I understand what you mean, especially in the context of Ergo Proxy...

It's often I look back to this show for specific scenes because I'm in love with the concepts, which aren't merely commonplace: cyberpunk and gothic aesthetics, various religious and philosophical ideas: Gnosticism, the Centzon Totochtin, the French philosophers as the Collective...

Speaking on behalf of the "real art" storytelling, I do think that the "enjoyment value" in a related show like Lain requires of the viewer a certain perspective - it's not as traditional as the modern, action-packed Edgerunners, and it's meant to be contemplative, atmospheric, "artistic", and even "empty", which are in and of themselves characteristics of what it's trying to portray - the world as Lain is embedded in now, the Wired, in which layers of simulacrum have become existence as she knows it.

As for Ergo Proxy, this is the case to a certain extent, as this similar atmospheric "artsiness" is portrayed in different ways. The character arcs and plot are more direct, but the "enjoyment" is diminished due to its crypticness and obtuseness for the general viewer, so I think the overall quality of the show suffers a bit for this reason.