Why do you watch Ghost in the Shell: SAC?

[douyang]

I'm just wondering what other people like about this show, why you started watching and why you keep watching. I understand it's not too much like mainstream anime, in that it deals with more complex themes and seems to be aimed at a different audience.

I personally like it because it deals with a near future that is incredible yet believable, and serves as good speculative fiction in that regard. I like how it makes you think, both to understand the plot and the universe it takes place in, and the underlying message the writers try to express. There's also an aura of hipness around it in the 2nd season, which works well with the visuals, the music, and the exploration of real life political and social issues.

I for one feel that the ghost in the shell universe has a lot of potential in terms of different stories you could build around it. If there were anything that needed changing, however, it would be the lack of in depth characterization of the major and the rest of section 9. Good writers know that the key to a good story is having characters people care about, and this seems to be sadly sacrificed by their focus on technological issues and themes.

[THYREN]

I'm just wondering what other people like about this show, why you started watching and why you keep watching. I understand it's not too much like mainstream anime, in that it deals with more complex themes and seems to be aimed at a different audience.

I personally like it because it deals with a near future that is incredible yet believable, and serves as good speculative fiction in that regard. I like how it makes you think, both to understand the plot and the universe it takes place in, and the underlying message the writers try to express. There's also an aura of hipness around it in the 2nd season, which works well with the visuals, the music, and the exploration of real life political and social issues.

I for one feel that the ghost in the shell universe has a lot of potential in terms of different stories you could build around it. If there were anything that needed changing, however, it would be the lack of in depth characterization of the major and the rest of section 9. Good writers know that the key to a good story is having characters people care about, and this seems to be sadly sacrificed by their focus on technological issues and themes.

I like SAC because it's definitely the best (at least for the scenario) anime series ever !

I don't really agree about the lack of characterization, as there are several episodes dedicated to character's background ("Jungle Fever" for Batou, "Poker Face" for Saïto and Motoko, an episode with Pazu's ex-girlfriend, plus the whole kids story about Motoko and Kuze...) among the 2 seasons.

[cowboyfunk22]

I started watching because I knew Yoko Kano did the music. I had listened for hours to her stuff from Cowboy Bebop, so i was wondering what her work for this show was like.

I had hoped to find another anime I liked after i'd seen Cowboy Bebop so many times. I was intrigued by the animation on Witch Hunter Robin, but their plots were too typical anime for me. Ghost in the Shell sac had a similar quality to its animation, and i found the episodes interesting. I had watched most of the second half of the series on TV, without knowing i missed the last two episodes. I went through and bought all the first season episodes, and was blown away by them.

I enjoyed the philosophy of the show, and how intelligently written it was. It also doesn't shy away from doing somethign different (The tachicoma debate episdoe and Chat! Chat! Chat! come to mind) which keeps the show fresh even with multiple viewings.

[Black Mamba]

Normaly I would just watch the intro after Full Metal Alchemist, because I found it amazing (with Inner Universe and all). The first full episode I watched was Chat, Chat, Chat! I undersood nothing, yet for some reason I was engrosed. Before you know it I'm declaring it my favorite anime and buying the DVDs!

The reason why I feel I love it so much is its complexity. Its complex, yet not impossible to understand. It really makes you think, I'm guessing thats what I love about it. Excellent animation and characters as well.

[ghost]

I don,t know why I like it so much but it,s the best I,ve seen. the movie was the first anime I ever saw about two years ago and I have been hooked ever sinse. I love the charictors and the deitale is incredible. The story is great too. By the way have you seen the movie it might help with the charictor depth your looking for

[Black Mamba]

By the way have you seen the movie it might help with the charictor depth your looking for

I don't know how many times we've disscused this...

The Ghost in the Shell series (Stand Alone Complex) and the actual movies are completely serperate. The Motoko in the movies, is a completely different version from the Motoko in SAC.

It really doesn't matter anyway because SAC has alot more character development than the movie. Doing a series, obviously, allows you to expand the characters. Whereas a movie you're pressed for time.

[Gillsing]

I watch it because it's Ghost in the Shell (saw the movie, read the manga and MMI), and SAC lives up to the quality of the franchise. I like cyberpunk, and I like the focus on the plot at the expense of characterization. I really like how the series is shock full of info - if I miss a few sentences and rewind to read them again I almost always find that they were important to understanding the episode, rather than being some kind of everyday conversation meant to show what a certain character is like. When nothing happens I tend to get bored, and in SAC something is always happening.

