There are plenty outright sexual bits, but I do think a lot of it is meant to be either directly or subversively motherly instead. Or even just "raw intimacy" like with Kaworu that isn't meant to be gay but just something warm.

I did feel that way about Kaworu, and if there was anything truly homosexual about it that's because Shinji was at his most emotionally broken thus far and was desperate for any kind of human affection.

Rei does start as a sexual figure to Shinji, but he quickly becomes taken by higher feelings. By the time of her famous smile the connection might have even started to drift from romance, and when Asuka is into her self-destructive arc, Shinji and Rei are definitely in a deep non-romantic relationship. It's impassioned, confusing, and Oedipal, but it ends up developing away from that.

I do think there needs to be a lot of consideration given towards Eva when comparing the first half versus the second. Like the first half is a lot more straightforward with being an anime and using its tropes, including the "love triangle/harem" elements of his relationships with all the girls. By the second half almost all sexual elements are played for horror or allegory for something else.

I think there is a bit of truth to this, but there are several profound scenes of isolation and despair in the early episodes that foreshadow the later catastrophes. Gendo's introduction is a forceful and effective impression of his character. There's a scene of Shinji literally staring at the unfamiliar ceiling above his bed in the first episode which is clearly evocative of displacement-induced anomie and wouldn't appear in a straightforward mecha show. Also the first of many Shinji flameouts and despairing Misato lectures appear in the first few episodes.

Editorial influence might have played up the fun times in the first half, but they effectively counterpoint the landslide in the second half and make it more realistic. To that point Anno infamously said he had no idea what he was doing with Rei, but if that's true then I guess he just has a talent for spinning gold.

There are plenty outright sexual bits, but I do think a lot of it is meant to be either directly or subversively motherly instead. Or even just "raw intimacy" like with Kaworu that isn't meant to be gay but just something warm.

I did feel that way about Kaworu, and if there was anything truly homosexual about it that's because Shinji was at his most emotionally broken thus far and was desperate for any kind of human affection.

Rei does start as a sexual figure to Shinji, but he quickly becomes taken by higher feelings. By the time of her famous smile the connection might have even started to drift from romance, and when Asuka is into her self-destructive arc, Shinji and Rei are definitely in a deep non-romantic relationship.

I do think there needs to be a lot of consideration given towards Eva when comparing the first half versus the second. Like the first half is a lot more straightforward with being an anime and using its tropes, including the "love triangle/harem" elements of his relationships with all the girls. By the second half almost all sexual elements are played for horror or allegory for something else.

I think there is a bit of truth to this, but there are several profound scenes of isolation and despair in the early episodes that foreshadow the later catastrophes. Gendo's introduction is a forceful and effective impression of his character. There's a scene of Shinji literally staring at the unfamiliar ceiling above his bed in the first episode which is clearly evocative of displacement-induced anomie and wouldn't appear in a straightforward mecha show. Also the first of many Shinji flameouts and despairing Misato lectures appear in the first few episodes.

Editorial influence might have played up the fun times in the first half, but they effectively counterpoint the landslide in the second half and make it more realistic. To that point Anno infamously said he had no idea what he was doing with Rei, but if that's true then I guess he just has a talent for spinning gold.