I've seen a lot of shit anime, a good majority of anime is shit, but Evangelion wasn't one of them.
I'll be frank: anyone of the mind that there is no substance underneath Evangelion's 'facade' can go eat a knife. It provides an unusually accessible and sympathetic rendering of it's characters. It's dense in narrative style, as well -- a lot of the story relies on implication, and one of my favorite episodes, 'Rain, After the Escape' evokes, in it's narrative, a strong leaning towards pure visual storytelling. Once someone has latched on to the addictive characters, as an addition, and has spotted the first layer of implicit narrative, digging deeper is only rational. The finds that come after this 'picking-apart' are rather jones. The density of structure is amazing for supporting this kind of effort.
Pretentious? Okay. Is Evangelion, and, by extension, Hideaki Anno, trying to make a work that is unjustifiably asking for more distinction or merit than it deserves? If your looking for an ocean's depth of philisophical profundity, then you're the tit that's stumbling to any art-form. I can think of only a few that offer any real philisophical depth. Thing is: most shows or films that work on any philosophical level have to take the superficial route as viewers tend to loose interest when you start meandering textbook dissertations. As a storyteller, it's fundemental you get to the heart of any philosophical predilections for two reasons: so viewers can understand the important part to what's being said, and so that the show/film isn't smashed under it's own weight.
Anno and Evangelion plotted something smart here: nearly everything in the show is allegorical. Almost everything represents something else entirely. The Evas (the big 'mechs') are representive of motherhood, responsibility, finding self-worth through that responsibility, so-on, et al. These things aren't hammered into the viewer's head, instead, the story does the work for the viewer. It's only through the story that these meanings become evident. It's up to the viewer to discover them.
Beyond the philisophical leanings told through allegorical means, we have the human drama and psychology of the show. Hammered here? Nope. The relationships between the characters allows this to unfold. A look on a character's face, a moment unseen -- unspoken, a subtle image, or a deceptively simple line of dialogue is more important and relevant than any of the obvious in between.
Again, it's up to the viewer to carefully watch the relationships, and how these dynamic characters interact and react to what's going on. Minus a few, abstract psychological parts during the series and the last two episodes, we really don't learn anything about the characters save for how they interact in regards to each other and the happenings going down. Even through this alone, we get to know them very well.
It's not pretentious. It is 'deep', on most every level. It's not trying to teach a fucking psychology or philosophy course, it's trying to ask you the same questions the creator hismelf was pondering about during his 'mental breakdown' (it's called depression, FYI). That is artistic depth by any standard. The means about how the series accomplishes this are wonderful. Reason being because the show works on a heap of levels, and how 'deep' those levels actually go.
Seriously. Where is the goddamn pretention? If anything, claim it as being pseudo-intellectual. Hell, reading a few posts, I don't even think over half the people waxing shit on Evangelion have even watched it, and instead read some half-assed summary on Wikipedia. 
Oh, and hiya.
