Rebirth is like a recap film with new footage. It's more a side-piece to the main series than replacing it. And the Rebuilds are extremely post-modern retelling of the main theme (I'd say worse at it) while adding new stuff that reflects Anno's new mental states as he went from stressed out animator in the '90s to over-successful uber-otaku producer/director of the 2000s/2010s.

I prefer EoE just because it's one of the bleakest, saddest depictions in animation of what it personally feels like when everything around you is literally or ideologically falling apart. But again, it's all very post-modern so it basically sits aside the main TV series rather than being something that objectively overwrites it.

The cool thing about Evangelion is that you don't have to choose a favorite. It's a very rare opportunity to see how a single story can be told in different ways for different times and different meanings. All of the endings are good, in my opinion.

Personally, I don't think the original ending is in line with the pessimistic tones of the original run. I find it kind of strange that shinji self actualizes at the end when there's really no indication as to why that would happen. Because of this, I think EoE caps off the the original run perfectly.

However, Rebuild presents a very different set of events, and the optimistic self actualization ending makes a lot of sense. It decided to retroactively make the original ending appropriate.

So... They're all great

Imo, EoE should be considered part of the original show because it's what they intended to do before running out of money. Some of the previews in the last few episodes never aired and only show up in EoE, for example, and uhh spoilers but some things in EoE can be understood to occur concurrently with eps 25/26. If I had to choose, though, I would agree that EoE is definitely better than the show's ending.

The Rebuild movies are still kind of interesting but not as good. The first movie is basically identical to the show with very, very minor detail changes (Misato is a higher rank and knows about Adam), and the second is a further slight departure, but the third and fourth go completely fucking off the rails. I'd say to watch them if you enjoyed the original show + EoE.

EoE's better (and my favorite anime of all time) but I honestly don't mind 25&26 too much. The content's not the issue for me, more that the episodes are just badly paced, slow and boring, kind of a slog to get through.

Rebuilds are worth watching because they're well-made and entertaining but they're not better than the original. It doesn't have as much of the psychological aspect, it's not full "wow cool robot!" but it's definitely not as deep or interesting as the original. The last movie is by far the best, but the ending itself is kind of bad. And there's a new character that I still don't really understand the purpose of.

Which version of NGE do you prefer?

Victory Gundam

Jokes aside, I like comic> TV> EoE. Still haven't finished the rebuild movies, so I can't speak for them.