The interesting thing about this version of the Ghost in the Shell world is that the Section 9 team members often manage to get in a conversation about the philosophical implications of what's going on, even as things go haywire around them. Kinda weird from the standpoint of how you might expect a special ops team to act, but it really sells the idea of Section 9 as humane and ethical. Normal cyberpunk (anti)heroes -- the amoral, self-centered variety -- are the kinds of creeps Section 9 blows away every week, which is refreshing.
To the above two posters: I fully understand your preference for the movie; it's a great story and a great work of art. A couple of the things you complain about, however (such as Kusanagi's provocative dress habits), aren't a case of dumbing-down for television, but actually straight out of the manga -- Kusanagi's having to strip nude to use her camouflage in the film actually seems like fanservice compared to the manga original, where the cloak seemed to be part of the team's battle dress, not built into the Major's skin. The robots (a different model called Fuchikoma in the manga) are, in my opinion, a nice counterpoint to the main plot: while Section 9 defends the people of Japan from manipulation of their "ghosts," they don't know quite what to make of these increasingly sentient robots. Fuchikoma/Tachikoma were part of Shirow's original vision, but were dropped from the film for technical reasons. It was nice seeing them on screen at last.
To the above two posters: I fully understand your preference for the movie; it's a great story and a great work of art. A couple of the things you complain about, however (such as Kusanagi's provocative dress habits), aren't a case of dumbing-down for television, but actually straight out of the manga -- Kusanagi's having to strip nude to use her camouflage in the film actually seems like fanservice compared to the manga original, where the cloak seemed to be part of the team's battle dress, not built into the Major's skin. The robots (a different model called Fuchikoma in the manga) are, in my opinion, a nice counterpoint to the main plot: while Section 9 defends the people of Japan from manipulation of their "ghosts," they don't know quite what to make of these increasingly sentient robots. Fuchikoma/Tachikoma were part of Shirow's original vision, but were dropped from the film for technical reasons. It was nice seeing them on screen at last.