Does it rehash of a lot of what Gainax has done before? Yeah. Borrowed metaphor from everything else they've done, and recycled character design.

Is it a fun show, with a story that manages to blend some humor and some weight fairly smoothly? Much to my surprise, yes. It even manages, perhaps, to say something a little different than certain previous Gainax works. If Eva and Abeno were works where ultimately the protagonist succeeds (Shinji finds himself, Sasshi saves the day,) Konomini is definetely a case where he is settling for what he's been dealt. He doesn't get the girl, he doesn't get his dream, all he gets, is more mature (maturation being an underlying theme in the majority of Gainax works, hence why it's not totally fresh.)

If nothing else though, it's more fun than what I've seen of Melody of Oblivion. I guess I've gotta watch through that if I'm going to compare them though.

I might even pick this show up. Maybe. We'll see how much it costs to preorder.