I just looked up the experience machine thing and I think you hit the nail, even the girl's argument to get out of this presupposed experience machine is one of the arguments used by the author.I love the surrealist horror and the fact all of them want to escape from reality so badly into their fictions as the constant theme, and how it makes everything seem empty by comparison.
I think this manga may be a commentary on the experience machine, but I don't know
I cannot be certain but it look very much like fluff to me, I'm afraid.I really love the design of things in the real world, like the cannons, battleships and even the tide breakers. And they all have that ominous eye motif. Very good world-building. Hopefully it's not just fluff.