Honestly, if that's the only reason then its a fine one. But let's not pretend that isn't waifuism instead of a mark of quality.
It does show you have a low bar for waifus though, as she is deliberately designed that way and is the only non-malicious part of the Rebuilds. As in, she was literally Anno simping for his own fucking wife and making her the "canon winner" of the series.
Shinji ended Evangelion finally doing one great thing (making a choice to return to his flawed individuality and connect with people the difficult, meaningful way)
Shinji's first meaningful action in the rebuilds is monumentally screwing up everything, gets cucked from Asuka by some other dude, continues screwing up, denied comfort from Rei, who becomes a living doll ("how dare you have feelings for her!!" -- Anno)
Shinji fails upward into relationship with a living anime figurine, touches grass somehow, end scene
Not to mention the magical realism/space opera arc with Captain Misato of the USS Whale Zoid, Pirate Asuka, and Elton Kaworu is an insult to anyone who took Evangelion as a real story and not just a psychodrama for otaku therapy purposes.
On top of what Shadow said, Anno was interviewed multiple times over the years saying he hated Eva, hated his fans, and generally hated everything about his life/career before he hit it big in the 00s. And even then he resented being known as the Eva guy.
Numerous parts of the Rebuild is deliberately designed to "subvert expectations" in the worst way. The entire writing of Asuka specifically was one of them, as was the ending using his "OC of his literal wife" as the winner of a 30 year waifu debate.
Completely divorced of its outside context pieces, its just a generic mecha series. Which makes it all the more apparent that Anno's entire goal with it was to shit on the original instead of either directly adapt with a bigger budget or create something with new ideas using his new outlooks on life.
If by legit you mean legitimately made as a middle finger to all prior fans, then yes they were very legit.
They are the sequel trilogy of anime.
If someone simps for the rebuilds, I assume they're a Mari fan.
Honestly, if that's the only reason then its a fine one. But let's not pretend that isn't waifuism instead of a mark of quality.
It does show you have a low bar for waifus though, as she is deliberately designed that way and is the only non-malicious part of the Rebuilds. As in, she was literally Anno simping for his own fucking wife and making her the "canon winner" of the series.
Don't let EvaGeeks see this.
While I agree the TV series is superior, I've seen some pretty impassioned defenses of the Rebuilds there.
No defense of it will make up for the fact that it was made with spite to the very people and IP that made Anno famous.
Its literally the Joker 2 of anime, except instead of a single bad movie everyone mocked it was a 10 year quadrilogy that a bunch of tourists defend.
But how was it spiteful?
Not to mention the magical realism/space opera arc with Captain Misato of the USS Whale Zoid, Pirate Asuka, and Elton Kaworu is an insult to anyone who took Evangelion as a real story and not just a psychodrama for otaku therapy purposes.
On top of what Shadow said, Anno was interviewed multiple times over the years saying he hated Eva, hated his fans, and generally hated everything about his life/career before he hit it big in the 00s. And even then he resented being known as the Eva guy.
Numerous parts of the Rebuild is deliberately designed to "subvert expectations" in the worst way. The entire writing of Asuka specifically was one of them, as was the ending using his "OC of his literal wife" as the winner of a 30 year waifu debate.
Completely divorced of its outside context pieces, its just a generic mecha series. Which makes it all the more apparent that Anno's entire goal with it was to shit on the original instead of either directly adapt with a bigger budget or create something with new ideas using his new outlooks on life.