Koukaku Kidoutai Arise: Alternative Architecture

What makes us human? A body made out of flesh and blood? Emotions? These are the kind of questions we ask ourselves when we look at the complex universe of Ghost in The Shell.
Ghost in the shell alternative architecture is a 10 episode series that covers a more condensed version of the 4 Arise Borders 1,2,3,4 movies plus a new story arc, each divided in 2 episodes.
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The Story: Section 9 solving different cases that involve cyberterrorism, ghost hacking and government corruption. Issues that are the main focus of the series.
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The Art: gorgeous to look at. A beautiful futuristic world full of color from the ... character design to the scenery everything looks amazing, bringing the world of Ghost in the Shell to life.
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The Sound: The sound quality is excellent. The music is amazing and fits the whole cyberpunk theme perfectly.
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Being a huge Ghost in the Shell fan and having already seen the 4 Arise movies I enjoyed this series a lot. This is a good recap of the 4 movies with a bonus extra story in the last 2 episodes that ties in with the new Ghost in the Shell movie released in 2015.

I liked this a lot as it had many of the great elements from GiTS that I've come to love.

A lot of wonderful action scenes? Check.
Beautiful animation? Check.
Fantastic soundtrack? Check.
Fun interactions between all of Motoko's squad? Check.
Fun interactions with the the support bots (Logicomas in this series)? Check.
The usual fun hacking/diving/net/cyber and philosophical elements? Check.
Political espionage? Check.

I had a blast most of the time watching this. That said, there's one big glaring issue that hurts this series somewhat. A lot of the plot in many of these episodes is extremely convoluted. Episodes 7 and 8 in particular have some of the most convoluted hard ... to follow fucking plot that I've ever come across in any form of media. After watching both episodes I had to jump on google and scour reddit to find an explanation in regards to what I watched because I was totally lost. Some of the earlier episodes aren't that much better in that regard, but 7 and 8 were especially frustrating to watch. Fortunately, episodes 9 and 10 are fucking great. It's just straight up action and it's very easy to follow plot-wise. Both episodes 9 and 10 apparently feature all new content whereas the rest of the series was adapted from several OVAs. It made me happy to see Arise end on a high note after episodes 7 and 8. Anyway, I recommend watching this series if you're a fan of GiTS. It's great GiTS content. And, it's not a big viewing commitment time-wise either. Only 10 episodes around 24 minutes long... It's an easy and quick watch.

Warning: This series reprises the original Arise story (and adds one new story arc), but it does so out of order, starting with the conclusion! Don't watch this series until you've watched the original films, or else start the series with episodes 3-8, then watch episodes 1 and 2 (the original Arise conclusion), and then episodes 9 and 10 (the new content) followed by GitS: The New Movie (2015).

Now, some details: First off, GitS Arise: Alternative Architecture (or GitSA:AA) is a more-concise version of the four GitS: Arise movies, which basically focus on the creation of The Major's team (which eventually becomes the core ... of Public Security Section 9) plus an additional two episodes of new content at the end. But bizarrely, the first two episodes in the GitSA:AA series are the (trimmed-down) final Arise movie, Border 4: Ghost Stands Alone - in other words, the series starts with its climax, spoiling itself right from the start for people who haven't watched the movies yet. That disorder is the main reason for my low rating for GitSA:AA; my rating for the original Arise films is higher, as they are the same good story but presented in a sensible narrative order. GitSA:AA is an alternative architecture, all right: one that puts major components in the wrong places, resulting in the failure of the structure. (Insert collapsing-bridge image here.)

So if you haven't watched the four Arise movies yet, I'd strongly recommend watching them first, and then just watch GitSA:AA episodes 9 & 10 followed by GitS: The New Movie (2015). Or if you'd rather watch the abbreviated version of the story, start GitSA:AA with episodes 3-8, then watch episodes 1-2, and finally watch episodes 9-10. You'll be glad you did! Either way, if watched in the correct narrative order, I would recommend these stories, especially for fans of the Ghost in the Shell franchise.

Aside from the bizarre re-ordering of the story here, this is a good series overall. It's hard to compare this series (or the Arise films) against the GitS: Stand Alone Complex / 2nd GIG series, which is a masterpiece and (in my view) the best anime of all time. The original series' depth of writing and characterization, exploration of existential and other thought-provoking themes, and brilliant filmcraft, all make a fair comparison impossible. Still, the Arise stories feature competent, character-driven writing. Although this series can be seen as an alternative continuity to the original series (which itself was a bit of an alternate continuity to the original 1995 GitS film), even the idea of different continuities without a "privileged" continuity can be seen as yet another facet of the existential themes that are at the heart of Ghost in the Shell.

The characters are a bit different here: better in some ways, sure, but perhaps worse in others. And if you watch the English dub, it can be hard to get used to the different voice actors. But the series fleshes out its characters pretty well and does a bit more for side characters like Ishikawa, Borma, and Paz than Stand Alone Complex did, providing some additional (and in many cases alternative) detail in their implied backstories and more meaningful screen time. And if you finish the series with GitS: The New Movie (2015), you'll get a satisfying conclusion to the overall Arise story.

In short, GitSA:AA is worth a watch (again, assuming you watch it in the proper order to avoid the spoilers).