I've only watched the original series, once, and understood most of it.

It's just meaning is very very vague on purpose. It's not meant to be specific. Most of Japanese art is like that.

Also, if you start learning Japanese language, you'll quickly notice that the "I'm not going to tell you anything directly" and "read the room" permeates even casual and especially formal daily conversations.

That was me with Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Really? Eva is pretty straightforward to understand once you watched End of Evangelion, Misato pretty much explains most of it in the movie.