The ADV trailer had the same effect on me until I watched Gunbuster for the umpteenth time, realized what a huge Anno/Gainax fan I was, and proceeded to track down all the remaining shows I could find. Unfortunately, at that time Eva was out of print, so I decided to check out an HK set. After a few episodes, I tossed out that HK set, and went about tracking down the 2 collections ADV put out, a couple weeks and a bit too much cash later, I found both brand new with the soundtrack disc's included.
The musical cue's alone in Nadia will scream proto-Eva at you, it's such an awesome show. Considering ADV decided to re-release both sets at a reasonable prince, and removed the cancerous tumor that was the movie as an extra service, you owe it to yourself to snag the series. It's 85% pure gold, and 15% Island & Africa episodes that were tacked on by the network to increase the episode count. That resulted in Anno leaving Gainax (the first time), but thankfully the end of the series had already been fully set up, leaving epic win after you trudge through the late mid series muck.