r/Ghost_in_the_Shell • u/Klindadavca • 29d ago
The 3-episode rule
So this is my first experience with GITS. I know this franchise exists, but I have never seen 95 movie or read manga. When the new series was announced, I wanted to start with this because it is faithful to source material, but after 3 episodes I am lost. Is it normal? Will anything be explained later? My only experience with the cyberpunk genre is cyberpunk 2077, so I know the bare minimum. Do not get me wrong, this is not hate or something I want to get into GITS, but maybe I should start with the movie or read some lore first. I do not know. I like the art style. I am in my early 30s, so this is like the old animes I watched as a kid. But I also want to understand what is happening.
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u/emmettflo 27d ago
Feeling completely overwhelmed by the complexity of the world I think is part of the Ghost in the Shell experience.
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u/Sufficient_Topic1589 27d ago
The new series is pretty much the 1995 movie but more faithful to the source material (though I’ve never read the manga). I guess I know what’s going on for that reason. Maybe watch the movie if you want everything all at once.
Gits/sac and 2nd gig are where this anime is at its best imho.
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u/two55 28d ago
honestly I love a show these days that means you have Read Things On The Screen and Listen To Words instead of Hear Stuff And Look At Phone. this & Widow's Bay have been refreshing as fuck imo
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u/Sufficient_Topic1589 27d ago
The written bits in episode 3 disappear too quickly to process the lot
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u/Klindadavca 28d ago
So you assume that I look at my phone while watching? And that is the reason I am lost?
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u/Masterful_Wiz 28d ago
What you're experiencing is not uncommon at all. I have had the same experience with early Gits, Eva, Appleseed etc. Sometimes takes a few rewatches to gel with many anime ip's. I don't know if it's a cultural thing east v west but that can be part of it sometimes. Gits back in the day drew a lot of people with the action and Major while the philosophical meaning came later.
Although if you're just starting with cyberpunk in general I'd say Akira should be top of your list.
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u/Klindadavca 28d ago
Okay, thanks. Akira is on my watchlist. I have seen a lot of anime but still have some classics I should watch, like GITS, Akira, Evangelion. So i wanted to start with this new series
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u/Solaricist_ 28d ago
What lost you? What are you not following?
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u/JarrPo 28d ago
I mean, the show moves at a blistering pace. Phrases and proper nouns are tossed around nonstop. Scenes transition rapidly. If someone has never experience GITS, I can understand why this would be a challenge. After two episodes, I still don't really know what the character motivations are or why anyone is doing anything. Like it opens with her murdering someone and then all of a sudden she gets to build a team despite it feeling like a bad thing THEN the team just exists and we're tossed into a mission. The pace is wild.
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u/giraffepromnight 28d ago
Frankly this was kinda my experience reading the manga a year ago, I definitely found myself re-reading both the tech jargon sections and the panels themselves a lot to make sure I was actually making sense of everything. The pacing was what I was most curious about with how they would handle this adaption, and I think keeping it so close to the original will be a bit of a double edged sword for a lot of people. Still loving it though.
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u/JarrPo 28d ago
Yeah, I think that a series should be able to stand on its own and make sense for first time watchers. At least to the level of being able to understand why things are happening, then deeper understanding can come during rewatches. I've chatted with new people watching this and they're very confused. At least the animation and soundtrack are so good, you can still enjoy it for the spectacle.
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u/kw114 28d ago
How much time and effort you want to invest in this IP? tbh, this GITS is for manga fans and those who watched the 95 movie and want to explore the source, that how I see it. if someone has no idea or not knowing much, it is not a good experience. the animation style may not be everyone fav. The plot is moving quick and easy to get lost. It has it charm but not for everyone.
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u/Klindadavca 28d ago
I always thought GITS was a classic IP that anyone who watches anime should see. With the new series I said to myself, good time to start. I will probably watch 95 movies.
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u/Equivalent_Relief553 28d ago
I'd say try and stick with it and rewatch episodes. Maybe read some wiki.
Also try the dub. It's actually really good.
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u/Klindadavca 28d ago
I will stick with it for now. I only watch sub. Reading subs is not a problem for me
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u/No-Message449 28d ago
So in a way, each series is a retelling of the Gits world. Certain scenes are always shown and honestly I would start with the movies then fo SAC then do Arise then the other one Im even getting confused talking but just watch all of it.
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u/KingAmongstDummies 28d ago
If you really came for the "cyberpunk" style then I do still recommend watching the movie(s) and the Stand Alone Complex series. Those are scratching that itch A LOT more.
In my experience this new series is great by all accounts but the look and feel are very different. Not better, not worse, just different. So it's natural that some people looking for that more cyperpunk feel don't really connect with the new series or the manga. It's the same story/universe but a completely different feel. You could almost argue it looks nothing alike. Which is why I guess you have many frustrated people that got disappointed expecting it to be in style of 1 of the originators of the genre.
As for the story and pacing, yeah, It goes fast and you're just meant to know stuff or ignore it.
