Ghost in the Shell

[Bthug]

whats the order or what should i watch first, i hear their is a movie and couple of sereis, actually isnt their two movies...what order  should this show be watched in?

[film_nut]

You don't have to watch the first two movies (Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell: Innocence) to be able to watch the Stand Alone Complex and 2nd Gig series. In fact, unless you're really into sci-fi, those movies might turn you off from the series. There is a Stand Alone Complex movie (Solid State Society) that I believe you can watch after 2nd Gig. It might be a stand alone though, I haven't seen it.

[Bthug]

So i can just watch Ghost in the shell then ghost in the shell 2nd gig

I dont have to watch the movies? they dont have anything importance to the anime?

[Top_Gun]

The two original movies (Ghost in the Shell and Innocence) are in a completely-different continuity from the series, so they don't affect it in any way. Solid State Society is a direct follow-up to 2nd Gig, so that should be watched after the second series.

[film_nut]

Continuity! That's the word I couldn't think of. I wanted to say different universe, but that wasn't quite right.

Yeah, you don't have to watch the first two movies to watch the series. If you do decide to watch them though, be prepared to watch them more than once because you probably won't get it the first time around. Or at least I didn't.

[DRC]

As Top Gun mentioned, Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence are not related to Stand Alone Complex.

Mamoru Oshii decided to take his artistic directions to portray certain parts of the original manga for the two movies. Unless you've read all the manga, it will get confusing. Especially for Innocence. Richard Epcar - Batou's voice actor- was in charge of the ADR directing and localization of the dub of that movie, and he thinks that it's just a complete mess. It's confusing and tries to condense way too much into way too little..

But I digress.

Solid State Society is the only movie directly related to Stand Alone Complex, and it takes place after the two seasons.

You don't NEED to see the Mamoru Oshii movies in order to understand what happens in the anime series.

[Bthug]

Alright cool thanks guys, I think I will wait for Ghost in the shell to start from the beginning on [as] then watch it.

[DRC]

Unfortunately, you'll be waiting another 12 weeks for that, and furthermore, you'll need to make sure you don't watch the last episode before the first comes on.

Due to just how the schedule turned out, the series has been airing the last episode of the series with the first episode immediately following it for the last couple years. In other words, episodes 52 and 1, 2 and 3, 4 and 5, etc.

[Bthug]

that's troublesome, 12 weeks sounds short but in reality thats like september and the end of summer lol, maybe I might wait idk yet.

[film_nut]

If you have Netflix and don't want to wait 12 weeks, both series are on Instant Play.

[Bthug]

oh really? I know the movies are, i didnt know about the series. It's just that I wanna help [as] and watch it on tv, but who knows I might waiver.

Oh and is it english, cause other stuff like Naruto, Death Note, and Inuyasha are in **QWOP** with english sub titles. Pretty stupid if ask me.

[film_nut]

Yeah, it's in English. You have to make sure it's the actual series though and not the recap movies that are also on there. It's all the Viz Media titles that are in Japanese.

Thanks for the heads up on Death Note being on there by the way. I've actually been wanting to watch it in Japanese (Mamoru Miyano=<3) and don't feel like watching it on Hulu.

[Bthug]

Yea no problem, any idea why the viz titles are in **QWOP**?

[film_nut]

'Cause Viz is stupid. xD

Maybe that's the only way they would allow Netflix to stream their stuff because they thought it would stop people from buying their DVDs as much if they could get the dubs from Netflix. :/

[Bthug]

I see where their coming from, I have a hard time lately on what I want to buy (dvd wise) cause it's on Netflix and I am paying for that soooo...I get where their coming from.

[film_nut]

I don't like it though because I don't buy anime unless I've seen it anyway, so they're not changing my buying habits by trying to get me to pay extra for a dub. I don't really even mind subs, but it's a bother that I'm paying for something to just not have commercials like Hulu.

[Bthug]

oh yea dont get me wrong I don't like it either, I also only buy anime's that I have seen and love, although Im trying to change that but it's pretty **QWOP** hard to make a blind buy. At the end of the day it's pretty stupid cause only real anime fans are going to buy the dvds and ppl who might stumble upon anime on netflix are going to be turned off cause it's in subtitles. So putting the subtitles is ultimelty pointless.

[XenopusTex]

I suggest watching it with your eyes

I haven't seen GiTS 1 or 2 (mostly because I don't own a true, non-PC, DVD player let alone a Blu-Ray).

Probably best to watch each series more than once to get everything in it.  Take "Affection" for example; if you want to get all 2nd gig has to offer, remember it for later