Reddit reviews Ghost in the Shell: 25th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray]

Additional notes...

Basic Background

• All GitS stories start out as abstract and confusing -- they essentially drop you into the middle of a mission and are set in the future, amidst a bunch of tech and terminology that you need to learn and understand on the fly. We're talking spy, cloack-and-dagger, intrigue, conspiracy, mystery. This is a good thing.
  
  
• The movies are dense and the series take some time to weave together. It helps to be patient and pay attention, both to the dialogue and to the details that you see in both the foreground and background.
  
  
• The Matrix was heavily influenced by the first movie, and there are even direct, frame-for-frame visual shout outs to the first GitS film in The Matrix.
  
  
• If you enjoy sci-fi like Children of Men, Blade Runner, The Zero Theorem or even Her, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or the Bourne series then you're in for a treat.
  
  
• Ghost in the Shell, as a whole, is the visual successor to Neuromancer, by William Gibson.
  
  Recommended Viewing Order
  
  Start with the first film. It's the foundation for everything else.
  
  
• The first film is an adaptation that differs from the manga, so if you like the movie and then go back and read the manga you won't be slogging through the exact same thing twice.
  
  
• The original came out on Blu-ray [Amazon] only two days ago (yay!), and the new version will be of much better video and audio quality than the initial 1995 version (although the subtitles are apparently not as good).
  
  
• The dubbed voice acting is, for a change, pretty great, so feel free to watch in English or Japanese. The subtitles might be worth using, as the English dub isn't as clearly worded as the original text (if I remember correctly).
  
  
• After you watch the first film, check this out.
  
  Next, I'd watch the two Stand Alone Complex series
  
  
• Both are fantastic. If you watch the first movie first you'll know all or most of the characters. The pacing is much easier to digest and you get to know the characters a lot better. The story is still abstract, twisting and turning... but it's fun to unravel the mystery with our heroes. Makes for great binge watching.
  
  You can watch the second movie or the four Arise episodes in any order.
  
  
• The second movie is probably the most dense, convoluted story in the series. It also has the best animation and is a lot of fun. Now that I think more about it, I think I'd save this for last. But you can really watch it whenever you want, so long as you've finished the first film (it won't otherwise make much sense).
  
  
• Arise is an origin story reboot. The characters have different backgrounds and how they meet is much different than in the original story. There are a number of homages or references to the original movie as well. Compared to the rest of the GitS stuff, Arise felt like lighter fare in terms of its complexity and sophistication. I enjoyed Arise, but this little mini-series is probably my least favorite content within the GitS universe.
  
  Primer Information About the Wider GitS world (Mild Spoilers)
  
  The below is written in a block so as to make provide optical camouflage against accidentally catching spoilers if you don't want to read them.
  
  The goal of this section is to help ease you into understanding the politics and organization of the GitS world.
  
  The GitS world is set in Japan, but there are also international players. Japan has gone to war against other (made up) nations (sorta like Kazakstan), and we meet some of the ex-soldiers. Cybernetic technology is now well integrated into society, but was most extensively developed, weaponized and used by the military. At the most basic level, almost everyone now has brain implants. These implants are the foundation of most of the philosophical discussion in the GitS world. They're also the foundation for most of the crime, communication and investigation. Some people only have those basic neural implants, while others are entirely or almost entirely cybernetic. Much of the philosophical discussion, then, is about the line between the physical body and the soul (ghost), about what makes us individual and unique.
  
  Americans are not the good guys (in many respects, the series extrapolates on how WWII influenced and continues to influence Japan's development and national identity). The Japanese government is divided into self-contained groups: ministries and sections. We follow Section 9. On the surface these groups all work together, but there's really a lot of backstabbing and secret warfare between the groups.
  
  I think that's enough to get you started.
  
  tl;dr: Definitely watch - one of my favorite creations of everything of all time. Enjoy!

I can't say for sure, as I don't own this version, but a lot of the reviews seem to says it's much worse than that.