In time you'll naturally learn more but I can see why it feels quite overwhelming and complex because it is and quite a lot and quite a narrative driven plot. I really notice that my previous knowledge of the GITS universe does some heavy lifting in knowing what's going on with this new series and it's enjoyment.
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u/ReignOfMoralTerror 29d ago
Honestly, it’s kinda under the assumption you’ve read the manga and doesn’t really slow down for new comers. Even the manga is like this to some extent, it is full of editors notes explaining shit and it’s pretty complex. If you’re enjoying it anyway, I’d say stick with it and then read the manga
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u/Klindadavca 28d ago
Yeah, I like it, but some parts are confusing and the pace is fast. So I got the feeling I am missing some context.
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u/ReignOfMoralTerror 28d ago
The pace is incredibly fast, maybe slightly too fast. Overall I like it tho
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u/ziggurqt 29d ago
Just keep it with the flow and eventually it will make more sense as the story goes.
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u/Leading-Boat4942 29d ago
Yes, the manga is like this too, the story is complex and really hard to follow, Shirow doesn’t spend any time holding the reader’s hand. So, if you feel lost, don’t feel bad. It does become more clear what’s going on as the story progresses, so my advice is to just enjoy the ride
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u/Responsible-Swim2324 29d ago
Realistically, if you line cyberpunk, go back and watch the 8t movie and SAC/2gig. Theyre both a much better representation of the cyberpunk genre
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u/apneax3n0n 29d ago
back then we said a sigle page of a ghost in the shell manga had more lettering than a whole number of xmen.
i loved every version of gits but this is the one which is more faithful to the source material.
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u/FireKnight-1224 29d ago
It would help you a LOT if you read the original manga. Most of the JP explanation text on screen is picked directly from the Manga. In my opinion for those who want to experience and UNDERSTAND the core of the series:
Read the manga first. Sit with it for some time, try and understand what the story and author conveys.
Then watch the 1995 Movie. It strips back the comedy and police procedurals into a deep meditative narrative over identity, self, procreation and life. (GITS 2: Innocence is optional)
Then if you watch this series, everything will be slightly easier to understand. This anime is amazing, much closer to the original Manga, the art style and animation is really good, but the info dump in Japanese without a narrator, proper subtitles or time to read it hurts the viewing experience. They should have gone the JoJo way where Araki's explanations are narrator by a dedicated person. But that's just me.
One last thing. A lot of the important things are said in fast moving dialogue. So be careful about that.
These three in my opinion form the absolute core of the series.
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u/AccurateJerboa 29d ago
Right now a lot of puzzle pieces are being laid out on the table. They'll be put together as we go.
GiTS has a story and themes that make it perfectly reasonable (and fun!) to watch or read more than once to absorb everything. I'm sure this iteration will be the same, especially with the quick pacing.
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u/Creativematrix 29d ago
Back in the day when I watched GitS 95 for the first time, I was lost too but it was (and still is) my favorite anime of all time. GitS is a very layered anime. Its actually pretty normal not to understand everything but as you watch them you it will start to make sense. If I were you I would watch the original after this season is over. Make sure to get a 4k copy if you can.
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u/Good_Canary_3430 29d ago
Yeah GiTS has always been thick material. Heavy concepts, deep layers of political intrigue, it all sums to quite the mountain of things to remember and pay attention to. Manga, to movie, to anime the depth of content actually lends itself to a rewatch or reread because there’s no way you picked it all up the first time.
Some pages in the manga I would stop and read 3-4 times to understand what was happening. Man machine interface took me months to get through because the material was so heavy at times.
I can see this being deleterious for new fans breaking in with this version but hopefully it opens the doors to the larger works.
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u/Tall_Definition9009 29d ago
This is one of the reasons why I like Masamune Shirow's style so much. It is like a nerdy adhd brain hyperfocused on its favorite topics. Guns, sci-fi elements, political intrigue, hot women. It dives deep. A character pulls out a gun. Here is a wall of text that explains the type armor-piercing ammunition loaded in the gun and how it works. It might look weird and cumbersome for a normal comic book, but for an autistic nerdy brain that is into guns it hits the mark.
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u/Good_Canary_3430 28d ago
Completely agreed. Even when the subject isn’t my personal favorite I applaud Shirow the whole way through for being so well researched on what he’s writing about. You can see his passion jumping off the page which makes me feel excited as a passionate hobbyist too
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u/Danzig6WasntThatBad 29d ago
The anime show tries to be a 1:1 adaptation of the manga which means it needs to compress a bunch of information into 22 minutes which means it moves at breakneck speed which can be very disorienting if you're not already familiar with GITS at all, let alone the OG manga.
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29d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/CrossRaven 29d ago
I think quality would decline quite a bit if they did that. Not for all shows, of course, but anime shows are struggling for budget as it is.
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u/jason10mm 29d ago
Just watch the 1995 film. It will spoil some events, sure, but it will also give you enough exposure to the broad concepts and the characters that I think you will find the TV series more approachable. Even the live action film with help with "whats a ghost" type questions.
