I take issue with pejorative statements of that sort being used to describe Shinji as either a person. Shinji is an emotionally abused fourteen-year-old who likely suffers from both depression and PTSD who is dragooned into being a child soldier in his fathers apocalyptic war. A lot of people choose to intepret this as "spineless wuss-boy" because, shock of shocks, he isn't a hot-blooded hero who proclaims how his drill will pierce the heavens¹.

NGE isn't an action show about giant robots with dramatic undertones; it's a character drama that also sometimes is about the horror of war and mans essential isolation from his fellow man. It kinda has to be evaluated in that context, rather than the context of giant robots kicking ass.

-Merc
Keep Rat

¹I am the only person in the world who dislikes Gurren Laggan. I stood up and fucking cheered when Kamina died.