>>3003175>read all sorts of nefarious intentions into his work.That's not how it works. Let me demonstrate how it works: First you look at what Anno has produced. How is Rei portrayed? How does this change over time? How are other character portrayed in relation to Rei?
Doing that, we can objectively state that Rei has, ever since EoE, been on a downward trend in terms of portrayal. She's become less important, less powerful, less intelligent, less admirable and has less achievements in new works.
Are you following so far? Good. Next step is comparing Rei's "trend" with other characters. Considering main characters, Asuka and Kaworu in particular have had an upwards trend in the same fields. Why is this?
What effect does these trends have? Based on fanart, merchandise sales, discussion and popularity, we can assert that Rei is getting less popular, and that Asuka and Kaworu are getting more popular. This is logical because fans prefer favorable portrayals that give them what they want.
Now that we've identified the trend and it's effects, we can try understanding why it exists, and whether or not there's bias. We can now correlate Anno (and the opinion of other writers) with the portrayal of the characters. Long story short, Anno's favorite character is Asuka, he speaks highly of Kaworu but lowly of Rei.
We have a correlation between the portrayal of characters and the authors personal preference. We have established bias. Now whether or not you find this "nefarious" is up to you. It would happen that most do, which is why they so quickly become shocked and go in denial about it. They don't want to think that Anno is really this petty. But they are idiots who only harm Anno, the franchise and the fanbase because of their refusal to give proper feedback. Through your denial, you enable Anno in creating otaku pandering schlock and passing it off as "real EVA". This is why your attitude is dangerous.
