Nova prompted Otou (founder of SOS) to send me an e-mail, where — between attempts to reduce me to rubble and paragraphs of personal abuse — he described his view of MawaPengu thus:

Penguindrum's buzz on the blogs is a result of two things:

• Pedigree. this is Kunihiko Ikuhara we're talking about. Revolutionary Girl Utena is a landmark in anime, never mind Sailor Moon, and the guy doing another original series after this long is tantamount to Jesus Christ returning for some folks. This is an elder statesman, not a fly by night trying to titillate with incest or (as is I'm sure at least partially the case with Madoka's Gen Urobuchi) shock us with disturbing content.
• Execution. With the exception of the brief incestuous moment which is, like I said, probably not what it seems in the least, the first episode was executed with extreme confidence, high values, and a unique style that is pretty hard to ignore. Bright colors, a good look, absolutely zero wasted time, and yeah, some seriously confusing – but intriguing – stuff.

I think this pretty much sums up the conventional wisdom on the matter.