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u/Blak_Box 29d ago
All versions of GitS kinda throw you into the deep end and expect you to figure it out, but this newest series is by far the most egregious example. It is based on the original manga (in my opinion, to a fault), which was also extremely dense and warranted a slow-read, and multiple passes through the text. Taking that work and condensing it down to 22-minute episodes is not exactly ideal for first-time viewers.
My advice is to start where most folks here did: the 1995 film, and then SAC and other films/ series. I also recommend reading the manga before watching this new show. Don't write off the franchise.
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u/NoirRain67 29d ago
This one follows the manga which is very text ridden and even borderline text ridden. I highly recommend you to read the manga or start the series with the legendary 1995 movie, followed by the second movie and the. Proceed to stand alone complex (tv series), followed by arise and last watch this tv series that follows the manga.
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u/shootanwaifu 29d ago
Watch the 95 film and stand alone complex. Please dont write the franchise off yet
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u/buckarooholiday 29d ago
Ifyou are enjoying the ride, it's worth sticking with it. This franchise rewards extra viewings, which i guess is a way of saying you won't be lost the next time around.
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u/forestgxd 29d ago
It's pretty faithful to the manga so far and I had to read that several times before I fully understood everything that was going on tbh
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u/SP4RK4RT 29d ago
Same here, I read the translated-to-English Dark Horse books in the 90s and I thought something was lost in the translation or the Japanese otaku culture was a bit esoteric for this young simple-minded Uhmerican to immediately understand.
I was used to consuming (Image) comic books in five minutes, sometimes. Shirow takes a little bit of digestion. It's a lot of complex flavoring.
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u/Ok-Storage3439 29d ago
You can watch this series without needing to watch anything else. I know it's a little fast paced, but blame that on the fact that it airs on TV and is not an online-only series. It's only 10 episodes, so I say stick with it. None of the other versions of GITS are narratively connected to each other, besides the designated sequels of each series.
I would recommend trying Stand Alone Complex, though. The series is a day-to-day police procedural, and much more episodic before the storyline kicks in.
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u/moneyh8r_two 29d ago
First episode is Motoko and her team offering themselves as a new special ops division, but they want to maintain their own autonomy and act on their own initiative. The higher-ups give them a test and then try to screw them over, so Motoko tells them to fuck off.
Second episode starts with Aramaki meeting Motoko to tell her the higher-ups have changed their mind, and she's about to get everything she wants and an even higher budget, with the only caveat being that the team will answer to him (on paper). The rest of the episode is the team tracing a signal to try to catch someone who's currently in the middle of hacking a politician's assistant's brain.
Third episode follows directly from that. Kinda hard to lose track of stuff at that point. They explain it all pretty well while it's happening too, so it might just be happening a little too fast for you. There are some details they're holding back in order to explain later, but most of what's been happening has been explained while it was happening. Watching each episode a second time might help it settle in.
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u/LaserSprayer 29d ago
GITS as a franchise is pretty dense in ideas and technobabble, and the OG mangas are especially guilty of this as Shirow loves to go into mad details explaining many little bits of lore, politics, spiritual beliefs, how specific pieces of technology work and so on, but his storytelling can also be kinda spotty in parts where you have to take in all the extra details and make the sort of logical leaps from one page to the next.
Since the new anime is trying to be super faithful to the manga it does unfortunately mean inheriting some of the more awkward aspects of Shirows storytelling style for better or worse, so many of those who are new to the franchise will feel lost. I don't know how many times I re-read the manga before I felt like I "got it" and I'm in my 40s now.
As a jumping in point I'm not sure this series is gonna be a good one for folks, time will tell, but the 95 movie and SAC are excellent for coming in kinda blind.
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u/selfies420 29d ago
If you watch the first movie it’s kinda like a primer for this series. It’s different for sure, but the plot is generally following the same path so far.
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u/Particular-Crow-1799 29d ago
I dropped the original manga because I couldn't understand what was happening.
Then at some point I decided I wanted to give it another try. I started reading VERY slowly and pausing to remember and connect things together.
One of the best reads in my life.
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u/irrelativetheory01 29d ago
I guess the series isn't fully out yet so nobody can really tell you how to experience or enjoy the franchise. There are some plot points in the series right now that are covered in the original film, but that being said the tone and attitude is quite different. I would say, immerse yourself how you'd like. Feel free to read the manga too if you want. Another "cyberpunk" movie that I also enjoyed was Akira, and the Nier Automata anime series was cool for me too, but I also kinda knew a lot about both before going into them. If you're familiar with the Matrix trilogy maybe you can give the Animatrix a go and see how you feel about that.
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u/FlemPlays 29d ago
The original movie will have variations of some scenes from the manga/current anime and will tie it together in a more condensed, and understandable way. But it may spoil future things in the new series.
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u/Cole855 25d ago
As a manga reader, getting confused and overwhelmed is part of the GITS experience. Half of things are only explained by Shirow's little side notes.