OnyxReaper
Mind Over Metal, Metal Over Flesh
That being said, the movies certainly work better in a vacuum, there pacing is a little hectic though, it ends up playing as a really good action movie, whilst NGE as a series works on it's characters a fair bit more since it has the runtime to do so.Merch wise, hell yeah it does, though other than the fact that a lot of stuff that came after it just tried to cop it, usually badly, I honestly like EVA a lot and can't wait to see more of it, though I am also more fond of the series on it's own over the movies