I wouldn't say it's bad, but it's got issues.
My biggest problem with it is that it's the definition of pretentious. It wants to make some kind of grand statement alongside other classic tales of dystopian fiction, constantly namedropping better, more thoughtful works, but it's content to just be a pulpy mess about the Grand Eccentric Mastermind and the one Cop On The Edge who can match wits with him, fighting against a deeply silly Grand Conspiracy.
Intelligence is measured in how many philosophers you can quote from memory. Most of the cast winds up badly underdeveloped. The actual concerns about the appropriate boundary between individual freedom and collective submission, or individual discretion in applying broad, dogmatic law get ignored for the sake of shock value and "raising the stakes". In terms of being an actually thoughtful work of science fiction (compared to Ghost in the Shell, Time of Eve, Harmony, or even Gargantia) it falls deeply short.
Some of that is just my expectations going in (since they were aiming for Ghost in the Shell in their marketing of the series), because as pulpy cyberpunk it has its moments. It's fine. The whole helmet arc is pretty exciting, particularly. It just doesn't do justice to its premise.
It's still probably the show I feel the silliest for
giving the benefit of the doubt in its early episodes.
