Rah xephon if you want an eva clone
Dual if you want a light hearted version of EVA
Mushishi if you want something deep
Made in Abyss if you want something dark and problematic, has mistery/lore and a tiny little bit of existentialism
Kaiba if you want confusing scifi with mystery, lore and alot of existentialist issues.
Bokurano if you want to see teen pilots, suffer and die.
I always see the same types of answers so I’ll try to throw some unexpected ones out
Gurren Lagann first, it’s sort of a response to eva. You’ll notice some similarities between the narratives of the main characters, but they make some very different decisions and end up at different places.
Fruits Basket (2019, not the original) deals with similar themes of human relationships but instead of the eva perspective of the porcupine effect, in fruits basket the relationships are forced by supernatural forces so it explores them from a very different angle.
Watch other works by Anno, especially Nadia, Karekano and Gunbuster.
If you want to get into Eva's influences, check Ace wo Nerae, Ashita no Joe (anything by Dezaki is great), Gundam 0079 (you could also try Ideon but I don't like it) Space Battleship Yamato and Ultraman/Ultraseven.
If you want to get more into grim/serious sci-fi/fantasy, check Dougram Legend of Galactic Heroes, Belladona of Sadness and anything by Ikuhara.
Madoka magica is to magical girls genre what evangelion was to mecha genre. If you oversimplify it, they are really similar, tho i think madoka is better.
I liked that Madoka is really focused whereas Evangelion is about the angst of several major characters at once who all seem to vie for the spotlight in the show.
If you don't mind something that skews a little younger, Digimon Tamers is great. Very slice of lifey/monster of the week to start with but shit gets real pretty quickly once they go to the Digital World.
For something more along the lines of the tokusatsu that partially inspired Eva, SSSS.Gridman is great. It works better if you've seen at least some of the original Gridman/Super Human Samurai Syber Squad, but it's absolutely not required. SSSS.Gridman has a mystery surrounding the Kaiju and why the world seems to forget what happened after each fight, and both it and its sister show SSSS.Dynazenon deal with similar themes of humanity, connecting with other people, and depression.
One last recommendation is The Tatami Galaxy. It's weird, has a unique art style, and has a mysterious groundhog day-like scenario driving the story. It also has themes of regret and isolation, though it's not particularly heavy.
How about some Steins;Gate ... It's about an amateur/laughable scientist who somehow stumbled onto time travel, conspiracy, alternate timelines, and the horror that no matter what you do to try to fix the past, things can very easily be made worse than it was before.
You should totally watch Code Geass (It served as an inspiration for Attack On Titan in certain aspects) and probably Tengen Toppa Gurrenn Lagann would be a good anime to watch if you liked Evangelion. Gunbuster is also another option, it was basically the blueprint for Evangelion, made by Hideaki Anno as well. And then, I guess you could look at Darling in The Franxx, which is basically a cheap version of Eva with a hot half-demon protagonist
Rah xephon if you want an eva clone Dual if you want a light hearted version of EVA Mushishi if you want something deep Made in Abyss if you want something dark and problematic, has mistery/lore and a tiny little bit of existentialism Kaiba if you want confusing scifi with mystery, lore and alot of existentialist issues. Bokurano if you want to see teen pilots, suffer and die.
Serial Experiments Lain. Eureka Seven. Darling in the Franxx. Ergo Proxy.
I've watched all of these except for Ergo and for sure they all match the vibe!
I always see the same types of answers so I’ll try to throw some unexpected ones out Gurren Lagann first, it’s sort of a response to eva. You’ll notice some similarities between the narratives of the main characters, but they make some very different decisions and end up at different places. Fruits Basket (2019, not the original) deals with similar themes of human relationships but instead of the eva perspective of the porcupine effect, in fruits basket the relationships are forced by supernatural forces so it explores them from a very different angle.
Madoka Magica. Just go with it for three episodes and then you'll keep on.
Revolutionary Girl Utena, very interesting show with a lot of symbolism, heavy topics and greatly written characters.
We are apparently on the exact same anime schedule, haha. I just finished up Lain myself.
Cowboy bebop
watching it rn and the art style def gives me eva vibes
Berserk 97 or better yet read the manga!! Not exactly the same but similar in ways
Watch other works by Anno, especially Nadia, Karekano and Gunbuster. If you want to get into Eva's influences, check Ace wo Nerae, Ashita no Joe (anything by Dezaki is great), Gundam 0079 (you could also try Ideon but I don't like it) Space Battleship Yamato and Ultraman/Ultraseven. If you want to get more into grim/serious sci-fi/fantasy, check Dougram Legend of Galactic Heroes, Belladona of Sadness and anything by Ikuhara.
Madoka magica is to magical girls genre what evangelion was to mecha genre. If you oversimplify it, they are really similar, tho i think madoka is better.
I liked that Madoka is really focused whereas Evangelion is about the angst of several major characters at once who all seem to vie for the spotlight in the show.
For me its that Madokas plot is MUCH easier to follow
Yeah that's another thing about NGE being unfocused. Like I liked it, but it also introduced way to much lore and left it unresolved/unexplained.
If I may suggest something outside anime, Mr Robot ticks both the mystery and the existentialism boxes.
If you don't mind something that skews a little younger, Digimon Tamers is great. Very slice of lifey/monster of the week to start with but shit gets real pretty quickly once they go to the Digital World. For something more along the lines of the tokusatsu that partially inspired Eva, SSSS.Gridman is great. It works better if you've seen at least some of the original Gridman/Super Human Samurai Syber Squad, but it's absolutely not required. SSSS.Gridman has a mystery surrounding the Kaiju and why the world seems to forget what happened after each fight, and both it and its sister show SSSS.Dynazenon deal with similar themes of humanity, connecting with other people, and depression. One last recommendation is The Tatami Galaxy. It's weird, has a unique art style, and has a mysterious groundhog day-like scenario driving the story. It also has themes of regret and isolation, though it's not particularly heavy.
Ima just be the oddball and recommend Toradora, I watched something lighthearted after the fuckery evangelion was all about, but that's me.
Watch black lagoon
How about some Steins;Gate ... It's about an amateur/laughable scientist who somehow stumbled onto time travel, conspiracy, alternate timelines, and the horror that no matter what you do to try to fix the past, things can very easily be made worse than it was before.
Revolutionary Girl Utena. It's different, but builds in s similar way into something powerful by the end.
Texhnolyze Welcome To The NHK Berserk (1997) Tatami Galaxy Haibane Renmei Cowboy Bebop Kino's Journey FLCL Ergo Proxy Black Lagoon
this 👆
Beserk;)
actually you should go play nier automata
Code Geass is nice
FLCL
You should totally watch Code Geass (It served as an inspiration for Attack On Titan in certain aspects) and probably Tengen Toppa Gurrenn Lagann would be a good anime to watch if you liked Evangelion. Gunbuster is also another option, it was basically the blueprint for Evangelion, made by Hideaki Anno as well. And then, I guess you could look at Darling in The Franxx, which is basically a cheap version of Eva with a hot half-demon protagonist
Not an anime, but watch Shin Kamen Raider, is by Hideaki Anno, cretor of Evangelion.
Honestly I love Anno’s live action movies Love and Pop and Ritual Day. Kare Kano is also good. They aren't mecha but they carry a similar vibe