?

And that's where my friend an I are divided.  He believes that Shinji is a well written character.  After all, he is a teenager who was estranged from his dad, who lost his mother, and suddenly has the weight of the world thrust upon him without warning.  He reacts realistically and deals with his emotions in an excellent way.  Whereas I thoroughly believe that Shinji is a huge bitch.

Now, I will give credit where credit is due.  Shinji actually is a well written character, that much I cannot deny. His reaction to the situation IS realistic.  This is fact and can be treated as a foregone conclusion.  However, to me, that doesn't make him an entertaining character to watch or deal with throughout the show.  Quite the opposite.  Allow me to explain this with an unusual metaphor.

Though it's not hard to guess about me, I play a lot of tabletop RPGs.  Games like Dungeons & Dragons and Savage Worlds and Call of Cthulhu.  For those unindoctrinated, it's basically a video game that you play without the video part.  One person, usually known as the Dungeon Master, describes the world and sets up the rules and adventure.  Then between 3-5 other players make a character and control them in this world, attempting to resolve the plot or adventure that the DM has laid out for them.  There is usually a lot of Roleplaying going on as players will put a lot of backstory and personality into their individual characters to help interact with each other and the world around them.

I bring this up, because while you can get deeply entwined with the world and your character and roleplaying them, by the end of the day, it is still a game.  A cooperative game.  At the table, it is generally understood that it is okay for a little bit of metagaming, acting on knowledge outside of what happens in the game world, in order to make things run along a little smoothly.  For instance, if one player has to leave the table early for an errand, then that player's character might act unusually out-of-character to leave the adventure as a sort of explanation for the absence.  Or the reverse can happen, where the players "mysteriously" find a random guy in the middle of nowhere and inexplicably want him to join despite their previous paranoia, so that they can include a new player who just joined the group.  Though it's obviously out of character, it's done that way to facilitate the experience so that everyone at the table can have fun.

Shinji, to me, is a character who is played in-character too well.  To a point of disruption.  There are cases when a group gets together, and a player will make a certain character, but his character's personality will conflict with the group or the adventure that the DM has planned, and will slow down things to a point where his character might even refuse to associate with the others.  "My character has no reason to join you or go on this dangerous quest!  He is too afraid of dying and doesn't trust any of you!" Which quickly leads to either party infighting, or the guy having to leave because his character isn't joining.  When that happens, it just makes you think "Why did he bother showing up at all?"

That's what Shinji is to me.  He mopes, he whines, and he deals internally with issues and causes a great deal of stress for everyone around him while he tries to figure out who he is.  He fights the plot at every turn and endangers many lives through his ineptitude.  To me, Shinji is a well role-played character, but he is slowing down the plotlines of everyone around him and makes the show that much more of a hassle to watch.  THIS is where the divide comes in.

Is Shinji a well written character?  Yes, without a single doubt in my mind.  However, when it comes to liking the show, it's about whether or not you like how Shinji was written to begin with.  Shinji fights what he is meant to do.  When I watch a show, it's with the implicit understanding that I will forego some level of verisimilitude so I can enjoy a story and adventure that the characters undertake.  My friend loves NGE because he loves watching the character of Shinji, whereas I think that Shinji needs to forego some of his character personality so that the story, so that the 'game' can continue on.

Whether or not you'll like NGE is not dependant at all on whether or not you play D&D or any other table top game.  What it is dependant on is how much you want to watch an anime that slightly (very slightly) hides the fact that the show is a teen drama centered around a very confused young boy.  If you enjoy watching a character struggle with himself to find who he is, you're probably not going to find a better anime for that then NGE, and I do recommend it to you in full if you happen to have an interest in character drama.

If however you are like me, and you enjoy the adventure moreso than people's emotions getting in the way, I recommend a hard pass on this one.