First of all I'd like to talk about the thing about which most people were skeptical, that is Full CGI. To put it simply the Full CGI here is different compared to the approach that most the anime take i.e, dropping the frame rate to match that anime aesthetic. SAC 2045 decided to throw that away and go with smooth frame rates. The question is did it work? In short it was fair. Certainly not as good as the look of the original SAC or the original movie but nowhere as bad as that it started to ruin the experience or anything.
Story - 6.5/10
The story on it's own might've been fair but when you consider the fact that it has to carry the weight of a series like Ghost in the Shell you have to say that it's not up to the standard set by it. The first arc of the story that's set in America is certainly the weakest part. The first few episodes certainly felt the weakest due to mediocre storytelling. However as the story progressed that got better. Also the last arc was pretty good and felt upto the mark like a real gits story.
Characters - 8/10 (minor spoilers ahead)
So we do get a bunch of new characters along with the og cast with major and the company. In the beginning it looked like we're getting another one named Stan in the company but he was get rid of pretty soon without any development or involvement in the story which definitely questions the whole point of adding him in the first place. Also there's a new pink haired girl at the headquarters who seemed like the annoying point of the show to me at first sight but as episodes moved on it was somewhat leveled down. No complains with the original characters tho. They managed to keep them exactly how they should be.
Animation - 7/10
First things first. Just bashing this anime because of the cgi is not a good idea. Many people including me were upset when the trailer came out with the so called "ps2 graphics". But as i watched the show I very quickly got used to it and very soon started to like it as well because of 2 reasons. 1) As i said before, because they decided to not frame limit it, the fight scenes and chase scenes looked really good. They were very well choreographed too. 2) Even without the frame limit the anime aesthetic was there which brings me to the next point that is the main reason why the trailer looked horrible to most people is because of the difference in aesthetic not because it was ugly or anything. Character design was certainly different and one thing that may have striked many people is major's character looked more feminine than before but it didn't bug me as much because she was as badass as ever. One thing that did bug me was character motions sometimes did feel a bit disney-ish( That's the best way I can describe it).
Sound and Music - 5/10
Not much to talk about here. OP and ED were nowhere close to the iconic OPs and EDs of original SAC which were performed by Origa(Rip). Music was not bad but it didn't suit the ambience of ghost in the shell at all.
Overall
If you liked the original SAC then you'll most likely find it decent at least. It's nowhere close to be called a worthy successor but it's not bad enough that it should be ignored or never looked at it again. The cliffhanger on the last episode was good enough to give me hopes for the next season and they might as well will be able make it a better one than this.
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