I assume most people will have seen both series of GitS: Stand Alone Complex so will be familiar with the characters. If you haven't seen them yet I'd strongly recommend watching them before watching this follow-on film.
Set two years after the second series Section Nine is on the trail of a hacker known as The Puppeteer. Don't worry, this isn't a rehash of the Puppet Master story from the original GitS film though. The team, led by Togusa since the Major left them, learns of the Puppeteer while investigating a sting of Suicides. While investigating a brake in at a lab Batou sees a familiar face; Major Motoko Kusanagi. She warns him to keep away from the Solid State Society. At first Batou doesn't mention that he saw her but as he starts to believe that she may be the Puppeteer he is forced to tell Togusa about his fears.
As one would expect the animation looks fantastic without being distracting... unlike in GitS: Innocence where I often found myself admiring an animated object at the expense of following the story. Once again the music went well with the action and the voice actors all sounded good, although I had to read the subtitles as I can't speak Japanese.
If you liked the "Tachikomatic Days" shorts at the end of each episode be sure to watch "Uchikoma Days" on the second DVD which features the little blue tanks as well as the new green ones and the Jameson Unit.
I strongly recommend this film to anybody who enjoyed the series, while it isn't essential to watch them first I'm sure it will be a better experience if you have as you'll know and care about the characters more.
Set two years after the second series Section Nine is on the trail of a hacker known as The Puppeteer. Don't worry, this isn't a rehash of the Puppet Master story from the original GitS film though. The team, led by Togusa since the Major left them, learns of the Puppeteer while investigating a sting of Suicides. While investigating a brake in at a lab Batou sees a familiar face; Major Motoko Kusanagi. She warns him to keep away from the Solid State Society. At first Batou doesn't mention that he saw her but as he starts to believe that she may be the Puppeteer he is forced to tell Togusa about his fears.
As one would expect the animation looks fantastic without being distracting... unlike in GitS: Innocence where I often found myself admiring an animated object at the expense of following the story. Once again the music went well with the action and the voice actors all sounded good, although I had to read the subtitles as I can't speak Japanese.
If you liked the "Tachikomatic Days" shorts at the end of each episode be sure to watch "Uchikoma Days" on the second DVD which features the little blue tanks as well as the new green ones and the Jameson Unit.
I strongly recommend this film to anybody who enjoyed the series, while it isn't essential to watch them first I'm sure it will be a better experience if you have as you'll know and care about the characters more.