Copypasta'd from somewhere else...

'I found so many people called this pretentious babble, but it was hardly that.

This show lives on its own ideas about humanity, individualism, “God”, social issues, mythology (many of the characters borrow from Celtic, Norse and ancient Greek pre-Christian mythology), identity, civilization, social hierarchy’s and so much more. It only slightly borrows pre-existing philosophical ideas, and when it does, it expands on them. It’s easy to say it’s pretentious if you don’t get it, but if you can grasp the subjects at hand and realize they’re not what the show is primarily about - and rather simply a backing to it - then it’s easy to enjoy this for what it is. It’s one of the finest pieces of science fiction I’ve seen.

It’s interesting to take note that a few of the main robots/AutoReivs are named after Edmund Husserl, Jacques Lacan, and Jacques Derrida. If you’re familiar with their philosophical and educational subjects, it really adds a lot of depth to the series (concepts about deconstruction, structuralism, epistemology). This form of “covert intellectualism” (for lack of a better word) reminds me a lot of Boogiepop Phantom and Serial Experiments Lain, which had lots and lots of subtle ideas planted into the show that really need a conscious mind to notice and interpret.'