User blog comment:Gundam Legilis/Philosophy in RWBY/@comment-10380701-20150126073355/@comment-3146930-20150127040135

From what I understand, the team had a creative meltdown and they went over budget, result in the "Congratulations!" and limited animation for the last few episodes. Then when they did get some more money after the show ended, they made the movies as a way to redo the last 4-5 episodes, which may have caused another meltdown. I've even heard rumors that the show was so taxing, the studio offered to let them make FLCL as a kind of cool-off project.

Personally, if that last bit is true then I'm glad NGE was made if it meant the creation of FLCL; that show was funny.