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Kyoukai Senki: Kyokkou no Souki is a short series (around 7 minutes per episode x 6 episodes, not counting the OP and ED sequences) and a good addition to the original Kyoukai Senki. It's a side story, set in the KS universe with all new characters. Solid animation, a good score, and a decent story carry this mini-series, which deals with attempts by the North American military to oust a small force of Oceania-aligned Japanese rebels from an island they are fighting to protect.

Chinen Ibuki is our main character, a young man grappling with survivor guilt over his first real encounter with the ... enemy in a one-sided engagement that left all of his friends and acquaintances dead. His introduction to Misawa Jin, an experienced AMAIM pilot working to help the rebels, is a tense one, but eventually Misawa is instrumental in helping Chinen face his emotional demons. Grady Ellison, the commander of the NA forces, is a decent villain, a career soldier who has come to love battle and his quest for revenge more than he cares about his own subordinates. The story does a pretty good job of fleshing out these key characters given its short run time.

Of course, one valid criticism of the series is that it seems designed to sell AMAIM model kits, as we get an ad for them at the end of every episode. Still, the show stands on its own merits, whether or not its impetus was primarily commercial or artistic.

Watching the mini-series after watching Kyoukai Senki (season 1) helped me enjoy the mini-series more. as I already knew the context and history of the conflict and understood how the AMAIM mechs and AI characters worked within the story. But even those viewers watching the mini-series before the main series will get enough information about what's going on to understand the story and appreciate the action. And that information is delivered effectively and efficiently; the show isn't heavy on exposition. (It does a good job of "show, don't tell.")

Overall, Kyoukai Senki: Kyokkou no Souki is worth a watch, especially for those with an interest in mecha anime stories, and certainly if you have already watched and enjoyed Kyoukai Senki.

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).

Shenmue the Animation is the kind of show that is bound to make you laugh. In fact, all through the first episode I found myself involuntarily bursting out laughing, every 15-20 seconds! It's all thanks to the amazingly wooden voice acting; the terrible, pretentious narration; the incongruent and inappropriately-timed music cues; the bafflingly bad animation and character design; and the horrendous writing and characterization. If you enjoy laughing, and particularly if you enjoy laughing at "so bad it's ... meh" anime, then this is the show for you!

Seriously, though: You should not watch this anime alone. Make a friend suffer through ... this with you, someone with whom you can laugh, cry, and commiserate through all of the eye-popping, frustrating, headache-inducing misery. Watching Shenmue the Animation is painful. It really hurts. It's not just the experience of suffering through something so poorly-made: It's knowing that the creators could have made the show so much better than they did. Even if the story on which this anime is based is poor (and I haven't read it, so I can't judge), the production still could have put some effort into hiring voice actors with a modicum of experience and passion for the craft. They could have found a script-writer who could write. They could have invested a few dollars in hiring a competent character designer for the day.

But they didn't... and it's such a shame to see all of their (admittedly probably meager) production budget going to such a waste... funds that could have been used to bring a much better anime to the screen.

Adult Swim and Crunchyroll executives... what were you thinking?