Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

This is so hard for me to rate, I've seriously been sitting here thinking about it forever. Loaded with first class thoughts, sometimes my brain just didn't take it in, I just kind of didn't get it, I don't mean the sequence of events, but for example the conversation in episode 26 I'll probably have to watch again because I just couldn't keep up, my brain isn't ready for this yet ;-) At the beginning I didn't enjoy it, then there were some very good episodes here and there, then others that didn't grab my attention, but the ending... Better than The Matrix, but harder to process in the cerebellum, and that's great, isn't it? Action, sleuthing, the handsome Laughing Man. Oishi! :-)) (08/11/2009)

I like the most famous animated addition to the cyberpunk genre both in feature film and (as one of the few) in live-action Hollywood form, so after putting it off for many years, I finally headed into the series version. And despite the presence of all the familiar characters and familiar backdrop, I was in store for an unexpected sobriety. Gone are the action symphonies or salvos of thoughts that cannot always be adequately grasped or explained in a few sentences, partially gone is also the specific mood that is inseparably part of Section 9. Stand Alone Complex has turned into an episodic sci-fi crime story, which is occasionally spiced up with unexpected genre twists, but in its essence remains the same. A file of cases that collide with politics on a large scale, and to a lesser extent with economics, sociology, or history, and are concluded with a modest action scene or nostalgic conversation. For a while, I was able to accept this approach, but when the central storyline with the Laughing Man was also inconspicuously developing, which in the first three quarters of the series seemed more out of obligation than anything else, I wasn't exactly singing for joy and I struggled in vain to understand why Ghost in particular achieves such a cult level of popularity in the rankings of the most popular Japanese series. But then comes the last seven episodes, which reach such heights that I almost had to make sure I was still watching the same series. Instead of meaningless dialogue, actions are taken, I care deeply about the fate of the main characters, and in retrospect, the viewer understands even the very gradual pace or occasional lack of progression of individual plots or episodes. Stand Alone Complex is a very specific vision, and although I have several reservations about it, it also contains so much uniqueness that I am willing to help it in the ratings and I am glad that it ultimately lived up to its famous name. (09/11/2018)

You have to admit that the animated series has balls, much like the first film that was based on the manga. It's not just that the show is cool and at times quite sexy, it's that it's action-packed, and every now and then some of the grittier, darker and more serious themes come to the surface quite substantially. Anime still has something to say and this team works. (10/26/2017)