[Motoko2030]

I would say that the reasons why I watch SAC are that I loved the Ghost in the Shell movie, so when I heard about a Ghost in the Shell TV series, I was excited to see more of Ghost in the Shell and also because I like watching cyberpunk films. I like SAC for its music by Yoko Kanno, I liked her music in Cowboy Bebop, the character based episodes, the art style and the philosophical issues that deal with how humans will deal with technology advances in the future.

[base of the pillar]

It comes on after Full Metal Alchemist.




NO NO just kidding. I fell in love with the movie and decided to check out the series to see if it was as good. After that I just got hooked. I think of it as akin to watching a good spy movie you have to keep up with everything to understand the end, and I like that leve of complexity.

[Jeni Nielsen]

Here are the unfortunate reasons why I don't watch it anymore.

At school I don't have cable TV
I'm also into a different series right now and that's where my money is going.
Even when I get the chance to see a few episodes it gets confusing and sometimes the technobabble turns me off.

Why I've watched the show in the past:
I love Masamune Shirow's work
I'm a Batou fangirl and absolutely loved his character episodes
The tachikomas make me go SQUEEEE (I'd love to have one for a pet)
I think it brings up a lot of interesting themes about what life is all about
I also think Motoko is a powerful female character who really interests me.

[THYREN]

...The tachikomas make me go SQUEEEE (I'd love to have one for a pet)

Me too ! And I found recently a "beginning of the 21st century equivalent" (it's a rabbit that's always connected to the internet through an WIFI connection, and it can check out your emails, tell you the weather, play mp3s...) :

http://www.nabaztag.com/vl/FR/index.jsp

I'll get one once I'm back in Canada...

[Spica]

I watch it simply because it is Ghost in the Shell. Its just an added bonus that its a good series.

[sonic]

I watched SAC because I really love the first film... And for some reason I just assumed it'd be similar in feel and theme to it. I kept watching it even though it wasn't really like the film because I wanted to like it.

I do like police procedural anime for some reason, so finding out that a lot of it was that way was surprising but okay. And I kept watching because I also found it interesting that all of the Section 9 memebers seemed to be important, not just Motoko. It was interesting to see them give Batou a background, show Togusa being a family man more, and (best of all for me) getting to see Aramaki do his big important stuff that you don't normally get to see behind the scenes (in many ways, his character has always been most interesting of all to me, because there's a lot to think about like how he managed to be in a position like that, what kind of person is he making these decisions, what was there before Section 9 for him, etcetera. After all, he would have lived a long time and seen a lot of the events that led to the high-tech society they exist in in the present. That's cool).

However for me the anime is very hit-and-miss; some episodes were fantastic and well-written (Tachikoma's day off really impressed me), but the vast majority of them ranged from average to just kind of blah. I felt like they did not have the timing down consistently for telling 25-minute stories, and that they would have done better with less episodes and more time (say another 10 minutes on each one). And I really was dissapointed with the Laughing Man story- after all the build up, the "conclusion" to the mystery was a little underwhelming for me. Making me go through "complex" episodes like that, I thought I was being led to something a bit more grand. I guess the Puppetmaster is just too hard to replace for me. So basically, I will watch the second season at some point, but I also don't feel the desperate urge to drop everything and go out of my way to see it now.

The series is still an achievement, but it is really hard for it when it is working up against the first film, which made people like me feel incredibly enlightened as a youngster... I guess it is hard if you come to SAC looking for something that isn't there. But that isn't their fault, it's an okay series. Kind of how it isn't Shirow's fault that I don't like most GitS manga as much either.

What's all this about people wanting pet Tachikomas though? They will get oil all over the house. And robot spiders... Ich, I detest spiders...

[Rc2000]

I was hooked when I saw the GITS anime and GITS Innocence. When I saw that SAC was available on dvd, I haunted stores here in town to get all of them. Now I'm doing the same for 2nd GIG.
The series goes into so much more than the movies can, like characters, the science, politics, etc. It's all very in-depth -- and FUN!
Love the sub-plots that run thru out the series.
I recently got the GITS manga and was thrilled to see that many of the things in it have been brought up in the series. I had no idea that the Tachicomas (Fuchicomas) were in the original manga and many ideas used in the series are from the original. Most excellent!
Not to forget -- Yoko Kanno's music/songs fit perfectly. Love listening to the OST's.
And of course, the series has a great look over-all. The animation, artwork, backgrounds, all are rendered beautifully.

Rc
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[miki-chan]

I'd seen both movies, so I thought a TV show based on those characters might be interesting. It took me a while to get into it, but once they started the Laughing Man storyline, I was hooked...