This "review" is pretty casual. I started Arise because I had heard it balances the action and philosophy monologuing more for a mass appeal, and I was a fan of that concept for this franchise.

This movie is 60% monologues about bureaucratic conspiracy stuff, and I can get behind a bureaucratic political conspiracy but this one is boring and pedantic. Writing this review I'm already forgetting details that would help me explain it which is likely telling. I don't want to watch it again to elaborate but it's mostly about this new character who is a deceased benefactor of the Major whom we never see and do not know or have any reasons established for why we should care about him. The plot is about the mystery of his actions and why he did certain things. There aren't any flashbacks that flesh out his personality or his connection to the major which is an odd decision. All we know about him is he favored the Major and gave her leeway but we don't really know his personality or why the Major may feel a connection to him if she does.

Similarly, we don't have much reason to care about the organization that has Motoko in their employ in the beginning of the movie. The leader, who is Voiced by the incredible Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, my favorite voice for the Major, largely serves the role of the fall guy that keeps her out of trouble for most of the movie, what is Motoko's history with this woman, does she hold reverence for her, is she like her sensei? Who knows she's just kind of there

On the voice acting, I can understand why McGlynn is not the Major here because her Major voice is powerful and commanding and this is meant to be a young inexperienced prequel Major. I still found this Major to be very wooden though tolerable. It's probably difficult to find that balance where there are glimmers of emotion but still stoic. That being said I watched the sub version of a later installment because I tired of this voice and although I obviously can't comment on the little nuances of the performance since I don't speak japanese I found the actress has a noticably greater range of emotion in her performance, and thinking about it I don't know if this is meant to be like Mamoru Oshii's ultra reserved Motoko. Besides the Major, Batou has a much deeper voice this time around in the dub and while I can't say its not fitting for his character I prefer the SAC and Oshii voices where he was a grizzled old guy but had more range and wiggle room to be a little goofy and a multifaceted person. Though given the plot circumstances in universe here he doesn't have much room for that anyways

A major player of this film didn't have that much going on at all, besides being antagonistic to The Major

It;s pretty apparent watching this which scenes had more budget than others, like when the major has a suddenly ultra flat no detail face. Somebody told me it's an OVA and not a film which explains why it lacks the production values or gravitas I would expect from film animation. This also isn't my favorite design for the major but it's not that bad I'd say, it helps that I saw the 2045 design first.

I won't go too in depth about the

I wasn't overly invested in this but while it's uninteresting I found my attention span didn't wander that much, so its perfectly watchable but that's the best I can say about it.