That actually sums up Neon Genesis: Evangelion pretty well. I just don't understand why you seem to have not enjoyed it.

Did they keep in the bit where Shinji masturbates on the comatose girl?

Dwight, I think that's going to be movie four. Only the first two are out so far for us non-japanese.

Yeah, that does seem to pretty well summarize all the main points, at least as far as they've reached in the overall story thus far. Though in your friend's defense, anime seems to be one of those polarizing things in this world (like coconut flavoring or GWB), and Evangelion (Eva/EVA) is one of the more polarizing series in that genre, I think.

Lindy, you didn't miss anything. //Evangelion// does not actually make any sense, so there's no need to worry about it. It's not really worth watching unless you like blasphemous freakouts, extreme sex creepiness, and blood spraying everywhere. Personally I stopped watching after the 18th episode where I realized there was actually no depth to the story (I was 13).

The best Japanese cartoon...is Mushishi. Kind of like a medieval star trek.

I'm told the whole giant robot pilot thing is like a metaphor for adolescence? Because your body is suddenly giant and weird and you have to use it to fight monsters (and touch a boob).