Richard Qunt wrote:
> Part of the appeal of Evangelion is definitely in the sheer number of
> incredibly sexually attractive female characters featured in the series.

And yet I can take them seriously, unlike, say, the former Playmate that 
was a nuclear physicist in a recent Bond movie. Maybe that says 
something about me, too.

> Whether it's Misato, with her fine ass and jiggly E-cup breasts bursting out
> over every top she wears, Ritsuko with her tight tops, short skirts, fishnet
> tights and stilletto heels, Asuka with her tight plugsuit and underage
> spunkiness, Maya with her cute boyishness or Rei just being Rei, you can't
> deny that the chicks make a huge impression, especially on the men that
> watch.

True, but I think the larger problem here is your choice of words. Most 
of the content that you make up here is due to an obsession over the 
characters, giving them fantasy personality traits that are barely 
present, if at all, in the series itself. Cases in point are many of 
discussions in this forum along the lines of "Would Rei/Asuka do ___?" 
And I'm not talking about fanfiction here so much as one's view of the 
characters reflects more on oneself than the actual content of the show.

And it's not like they're made so just for the viewer: look at how 
Shinji responds when he's put into situations around Asuka, Rei, Misato. 
These are essential plot devices.

> My question is this - would Evangelion be as popular/interesting without all
> that eye candy, those bountiful breasts, those firm buttocks, those long,
> sexy legs, that beuatiful hair?

Maybe not for you. I can't speak for the whole audience. But the thing 
about anime is that it's quite hard to draw *bad* looking characters, 
especially if that's not reflected in their personality. They are, after 
all, not ordinary humans.

> The series provides something for the brain and something for the penis,
> which I think is quite a happy medium.

And yet there are other parts of the body as well.

> I just have a feeling that NGE wouldn't have been such a cult favourite
> without such sexual content to grab the viewer's attention.

One could argue the same thing about Baywatch, but I was never drawn 
into that enough to watch more than five minutes.

> What do you think?

I think I lost all respect for GAINAX as a company when they started 
selling this:

http://www.gainax.co.jp/goods/cat_3.html

One wonders how much interaction the merchandisers have with the 
creators of the series.

I also think this post has lost any focus. Sorry.

-- 
Drinian: http://www.slashdot.org/~sailracer6/journal/