Yeah, the world building is awesome. It's really the reason to stick with the show through its rough spots.

The show is divided into 2 types of episodes; about half are one-shot episodes that are only loosely referenced by the main story arc (but they usually explore an interesting theme). If you watch the episodes in the order they were released it can be hard to follow the overall plot.

(In my understanding, this is related to the name: the one-shot episodes are "stand alone", and the main story arc ones are "complex". Of course, the name has other meanings as well, more directly relevant to the story and explained in the article, but I always found it neat.)

I recommend watching the original Japanese dubbed version with English subtitles. At that time translation was rough in most anime but this has since then improved.

(For German readers I recommend the German sub, the used the same people who dubbed the Stargate series which did a really good job in both cases.)

The English version is really good. A lot of work went into it when it came over to Adult Swim.

Just a nit pick but the original Japanese version isn’t a dub, it’s the original audio. I totally agree it’s the best version though.

That being said the English dub is pretty good too.

>original Japanese version isn’t a dub

Unless SAC is one of those incredibly rare pieces of Japanese animation where the voices were recorded prior to the animation being completed, the Japanese voiced version is just as much a dub as the English version.

>https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dub>dub verb (2)

>dubbed; dubbing

>Definition of dub

>(Entry 4 of 5)

>transitive verb

>1 : to add (sound effects or new dialogue) to a film or to a radio or television production —usually used with "in"

>// They dubbed in the music.

The voices may not have been recorded, but the script is almost certainly better in Japanese. The English dub is a static script, but the fan-created subtitles are usually a much better translation than the official ones from that era.

I agree completely.

It is a tough series to get into, and I won't apologize for a lot of it's pacing issues. All incarnations of Ghost In The Shell have prioritized communicating ideas about future society, which often comes at the cost of narrative cohesion. Stand Alone Complex and the Manga are, I think, the best entries in the franchise, but even those subject the audience to big exposition dumps.

But for my money, I think GitS has been one of the most prescient pieces of futurology. It's depiction of the impact of omnipresent telecommunications and technology on society is eerie.

FWIW there's a Stand Alone Complex movie, which is basically just the central plot of the series, with the side-stories edited out. I love the side-stories, but the movie is definitely easier to watch :)