SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

dee.reid The original "Ghost in the Shell" (1995) is one of my all-time favorite movies, live-action or animated. It's undoubtedly one of my favorite pieces of Japanese animation (Anime'), and it's also one of my all-time favorite sci-fi movies. As well, the original Manga that inspired it (by series creator Shirow Masamune) is one of my favorite books of all time. I also appreciate the deep influence the Manga and film had on "The Matrix" (1999), which is another personal favorite film of mine and another all-time favorite sci-fi movie.With the Anime' series "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex," which aired in America on Cartoon Network's late-night programming block Adult Swim, we get another taste of the world that Masamune breathed life into all those years ago. "Stand Alone Complex" appears to be somewhat of an expansion of the original "Ghost in the Shell" from 1995, since as I remember the movie (successfully) condensed a pretty hefty storyline into a single 82-minute feature. A lot of story and characters were left out of the movie entirely, so that it could instead focus on the main storyline of the original Manga.Here in "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex," a lot of the story left out of "Ghost in the Shell" is fleshed out, and plus a wealth of new ideas, characters, and concepts are also explored. The series is set in 2030 A.D. in Japan, where Section 9, an elite government task force, investigates crime (both human and computer crimes), terrorism, and all other manner of evil wrong-doing that threatens public security in the country. Led by the tough-as-nails cyborg vixen Major Motoko Kusanagi, they engage all threats with a wicked vengeance. The central storyline details Section 9's investigation of the elusive Laughing Man, a notorious computer hacker who brings to mind memories of the elusive Puppet Master from the original 1995 movie.This is a great, thought-provoking series, like the movie and Manga series that inspired it. Much like its predecessors, "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" dives into a futuristic world where humans are very close to being not human at all. Many humans in this future, are enhanced, in some way or another, by machines, as a means of getting the upper hand in a world where rapid technological advancement is proceeding forward with little or no oversight. How long before flesh & blood will merely be a thing of the past? Can you still be considered human in an artificial body made out of plastic, metal, wiring, and other complex prosthetics? Will there be an ideological war fought between cyber-enhanced humans and militant "anti-cyberization" rebel forces? In some ways, that makes this show seem almost eerily prescient, and entirely possible. It's these sort of paranoid philosophical questions that makes this series such socially relevant science fiction. (James Cameron, are you reading this?)The animation here is great. Like the movie that pioneered the trend, it is a stunningly envisioned, seamless blend of traditional hand-drawn animation and computer-generated imagery (CGI). My guess is that the traditional hand-drawn animation and CGI mirrors the series' persistent theme of the melding of man and machine together. (A very interesting conflict, indeed.) And the exotic soundtrack music by Yoko Kanno is exceptional; it's both moody and atmospheric - it perfectly fits the show in every way possible."Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" is a great Anime' show. It's fantastically animated and intriguingly philosophical in the presentation of its ideas and concepts; watchful viewers could also pick up a few references to the Ridley Scott-directed 1982 American sci-fi classic "Blade Runner," and perhaps even acclaimed American author William Gibson's seminal 1984 cyberpunk novel "Neuromancer," the latter of which is probably the single greatest source of inspiration for this whole setup. And Major Motoko Kusanagi has to be one of the most strikingly beautiful (if not THE most strikingly beautiful) cyborgs ever conceived for an animated format.10/10

heffeque I first saw the movie and I liked it, not that much, but it was entertaining (I haven't read the manga, so I couldn't enjoy the movie like others did). People had told me that the manga was a lot better and that I'd probably enjoy the series much more.I don't read manga so I decided to check the series out. The first episodes were pretty good so I continued watching them and... by the time I was half way through, I couldn't stop watching them. The story was so well made that it had absorbed me in an addictive way.The music is actually pretty good too and... after purchasing the Special Edition, I have to say... the English Dub is horrible. Stay with the Japanese version with English subtitles, you'll enjoy it a lot better that way.In resume: a must see even for non anime fans, extremely addictive story and... stick with subtitles, the dubbing will kill the whole thing. (And I actually liked the fansubs better than the official subs, they were a lot more detailed and had nice explanations for very interesting things).

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.

wildbill09 The interesting thing about this version of the Ghost in the Shell world is that the Section 9 team members often manage to get in a conversation about the philosophical implications of what's going on, even as things go haywire around them. Kinda weird from the standpoint of how you might expect a special ops team to act, but it really sells the idea of Section 9 as humane and ethical. Normal cyberpunk (anti)heroes -- the amoral, self-centered variety -- are the kinds of creeps Section 9 blows away every week, which is refreshing.To the above two posters: I fully understand your preference for the movie; it's a great story and a great work of art. A couple of the things you complain about, however (such as Kusanagi's provocative dress habits), aren't a case of dumbing-down for television, but actually straight out of the manga -- Kusanagi's having to strip nude to use her camouflage in the film actually seems like fanservice compared to the manga original, where the cloak seemed to be part of the team's battle dress, not built into the Major's skin. The robots (a different model called Fuchikoma in the manga) are, in my opinion, a nice counterpoint to the main plot: while Section 9 defends the people of Japan from manipulation of their "ghosts," they don't know quite what to make of these increasingly sentient robots. Fuchikoma/Tachikoma were part of Shirow's original vision, but were dropped from the film for technical reasons. It was nice seeing them on screen at last.