Ghost in the shell watch order

zal said:
There are currently three Ghost in the Shell timelines:

Ghost in the Shell (Movies)

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Ghost in the Shell: Arise

These are all separate continuities and do not have any relations with one another and can be viewed independently. However, the original movie introduces concepts which will greatly enhance your enjoyment of the other installments. As such, it is recommended that you watch the 1995 movie first.

Ghost in the Shell (Movies)

Looking for something that places a heavy focus on philosophical intrigue (i.e. "What does it mean to be alive?") in a gritty cyberpunk setting? The original movies are your best starting point:

Ghost in the Shell (1995) -> Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

Note: Do not bother watching Ghost in the Shell 2.0. It is an inferior looking remake to the original 1995 version that replaces some scenes with extremely ugly and dated CGI visuals. Just stick with the 1995 version.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Want a procedural cop drama that is set in a futuristic sci-fi cyberpunk world that focuses more on world building and characterization while having philosophy and social theory play an important role in the series itself? The Stand Alone Complex timeline would be for you:

GitS: SAC -> GitS: SAC 2nd GIG -> GitS: SAC - Solid State Society

There are also summary movies that focuses only on the overarching case in each SAC season:

GitS: SAC - The Laughing Man is a summary of the Laughing Man case of SAC.

GitS: SAC - Individual Eleven is a summary of the Individual Eleven case in SAC 2nd gig.

These are generally meant to be watched after their respective seasons if you want to see the overarching case without any breaks for stand alone episodes as well as some extra scenes.

There are also specials associated with each SAC season. SAC - Tachikoma na Hibi and SAC 2nd GIG - Tachikoma na Hibi which are short 1 minute specials for every episode. They are not mandatory for viewing and are comedic shorts involving some of the characters from SAC.

Ghost in the Shell: Arise

The third timeline, Arise is generally not recommended for first viewing. This is because to its detriment, it focuses primarily on action while ditching a lot of the philosophical aspects. It was meant to be a reboot of the series to tell the story of the creation Section 9 and some of the characters in their early days. If you just want to see well animated action scenes in a cool looking sci-fi world, you can start here. The Arise timeline consists of 4 OVAs, a movie and a TV series. This is the proper watch order:

Ghost Pain

Ghost Whispers

Ghost Tears

Ghost Stands alone

GitS: Arise - Alternative Architecture TV series episode 9 and 10*

Ghost in the Shell (2015)

*The Arise Architecture TV series is simply a compilation of the OVA in a different order for episodes 1-8. The new content begins in episode 9 and 10 which connects the OVAs with the 2015 movie.