I'm really late replying but I hope still useful! I looked at the series you mentioned your giftee liking and used my knowledge of anime to go on Amazon and pick out 10 other series or movies they might also like, along with why I think these might be a good option. Your person seems to really like edgy and highly dramatic pieces with a scifi or fantasy flair. That's been my favorite for 15 years! A lot of these are a bit older; I am taking the gamble that with as many newer pieces listed, your person hasn't watched a lot of backlog, and therefore may have missed some really good shit.

Ghost in the Shell is a cyberpunk classic. Older, yes, but for anyone who likes drama and scifi, this is a good choice. It focuses on a classic mind experiment: if you can move your brain freely among cybernetic parts and bodies, what is really "you"?

Steins;Gate is what instantly springs to mind for someone who also likes Psycho Pass. And I mean instantly. Fans of one almost invariably love the other. A tightly-plotted time travel thriller.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is a bit older, often controversial, and an absolute work of art. There's a strong chance your giftee is a girl based on the other series they like, but even if not, Utena is still a solid choice. Just be careful on this; sending it to a conservative person could backfire badly. I rather doubt that is the case with Attack on Titan and Shiki, but just to be safe. It's strange and beautiful...and stylish beyond all doubt.

Black Lagoon is anime's answer to a Hollywood big budget action movie. Comedic, violent, and unforgettable, it deserves a far wider audience than it's had. Almost every anime fan I know who's seen it has loved it.

Akira is without a doubt one of the most famous anime movies to ever be created. Animated without CG in the 1980s, the quality of its hand-drawn special effects has yet to be equalled by almost any other production to this day. For someone used to today's slick computer assisted animation, it's still mindblowing. Akira is often credited with being just as important as Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon in starting the anime boom of the 1990s, and this is a very nice edition.

Also in the classic scifi category we have Serial Experiments Lain, a show whose points on technology and the internet and the singularity still ring true today. Moody and thought-provoking with masterful use of color and a fantastic soundtrack.

Literally no adult-targeted anime is as famous and well-beloved as Cowboy Bebop. This space western with the jazz soundtrack is a perennial favorite on Cartoon Network Adult Swim, is often suspected as a major influence behind Firefly, and is one of the most popular anime in the US of all time... And it's hitting bluray this month.

Summer Wars should probably come with a bluray device as a tech test. It's that beautiful. A tale of virtual reality and the family and friends behind the characters, Summer Wars is an unforgettable movie which, despite being intensely Japanese, deserves a slot on any videophile's shelf.

My total wildcard pick is Mushishi. Beautiful and dream-like, like a series of 25 minute oases from ordinary life. If this is in fact a slice of life, these timeless Japanese almost fairy tales are like no life you've seen. Some call it slow and overhyped. I call it perfection. At any rate, this isn't at all what I'd get as an only gift; it's more a wildcard filler for a $20 other series. If you want my actual top pick.....

Baccano! is my final and top pick. It's really hard to go wrong with this. This rollicking action anime about immortal Prohibition-era Mafiosi in the United States is one of the best and most underrated anime of all time. Humor, violent action, mystery, drama, good characters, good animation, good music... It has them all. It's chronically overshadowed by its more popular sister series Durarara, and that makes me sad. But Durarara isn't easily available outside streaming, and this glorious madcap piece of anime is. Plus it has at least one theme in common with everything your person listed liking. You know what to do.

As far as watching it online, Ghost in the Shell Arise Borders 1 and 2 are available for streaming on Funimations streaming service and Netflix (US and Canada), Stand alone complex is on Hulu (1st and 2nd gig), while the other versions are not available for legal streaming as far as I know.

Watch the original first. There's the classic, then the New Blu-Ray release Both fairly priced for their animation quality.

You can watch Innocence next, if you liked the philosophical aspects of the first movie a lot, otherwise it's skippable.

Then Stand Alone Complex season 1, Season 2, and afterwards, Solid State Society if Stand Alone complex left a bad taste in your mouth at the end of the series. Both are priced fairly considering how much content they contain.

