I watched the first ten episodes, and it seems to be just a monster-of-the-day show with lots of fanservice. Am I missing something?

It's a good show, but so overrated that it can never live up to expectations. Stick with it and the "End of Evangelion" movie will provide a nice payoff at the end.

The endless new EVA redux cash grabs are another story altogether. Redux EVA is basically a cynical welfare program for Anno based on tarting up old girl EVA with Otaku fanservice like "glasses girls", and making her "turn tricks" in this new guise for pimp Anno.

It was an early anime to get mainstream success and exposure in the west which I think contributes a lot to it's reputation. It's also a pretty big mindfuck for 14 year olds.

Also Rei a shit.