Saber Marionette J is often considered to be a cheap copy of the anime Tenchi Muyo. You have your tough girl who drinks a lot of sake, your pompous girl who is the stereotypical perfect wife, and your oblivious younger girl who's main mode is 'cute'. Despite the similarities, however, Saber Marionette J tends to stand on its own.
There are several different Saber Marionette series; the first one, Saber Marionette R, has drastically different artwork and has little do to with the rest of them. After Saber Marionette J came two follow-up series: Saber Marionette J Again and Saber Marionette J to X. The letters are supposed to represent what town each series takes place in. Saber Marionette J takes place in the town of Japoness, which of course is a play on Japan.
Up until the climactic ending battle, it seems that Otaru's affection for the robots who can think and feel is a victory for feminism. The other men believe that Marionettes should be unquestioning and loyal, and denounce Lime and the others as defective. It isn't too long before they grow to love the girls for who they are, theoretically trying to get across the point that women, also, can have personalities and feelings. Towards the end of the series, however, the majority of each episode is spent on the three girls describing how they would blindly do anything for Otaru, which seems to rob the series of its positive girl power.
SMJ features the single most flamingly homosexual character in all of anime. His name is Hanagata, and the lengths to which he pursues Otaru are some of the best scenes in the series. He is always funny in his antics, but some fans see him as an example of gay bashing and take offense to his character.