Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

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...

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.

I've been a sci-fi and fantasy fan, as well as author, for many years; thus I enjoy anime that has well-done sci-fi. Unfortunately, GITSAC doesn't do that, I'm sorry to have to tell all those people who think it does. GITS is fantasy. There is no real science in any of the GITS movies or series. This can be OK if you treat the storyline accordingly - as in fantasy and magic stories - but they treat everything here as if it's possible and everybody knows that it is. It isn't. You can't disappear into thin air no matter how badly you want to. The tachikomas wouldn't bounce around when they talk because it would use too much power and eventually bounce them to pieces. You can't broadcast thoughts any way at all, ever - thinking is entirely different from any broadcast system. There is no "ghost" in any living thing; mind and spirit are a function of trillions of cells and interconnecting electrochemical junctions, not some alternate existing thing. Computers work entirely differently than brains and you cannot make the two of them compatible; all you can do is get some minor functions in a bionic prosthetic part to respond to simple brain pattern electrical impulses. We can do that today with arms and legs, for instance; this is the most rudimentary connection of electromechanical devices to some of our simplest brain impulses; you cannot duplicate what the brain does with a computer. Even the best AI is far inferior to and simpler than what the human brain does. In fact, it's inferior to what a Border Collie's brain does! You cannot match the trillions of cells and connections in the brain with even a few hundred thousand electronic circuits in computers. GITS is NOT the future, it's FANTASY, ie, making a story with things that cannot happen. It's more like magic, since magic can't ever happen either, but we understand that and can make interesting fictional dramas with it. I've only pointed out a few things here that are not and never will be possible, but there are many more in the GITS series. It's a safe bet that regardless of how tough Motoko is in her "cyborized" body, she can't jump from a 50 story building, hit the ground and be fine! You couldn't drop a tank from a 50 story building and have it be functional after it hit the ground, and tanks are tougher than she is. The tachikoma can't jump all over the place as they do, their mass is too great and it would take tremendous power if it were even possible, which it's not - especially not with people inside. The sudden violent momentum change would smash the occupants to pieces. And there are many more impossibilities. The reason I bring it up is all of it destroys one's willing suspension of disbelief, and relegates it to Road Runner & Coyote "science" which just makes it another cartoon.All that said, the story is too disjointed and confusing, trying to put too much in when less would be better: more action, less theory and talking. The graphics and animation are about average here, there are much better anime, visually, out there. As in the movies, the characters are still bland, without much humanity; I mean, the tachikomas are more interesting, personable, and human, and they are complete machines! So, although some of the stuff they do in GITSAC is interesting, it just doesn't come up to being great sci-fi or storytelling.

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.