I'm a huge fan of Season 1 & 2 of GitS SAC + Solid State Society. As such I awaited the release of this new "season" with great expecations - and much dredd, as I found the animation style shown in the trailers to be ... abhorrent.
> Spoilers ahead <
First of all the bad:
The good: + After getting used to the animation style and just wading through the first few disconnected episodes, it "clicked" again for me. I remembered and welcomed these characters again (I literally cheered when even Paz an Bouma finally showed up), could see the old writing again, the underlying commentary that made the old seasons such a strong draw for me. Sadly we don't see that much of it because we wasted the first few episodes. + An important thing I realized while watching this: In this time of sequels, prequels and "reimaginations" of very differing quality, writing-wise Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 does one very importan thing right: It respects its source material. It builds on the characters and story elements established in the previous seaons and takes it's own worldbuilding/continuity seriously, rather than trying the "reimagine" them/itself with an artistic sledgehammer for a "new audience" (yes, I'm looking at you, New Star Wars & Star Trek). This in itself outweighed many of the cons I've listed above for me, and made me think at the end of the last episode: Yes, more please.
So my final verdict: The groundwork is solid, but it needs refinement. Improve on the (facial) animations, tighten the wrting a bit, please lose Purin (or make her at least much more mature in her behaviour), and tell more stories with the team members that haven't been that much in the franchise's focus in the past. I'll happily wait for Season 2. Felt good to see (or rather hear) old friends again.
> Spoilers ahead <
First of all the bad:
- The title song is just not that good - but fits the context the first half of the season takes place in (a Confict zone in a "sustained war").
- Which brings us to the main problem I have story-wise with the series: The first half of the series has basically nothing to to with the second half, or rather takes far to long to set up a premise for the second half. It establishes an interesting concept in terms of worldbuilding (the aforementioned "sustained war"), which just as easily could have been established in far less time. Instead precious air time is wasted on conflicts and action that is basically meaningless for the delevopment of the characters or the overall plot of the later season. A shame.
- As I said before, the animation style is difficult to get used to, to put it mildly, especially if you are coming from the old seasons. Although most body animations are rather fluid and fitting, strong facial expressions are mostly non-existent. I totally get it if this basically makes the series a no-watch for you. I was lucky enough to get used to the style while watching more and more epsiodes.
- Purin: Good god, why would you need such a character?! The Tachikomas were always enough comic relief.
The good: + After getting used to the animation style and just wading through the first few disconnected episodes, it "clicked" again for me. I remembered and welcomed these characters again (I literally cheered when even Paz an Bouma finally showed up), could see the old writing again, the underlying commentary that made the old seasons such a strong draw for me. Sadly we don't see that much of it because we wasted the first few episodes. + An important thing I realized while watching this: In this time of sequels, prequels and "reimaginations" of very differing quality, writing-wise Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 does one very importan thing right: It respects its source material. It builds on the characters and story elements established in the previous seaons and takes it's own worldbuilding/continuity seriously, rather than trying the "reimagine" them/itself with an artistic sledgehammer for a "new audience" (yes, I'm looking at you, New Star Wars & Star Trek). This in itself outweighed many of the cons I've listed above for me, and made me think at the end of the last episode: Yes, more please.
So my final verdict: The groundwork is solid, but it needs refinement. Improve on the (facial) animations, tighten the wrting a bit, please lose Purin (or make her at least much more mature in her behaviour), and tell more stories with the team members that haven't been that much in the franchise's focus in the past. I'll happily wait for Season 2. Felt good to see (or rather hear) old friends again.