Conversation

It would be interesting to live in a world where Death & Rebirth and EoE never happened, and instead we got the second season that had originally been pitched, wherein EoTV was retconned immediately and instead the whole story is about Werewolf Asuka.

I think, in such a world, Evangelion would not be seen as a classic but instead one of those forgotten gems that were briefly extremely popular but doomed by weak follow-ups (like Saber Marionette J, Slayers, or Onegai Teacher).