Also watched...(addendum)

I just also wanted to acknowledge in passing of having finished all of the original series of Madoka Magica and agree wholeheartedly with the general acclaim of its overall awesomeness.  I have not yet seen the Madoka Magica movies and do not plan to until I can confirm there are English dub versions available.  If not, I'm not interested.

I also rented, watched, and later purchased for myself on Blu-Ray the Evangelion rebuild movies released so far in North America, namely Evangelion 1.11 You are (Not) Alone and Evangelion 2.22 You can (Not) advance.  Last fall I finished the original Neon Genesis Evangelion series and the two original movies concluding with End of Evangelion.  I recommend re-watching those final films with the English voice commentary turned on for the full effect, because it explains a lot of things you might miss with only a single viewing in whatever language.

With respect to the rebuild movies, Evangelion 1.11 is entirely faithful to the original story, but is highly condensed and compressed and beautifully animated.  I don't know if it would stand alone as a good movie for anyone not familiar with the original series, but as a person already familiar with the show, it did not disappoint, and, being familiar already with the general outline of the story, I was better able to sit back an take in the pleasures of the show's revamped visuals. 

Evangelion 2.22 is also visually stunning, but story-wise it rapidly veers off into brand new territory.  There are significant changes made to the characterizations of both Rei Ayanami and Asuka.  Asuka's interest in Kaji is seemingly removed, replaced by a renewed interest in Shinji to add jealousy on top of the other elements of Asuka's hatred of Rei Ayanami.  It's no longer clear or explicit that Askua hails from Germany; indeed she's given a Japanese last name, Shikinami rather than Soryu Langley.  At least she's reprised in the English dub by Tiffany Grant, returning to the cast, along with the original voice talents for Shinji and Misato.  Asuka is moreover transformed into an actual Tsundere for the rebuilds (she is NOT a Tsundere in the original show, popular opinion to the contrary notwithstanding).

Rei Ayanami (voiced by Brina Palencia in the re-boot) is given a greater expressiveness and actual personality that she really did not posess in the original series.  There's an inner warmth detectable in her ice-princess exterior that simply wasn't there before.  Rei was largely cold & indifferent to Shinji until the end of the original series, but in these rebuild movies, she shows an emotional connection to Shinji much earlier on in the narrative.  She's still completely devoted to Shinji's father, but perhaps less fanatically so in the rebuild than in the original show.

I also recently finished the epic series Gurren Lagann, which was pretty amazing.  Another good one to be familiar with.

I really liked these shows quite a lot.  Good to have watched & experienced them.