The second movie in the Ghost in the Shell Arise series, and I think this one gave up on the whole philosophical aspect of Ghost in the Shell completely. I honestly don’t remember a single moment of this movie that made a person question what was occurring, or their feelings on a matter. Instead I feel like we got a rehash of the first movie, with the plot driven by some rather similar things that we have seen in the past. Incorrect memories, super powerful chips, and AI. All these plot points have occurred in the past Ghost in the Shell shows or movies and have always been done better in those past versions. So, it just leads to disappointment when stuff occurs with little build-up or suspense, and you can’t help but compare it to those other shows and movies.

This movie also has a disappointing visual style that is unimpressive. The characters still don’t look good or interesting, just kinda bland. And that carries over to the general feel of the city that they spend a bunch of time driving around. We get lots of boring shots of cars driving on generic raised highways, without any stunning visuals. I feel sad knowing that none of these movies come close to the show, and instead keep the generic anime feel.

The character development in this movie was essentially nonexistent, and all they did was introduce us to some new characters and some backstory. It would have hoped for a bit more development from most of the characters, given we are on the second of four movies and we barely know or care at all about the characters.
• Major went from place to place shooting up stuff and caused explosions. And her total character growth came to her finally deciding to put together the team and working independent.
• The second lead VV has a sudden surprise twist in the last fight. But unlike the other times we have had this surprise twist, this one had no build up and wasn’t hinted at. So, you had no way of guessing who this character was.
• Saito is introduced with the barest character possible. Here is some sniper who likes to gamble and has money issues.
• Pazu gets literally nothing in this movie at all. He just kinda exists and joins Major’s team because he wanted to join.
• Ishikawa also literally just exists, has 3 scenes or so, and does very little. Might as well not have existed in this movie at all.
• Batou gets the bad guy spot in this movie. But his motivations besides wanting to help his superior Soga with his plan.
• The final bad guy would be Soga, the superior of various people. And the person we are told is the mastermind of the project for most of the movie. And given the larger plot that was mentioned in a single line is never explored, he might as well have been the only mastermind.

Overall, I get the feeling with this movie as well, that they didn’t want to make a Ghost in the Shell movie. They wanted to make a generic action movie, but needed a world to place it in. And decided that since people like Ghost in the Shell, they can use the name to drive up interest in it. Watching it, I don’t feel any real love for the series or previous installments.