>>283369015
The backgrounds were so stylized because still images was all they could afford if they wanted to maintain high bursts of animation.
Didn't stop anyone from endlessly complaining about the nonsense of these backgrounds. Today they are quaint and their graphic design can be appreciated, 15 years ago they were lazy shit, copypasted in blender and not anime.

>>283369060
They keep the focus solely on the speaking characters and remove distractions. Just surrealist visuals in unison with the surrealist dialogue and plot while saving budget at the same time. Mistakes into miracles, bugs are features, deliver on time using this one genius trick.