ever since ep5 or so I've had the feeling the show have been rushing through the annihilation of most angels until only a few would be left and the really fleshed out part of the plot would kick back in
I don't wanna say those episodes are filler but they'd be hanging on a really strained thread weren't it for the glimmers of backstory and the new characters that get introduced
the angel fights didn't contribute all that much to character development beyond shinji, asuka and rei getting more used to each other and getting way more skilled as pilots, and any tense moment ended up working out fine in the end without any unexpected permanent impacts to the story
but ep14 seems to be the point where the rush is over, judging by the recap of past events and the name-drop of several important sounding plot points
I'm hyped again