The pace of this show is relentless, there are 26 episodes worth of plot crammed into 12, and it throws some absolutely preposterous plot twists at you in short succession. It can be a very disorienting experience, in part because there is so much happening all the time that the show leaves little room to explain what is actually going on or the significance of various events. It requires close watching and even rewatching to fully understand what is happening at points, and the show is very light on exposition until the last 2 episodes, so it requires a fair amount of reading between the lines. For example, there is a 3 year time jump at one point in the story, and the show does not call attention to it in any way or let you know that is what's happening. It simply leaves you to wonder why the characters are so different and are all in different places until they start referring to previous events as having happened years earlier in conversation. A bit more audience handholding through a plot this loopy would have been greatly appreciated.
Another issue creating a generally confusing atmosphere is poor character design. Characters often look very samey in this show, especially in the Tokyo arc when they're inside their mechs and the lighting makes every character's hair and eye color the same shade of blue. There are spoiler reasons why some characters look so samey, but that doesn't actually help the problem of being unable to tell some of them apart for significant stretches of the show. Most aggravatingly, there are 4 different characters with purple eyes and black hair worn in a similar style and the show essentially leaves it to you to figure out who is who the majority of the time.
In general, the art for this show is dated and does not look great. The mechs actually look fine, it's the characters that don't always look good. The animation is occasionally a bit janky and the characters look fairly ugly. They have a tendency to look like they have the mumps when viewed in 3/4ths profile as well.
The characters themselves are fairly weak. Aoba and her mom are almost alone among the cast in having complex personalities, and her mom plays generic villain early, not developing layers until the 2nd half of the show. Many are one note, like the cold and competitive Rui and her goofball surrogate mother Minami, but this doesn't necessarily mean they are bad, just lacking in complexity. An unfortunate number of other characters, most glaringly Akao, are simply generic Good Girl That Tries Really Hard characters.
It can sound from all of this like I am very negative on the show, and I suppose I am in an objective sense, but I have to emphasize that this show can absolutely be a fun rollercoaster ride if you have the right mindset for it. The twists in this show are very stupid and very fun. If this sounds like something you can appreciate on its own terms, you'll be in for a treat. If you want to watch a legitimately high quality show, there are many better to choose from.
