Mhh look, even the first line of the article is already wrong. Yes, the manga was released almost a full year before the anime, but that was just due to "production hitches". NGE was always first and foremost meant to be a TV series.

Also, honestly... Maybe 5% of the discussions I have ever heard is about robots, fighting and whatnot (the usual mecha stuff). Almost the entirety of the fandom is neckdeep into exactly these things.

As for the content itself: the characters are a parody of real human beings. Psychoanalysis is fraud. Anno said laughing that he never read Kierkegaard. And I guess a question about consciousness isn't half bad.. but the one quoted is a platitude, which I don't think the series really explores.

What else? Of course when the responsibilities you are running away from are literally "doomsday", there isn't exactly much of a choice. But in the real world, escaping to south america or siberia is usually a pretty effective way to dump all your problems. The other definition of freedom seems instead a botched attempt of explaining negative and positive liberty.

p.s. the great majority of animes can pass the bechdel test.. but even if a harem could challenge certain prudish stereotypes, I wouldn't exactly imply them to be progressive