Please_don't_ban_me wrote...
I have some bad news for you... If it's news at all, Q is, without a doubt, a cock-slap to the face of every Eva fan. Anno explains nothing and drives the plot way off course (not from the original story, well, ok, it is totally different, but it's arbitrarily confusing, not "it's Eva so expect to rewatch it for it to make sense", just, "okay, why is that? I'm not following because it wasn't established or even implied... What, why?")
It's Eva if it traded continuity and development for even darker motifs. Anno is off his meds, either that or he wants to be done with the series enough to run it straight into the ground. 2.22 was a change in pace, and mostly welcomed, 3.0 is just taking leprechaun flight 101 to the dark side of Mars loony.
Without spoiling it (and the immediate and unbelievable out of left field change of direction), the scenes with Kaworu were beautifully done (though with less homoeroticism than I was expecting) and the original score is fairly good once again.
Oh, yes, and it's riddled with plot holes, you'll lose count quickly. Almost everything that happens is totally arbitrary and has no explanation.
Edit: Why is 4.0 listed before Q?
I was having some trouble understanding your comment and it was because I made a mistake. EVA Q is the same as EVA 3.0, not EVA 4.0 as I mentioned before. I have seen 3.0.
I agree, it felt very strange. He altered the story quite a lot, made it nearly unrecognizable now. I think changing Misato the way he did was not a very wise move. However, the scenes with Kaworu were quite amazing and the ending was nothing short of beautiful. I think the issue here is one between old and new. Should you see the Rebuild films without having seen the main anime and I think you would be highly impressed. Still, as far as plot points go, it does seem pointless now to attempt an understanding of the main anime in conjunction with these new entries.