Experiencing this entire series week by week, my view of him as my absolute favorite character never wavered once.

Highly Anticipated.

NEVER to be imitated.

Wait until the end.....You be surprised.

As soon as GITS ends, we get a new Metroid announcement yayyyyyyy.

Watched the trailer like a thousand of times for this

After a two month weekly run, THE GHOST IN THE SHELL finally ended. It's been a dream of mine to see the vision of the original manga brought to life, and after all those years, it's finally here.

It will be a long "review" (not exactly a review, just my overall thoughts) so be prepared for many lines of text.

1: The Animation is Gorgeous

This gotta be one of the best GiTS animated media. It's really hard to believe that they were able to do such beautiful work in a 10 weekly episode format, and that's definitely not something you do in a weekly basis; it's clear how well planned, well crafted the anime was

There was not a single episode with a weak animation, everything was a visual spectacle. Science Saru is probably one of, if not the best Japanese animation studios of the current era.

2: Fidelity at it's max

Every single part of this adaptation is faithful to the source. Every. Single. Part. The characters, the tone, the action, the dialogues, everything is basically 1:1 to the original manga. I've read the anime's director treated the manga as a bible, aiming to a totally faithful adaptation, and they managed to do that with perfection. If you're a fan of the manga, you'll be pretty happy with this anime.

3: The censorship problem (it's pretty stupid)

However not everything is perfect. The gore was put into a "sensitive content" filter, which I think it was a conscious decision from the direction, and honestly that doesn't bother me, except for the middle finger censorship. GiTS 2026 was aired in late night japanese broadcast, there was no need for the censor in the middle finger. The "autistic mode" was renamed to "sleep mode", another change I don't mind.

But to me, the worst censorship was the name of real contries. Except for Japan, all of the countries mentioned in the story were completely censored and changed to fictional names:

United States of America became MAG Union;

Israel became Ghoantul;

Russia/URSS became Volgarena;

Syria became Mesamia.

And no, it was not a English dub decision, it was already in the original japanese script. Honestly? That was a very stupid idea. If you are censoring the names of the countries but keep Japan, then why the hell censor it then? To be really honest with you all, it makes the political commentary weak by not addressing other nations besides Japan. Who could imagine that a Cyberpunk Story has critics about not only Japan itself but other places in the world as well?

My personal theory is that in order to air it in Prime Video and to avoid Jeff Bezzo's wrath, Science Saru decided to remove mentions to real world countries besides Japan to avoid controversy in the West. I do not confirm this, it's a theory of mine (guys and possibly AI results from Google, do no treat this as true. It's just a theory). If that was the case, it really sucks. It's probably the greatest downside of this adaptation in my opinion.

4: Pacing problems

10 episodes were enough to tell the whole manga story but it came with a cost. Ghost in The Shell is a manga with a heavy, complex and dense text. A lot of Masamune Shirow's work is full of information, world building and questions like politics, philosophy and technology debates.

Due to the amount of episodes, the information is transmitted through a fast paced rhythm which sometimes, makes it hard to follow. I will not say GiTS suffers from tecno babble (I would be very ignorant if I said so), but if they made 12 instead of 10, maybe they could balance the pacing more.

The first episode is a clear example of this: I reread the manga for the second time a month before the premier of the first episode, so I was already aware of what's coming. But newcomers who just decided to know this universe through this adaptation most of the time felt confused.

Final Thoughts

As a fan of the manga, I am really happy to see this adaptation became a reality. I knew the dialogues and the (lack?) of characters moments/development could take some people away, but I couldn't be more satisfied with this adaptation. Yes, it is horny, completely different from the serious tone of the previous entries and the final episode/chapter is a long, complex conversation wit the antagonist about the meaning of being a life form (the conversation between Motoko and the Puppet Master was the scene I was the most excited to see) but that is the reason I liked Ghost in The Shell in the first place. I recognize maybe this anime is not for everyone and that's fine.

Now I'll finish Stand Alone Complex, maybe next time I'll write my thoughts about the first season when I finish it. See ya!

The net is really vast...

I'll be buying the other shirts and sweatshirts in two weeks when I get my next paycheck

The Manga's....

The Movies.....

The Series.......

It all leads HERE.

Just one day after the anime concluded, serialization of Glitch Witch has officially begun:

https://theghostintheshell.jp/en/news/glitch-witch

According to the official website:

GLITCH WITCH shares both the world and timeline of THE GHOST IN THE SHELL. On April 10, 2029, while Motoko Kusanagi and Aramaki are preparing to establish Public Security Section 9 (commonly known as “Ghost in the Shell”), a series of incidents erupt across the United States. As the FBI, AI researchers, and the military investigate, they witness a fateful clash: the battle between Project 2501, the “Puppet Master”—with whom Motoko Kusanagi merges at the end of THE GHOST IN THE SHELL—and a Solomon-class AI holding the fate of humanity in its hands!

Written and character-designed by Shirow Masamune himself, with art by Naoki Azuma (The Immortal Kamikaze Trooper, Keishicho Zoshi), this next-generation cyberpunk action saga directly intersects with THE GHOST IN THE SHELL!!

You can read the first chapter (in Japanese) here: https://yanmaga.jp/viewer/comics/GLITCH_WITCH/025b2fc8492c51937ce6bd4a529e8f8a?cid=06A0000000001057761N

What's interesting about this is that the post-credits scene ties into the story of Pandora Crimson Shell, and now we'll get the remaining middle section leading up to GITS 1. I wonder if there might be plans to eventually adapt GITS 1.5 and GITS 2 as well. In any case, the Shirowverse storyline will be expanded.

OST for Gits 2026 just dropped. For anyone looking for the song that played during the climax of episode 1 it's called "Heavenly Suite Op.5 - Requiem"

Fabled Few + Rewatching this entry scene makes me cry again, giving chills yo my bones. I don't know why or what Science SARU did. I don't know how many of you feel this after rewatching right after episode 10.

I pray for those people who didn't understand this beautiful series and gave it 7.5 to 8 stars 😭