Would I recommend this? No. Go watch Stand Alone Complex instead. Biggest note: this series is fully CG animated. I strongly dislike this style (I HATE how RWBY looks in stills and in motion). Land of the Lustrous intentionally utilizes CG’s strengths to simulate fluids and light refraction to incredible artistic effect. I cannot tell what reason CG was used for this series except to reduce costs (but I can only speculate). The models and textures in the series are jarring, especially in broad daylight where the simplicity of the textures is blindingly obvious. In dark scenes, it works much better. Unfortunately, most of the first three episodes takes place in a desert at noon. The movement animations are not bad but feel like they are lacking all power. Every impact feels same-y, which is a problem when you have cybernetic punches, small sidearm fire, high-power sniper rifle shots, hellfire missiles, and mech-dog bites.
Narrative pacing is wobbly in this series. The first episode opens with a leisurely chat between our protagonists and the worst incarnation of the Tachikomas yet. Suddenly, a gunfight erupts and the cracks in the animation of movement and the plain-ness of the models’ textures immediately show. The environment and enemies introduced feels like they wanted to remake Mad Max but only had a $20 budget. After the third episode some genuinely interesting mysteries are introduced, but very infrequent developments to this mystery feel like a brick on the story, not well-planned plot development. Nothing interesting is revealed about the main cast and the new characters oscillate between excruciating and forgettable.
The music is solid, but only occasionally memorable. I only watched the final episode with the English dub, which I thought was terrible (all the male characters sound the same and every line feels like a bored first-time reading). The writing itself is mediocre, and it seems to have lost all the subtlety and reflection on technology and society that made any of the other entries in the series engaging. The fights are all physical (and weakly directed), the extent of the political intrigue feels like the boring part of cop procedurals where the feds argue with local law enforcement over jurisdiction (petty). It feels all the individual parts that came together to make Stand Alone Complex gripping were shaved off in pursuit of an artistic direction I cannot fathom. I gave this series more than a fair shake (even discounting for my sky-high expectations due to previous installments in the series). This 'season' also ends abruptly in the middle of an important plot line and the second 'season' picks up right where it left off as if there was no break at all. I cannot, in good faith, recommend this series. Every other Ghost in the Shell entry has much more going for it than this one, and most reward re-watches, so do yourself a favor and check any of those out.