Don't worry tyrus. I consider myself rather intelligent and I don't think I've gotten all of it after the third time I watched it!
(And you spelled tachikoma right!)
I haven't seen the last 3 episodes of Second Gig but the first 23 were quite a bit easier to follow (but no less entertaining and the animation is
even better)
I just remembered, has anyone seen Steam Boy? It's a fairly recent movie by Katsuhiro Otomo (the guy who wrote Akira and Directed the anime version of Metropolis). That's a good movie. If you like Miyazaki you should definitely check it out. It's like steam-powered 19th century london, but all the steam powered stuff is really high tech. Like robots and moving castles all powered by steam.