Imaishi is one of the most talented animators in the industry, bar none. That pretentious sack of feces that is Shinkai wishes to be this good.
What I don't get is this: his passion project, made by every talented animator in the studio that he owns is... a copycat of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi? A McCracken/Genndy wannabe? Why? For what reason?

It would at least make sense if the westoids were paying Trigger to defecate this and make an easy buck out of it, but all the names in the production committee are Japanese companies. It's not like the Japanese audiences (or other creators) care about this shit. Its impact is non-existent: name me a single anime or manga from the past fifteen years that has been inspired by PSG.