So I'm watching Neon Genesis Evangelion right now

[The Ghost of RubangB]

Kasz216 said:

The Ghost of RubangB said:
The main thing to remember, for fans and foes alike, is that Neon Genesis Evangelion is actually an anime about childhood psychological trauma, and that giant robot battles and religious madness is the setting, not the story.

That's exactly why it isn't deep though.  It's very straightfoward with a bunch of other bullshit on top for people to choose their own theme if they don't like the original obvious theme that couldn't be more spelled out unless he went "i'm so depressed" every 5 minutes.  (Which, he practically did.)

It would be like if someone made a simpe "rescue the princess" type game, but everyone was named after different different mythological and religious symbols all over the place... it would still be just about "rescuing the princess" with a bunch of red herrings out there as pretentious slight of hand.

Sounds like you described The Legend of Zelda or Muramasa: The Demon Blade.