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After watching Ghost in the Shell I felt compelled to write my first review. I haven’t delved much into the anime world, only here recently. This being my first review bare with me, they are sure to get better in time.

Plot - The central plot and concept of the story is based on a cyberpunk/military/police theme. Not being a huge cyberpunk fan, but the human/machine divide is a fascinating topic, one that I truly believe could be touched on more often. The storytelling in the movie came off a bit horrible. The movie is more than a decade old by now; thus, possibly showing its ... age in the lack thereof a thick storyline. The main things I fell in love with would be the slow, brief moments in the movie. The points depicting scenes that allow you to sit back and try to understand everything as a whole. Although some scene transitions didn't make much sense at times. The important part, in my opinion, was Motoko Kusanagi's story and inner conflict. I loved that she left us asking questions within our self. Do we really exist or are we replicas of a previous life? If we lost all our memories, would we still be the same self that we believe to be? What would happen if you combined different souls?

Characters - Motoko Kusanagi came off as a strong yet very conflicted character. I felt she could be a capable leader with strong relationships with her team members even having a seemingly independent and harsh exterior. If given more time or maybe better budget with the movie maybe we could have seen a better unfolding of not only her character but the entirety of the cyborgs and possibly the section. I often found myself wondering why Batou cared so much for Motoko. Aramaki and Togusa are even more of a mystery with little to no elaboration into their positions in Section 9. Another character; although bad, I found myself wondering about would be “The Puppet Master” aka Project 2501. The Puppet master's dialogue did clearly present the topic of a human mind with mechanical origins, but I still found myself yearning to learn more. What disturbed this individual? Why did they want to infect the web with their children?

Video/Animation – For the most part given this is an older movie the cityscapes and water scene were utterly breath taking. Interiors and laboratories were designed great for the most part. Weapon and vehicle designs came off great.

Overall Analysis – Having watched this and not having any knowledge of Ghost in the Shell I would still suggest it to anyone who should ask me. Ghost in the Shell has merit as a classic. The storytelling was poor and some characters were underdeveloped. The idea if we lost it all and how would our lives be losing our memories is probably one of the main things I will take away from this movie.