I'm probably going to be shot for resurrecting an old thread, but eh well.

It's important to remember that NGE is a 26-episode anime series and NXE is a written quartet of book-length pieces, and hence comparing the two directly is tricky. There's far, far more room for multiple plotlines and subtle little bits of character development in a piece of writing compared to a movie, TV series or even manga. This is why, from a storytelling point of view, I much prefer the written word. I'd *love* to see NGE the definitive novel; that's sort of what many of the good fanfics aspire to be.

That said, I might go so far as to say that watching NGE changed my life, for all its flaws and frustrations.