After that, you can watch Arise if you enjoyed the action parts of it a lot more. It's pricey, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Do be aware Arise is a prequel to the series.

The order of shows in Chronological order is: Arise, then Stand Alone Complex, then the original movie, then Ghost in the Shell: Innocence.

All have nudity, sexual imagery, violence, and strong language.

Original film is

https://smile.amazon.com/Ghost-Shell-25th-Anniversary-Blu-ray/dp/B00L6AW2MC?sa-no-redirect=1

The Special Edition 2.0 version with updated visual effects and pallet change from green to more golden tint is

https://smile.amazon.com/Ghost-Shell-Blu-ray-Atsuko-Tanaka/dp/B002NUULNG/ref=pd_sim_74_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=73YKFDKR0WVR69DEHPEY

Pre-order link for Canadians: www.amazon.ca/Ghost-Shell-25th-Anniversary-Blu-ray/dp/B00L6AW2MC

$8 isn't much, but it depends on how much poor subtitles bother you. To me, it's very distracting and would be an immediate return if I knew about it.

Here's one of the reviews I was referencing:

> The film itself I would easily rate 5 stars. The video quality and Japanese audio are also very good. The 1 star however is for the serious problems this release unfortunately has.

> Like mentioned in bonjanqi's review here, the subtitles are not good with misspellings, errors, and numerous lines with awkward phrasing.

> What hasn't been mentioned though is that the 5.1 English audio is also badly screwed up. It's missing numerous sound effects, it's very attenuated, and the LFE is muted. The English audio on the previous DVD releases are of much better quality than this with the sound effects in tact. There are forum posts elsewhere with the same complaints such as on The Fandom Post and Blu-ray forums.

Ok so I am on amazon right now trying to buy GITS on blu-ray, is this the version i should buy? because i can't tell if it has the original hand-drawn.

http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Shell-25th-Anniversary-Blu-ray/dp/B00L6AW2MC

oh, then get the anniversary edition

https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Shell-25th-Anniversary-Blu-ray/dp/B00L6AW2MC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482949876&sr=8-1&keywords=ghost+in+the+shell+blu+ray

This came out recently for the 25 anniversary of the movie. I cant attest to quality because I haven't seen this particular blu ray. The GitS 2.0 blu ray is the version with all of the cg edits you don't want. However on the same disk a HQ version of the original unedited movie is included.

Uh, do you live in a different country or something? Blu ray players are cheap - you can get one for $10 or less at goodwill (I should know, I was just there and they had dozens of them) and both walmart and best buy have $5-$7 blu ray bargain bins, often good movies too like Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, Dreamworks films, classics like The Sandlot and Mrs. Doubtfire, and so on. Half my movie collection is from bargain bins. Goodwill also sells blu-ray films for $5 or less.

Hell, even Amazon has movies for cheap ($5-$10) so long as they aren't Disney since they artificially markup the price of their movies. Even new movies quickly get low - Ex Machina was at one point $7 just a month after release.

I seriously don't know what issue you are having. Blu-rays are old tech now - everyone wants the 3D and 4K instead.

EDIT:

Look, I can even backup my claim about Blu-rays being cheap.

The Sandlot: $4.99

Nightcrawler: $4.99

RWBY Vol 2: $4.99

Granted, there isn't much in the $3-$5 price range, but the $5 - $10 price range has lots of great options too:

Ghost in the Shell: $7.99


Batman - Under the Red Hood: $6.76

Mad Max Fury Road: $5.25

The Fifth Element: $8.10

Ex Machina: $7.88

Fellowship of the Ring: $9.99

The Two Towers: $8.37

Return of the King: $9.99

Zombieland: $7.50

Bargains all require patience for the prices to go down, and compromises, like buying used. You can find blu-rays cheap. Unless you live in some place like Australia or some other country where this shit is expensive because of import bull, then you have no excuse.

2.0 is pretty terrible. They did a lot of unnecessary editing on top of the upscale. Luckily a new unedited anniversary edition blu-ray is set to release at the end of the month.

This is the version you want to get.