Reinier De Vlaam
If you have started Ghost in the shell with the 1995 and 2004 movies you will be very disappointed. Although at itself it is not bad, you will miss the atmosphere and philosophical depth of the movies that made them unique and outstanding. It is a series of 26 episodes and although it slowly grows it never reaches any of the peaks that the movies have. Basic dialogues...stupid infantile tachikoma's robots, all is pretty straight forward action manga. In the movies there is a atmosphere build, the travel on the boat through the city is mind-blowing (and yet that is surpassed by the parade in "innocence"), there is philosophical depth, all this is lacking in the series...
pipin_ferreras
GitS:SAC borrows a lot of the philosophical musings from the original film and manga, but it goes a long way into further developing this particular world and showing the various ways that technology interferes and redefines what is human. All this is explored both in the series' core "complex" episodes, as well as its "stand alone episodes", which show one different story at a time. If you are interested in non politically correct, thoughtful futurism, this is the show for you. It covers issues like AI, body augmentation, the roots of self-conscience, evolution and so on. I really like the fact that it also explores the political landscape of this not so distant future. Overall, a great experience.
Pacofroman65
For those not in the know, the plot surrounds an anti-terrorist group made of cyborgs in the future called Section 9, or basically CTU in the future. Like 24, each season has an overall story, but unlike 24, Stand Alone Complex has episodes that have nothing to do with the main story arc and are for the sole purpose of revealing characters and establishing a world (the latter is something that 24 doesn't need to do). The writing is excellent, and (continuing the 24 comparisons) makes the 24 writers almost like amateurs. For example in 2nd Gig, they actually make one of the terrorists seem human, something that they tried to do last season of 24 with the President, and failed horribly (Don't get me wrong, 24 is a good show, but I like this more). Everything is stated as the state of things, and there is one side versus another side, neither of which is good or bad, and Section 9 is right there in the middle trying to stop making the situation go from bad to worse. If action is all you care about, this show will only be good, but for the viewers who don't mind the talk, so that things can be explained such as why they're going to execute the plan and how, this will be great. Even if you were put off by the movie's incohesiveness in plot (and completely understandable if you were), this one's a lot easier to understand. Everyone should check it both seasons out, especially those into 24.
flashgi
The second improves greatly upon the animation standards. Although the drawing is done to geometric accuracy, too much CGI is used and looks weird at many places. It in fact, does not even look as good at the GITS movie. Technically speaking, the GITS series may be the best animated in the world but as far as the final perspective is concerned, it certainly does not look that or look that realistic or deep. It sometimes looks quite bland and more like computer rendering meaning that the CGI is way too obvious. Those flaws have been fixed to certain extents in the 2nd Gig which also pays homage to the original movie through certain scenes which should look familiar. The new intro is not great though.