Ghost in the Shell Arise: Alternative Architecture 01-02 END
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Arise or even GitS at large, continues to make me feel slow and obtuse. And especially after a long break, getting a hang of a number of fictional countries and government agencies, of all the hacking, ghost fusing, dubbing and whatever else is a demanding challenge. It doesn't help that the pace is brisk, the intrigue confusing and the show rarely if ever stops to wait for you to catch up. I think I got the gist of it but some things, especially Scarecrow related things flew above my head. The ending was a bit anticlimactic in that the main perpetrator was brought down without any involvement from Kusanagi. I still dunno why they put this arc at the beginning of TV run, it spoils a few things, makes this chronologic order just fizzle out at the end and without watching the preceding events, it must be an even more vexing experience.
Overall it was pretty fun. I can't say I was particularly hot on Stand Alone Complex so I don't think of Arise as of some giant dishonour done to franchise. It's just a bit weaker. I've watched the OVA's way to long in the past to make an informed judgement but given how dire the Spring season was, this is probably my AOTS. Unless BBB finale will blow me away.
The callback to the diving from the movie as well as some foreshadowing for the path Major took there was pretty surprising to see. Wasn't Arise supposed to be it's own thing ?
Tachi tfu Logicomas are the best brand of moe there is.