IMHO. GitS SAC ~ a collection of unexpected

How about this concept of a masterpiece - something that can be interpreted and analysed in many different ways.

I mean, I could base my review on the original soundtrack and explain how each song and each instrumental illustrates a certain motif in the story. I would sing praises to Yoko Kanno, because she is a genius like no other, and I would certainly say that I regret very much the death of Ms Origa. And here I would ponder what could happen if Ms Origa lived in the world of GitS and was able to reload her brain into a new prosthetic body...
The moment the tilt rover takes off accompanied by the lowering electro sound... It gives me more pleasure than many full openings I've seen.

Or I could start arguing how GitS SAC is a row of short stories exploring the issues of artificial intellect multiplied by artificial bodies, with the story of the Laughing Man and Individual Eleven acting as a unifying thread. Some of the stories were actually incredibly impressing and inspiring to think over something important.

At the same time, it's a mixture of life stories of several people, the main characters, with every new development making my heart skip a beat. The amount of nerves I lost during 'Solid State Society' is not something to be replaced easily. I think I haven't been worried this much for a while... I would also add how I found it so strange that I cried over the destiny of the artificially created mechanisms if not more than at least as much as I cried for real people in many other movies and anime I had seen.
And I could speculate how in so many situations the lines spoken by one character could be interpreted as having to do something with a different situation not mentioned explicitly but clear from the context, like when the reason why Uchikomas' AI didn't develop into the same one as Tachikomas' was explained, but at the same moment you realise it's also about the Major and her decision to start her own adventure.

I could also do some research and start digging into SAC seeing it entirely as an action-mystery series, finding faults in the plot and trying to justify - or blame - them.

Many contradictions would be actually found with the world they live in - the world of the future, but with strange rudiments of the past, where they use CD despite being able to carry portable memory devices suitable for storing the whole brain

or having to whisper secret information while others can communicate via something bordering on telepathy

or keeping important documents on paper

 or using those 'Galapagos' flip phones

Picking another way of telling my impressions, I would mention that GitS is a work that puts too much questions on the table, not answering most of them.

Tying these two theories together, I would share my wonders and say how it is even more strange now that only 3 months are left before it's the 2019 they mentioned.

Some things do not change, however, like Tokyo freaks... And how can you possibly dislike an anime which has so many tiny details properly thought over, such as these people wearing weird stuff while it's already AD 2032

or the way the prime-minister wipes the wire with a small cloth after Kusanagi asked her to receive data directly. Or the way a small shop interior is meticulously portrayed when the characters simply run by. Why did they have to create even the mosaic above the door?

Sometimes it's almost scary how vast the scale of this anti-utopian world is and how far the imagination of the creators went. Ohhhh how did you know 20 years ago?

I say HOW_DID_YOU_KNOW?

How scary it is to watch 'Individual Eleven' when only last week I translated and edited articles on Global Voices...

I say, just how much did they think about the modern world when creating this anime?!

Oh yes sometimes it's scary. If it's what I think it is, then only a year ago I visited an observation deck here to see the prosperous city's night-scape and bought some souvenirs in the shop.

Now for the good part. By the way, GitS is slightly

only slightly ecchi sometimes

And I liked this side of GitS too. No, to be more precise, I liked that for the first time in a while I saw grown-up people making grown-up decisions, and most importantly - a young attractive AND capable AND dangerous AND strong woman such as the Major.

Seems that long before I began to feel satisfied at least with 'arrogant bitches' there were real women to admire... I have forgotten this feeling already. To say nothing of the voice acting, which actually set me back on track and reminded how real voice acting is supposed to be done.
I mustn't leave aside the humoristic aspects of the story. Right? Robots claiming due respect

 misunderstanding the situations

 giving high five to each other - was it a part of their AI self-learning system?

Some double-layered puns? A company president reloaded himself to a tin box speaking Osaka dialect which turns out to be not native...

Oh, this is a great idea - basing a review of GitS on how the 'stand alone' concept is used in so many different contexts, I think I could name 4 or 5 times it was used in the song lyrics on top of being simply a basis for some characters' actions (Inner Universe, The end of all you'll know etc.).

However, the fact I first mentioned to my friend dying to share my impressions with her in hope she'll watch it too someday, was how the team of the main characters was based around the idea I liked so much.

Teamwork and team spirit and soldiers in the same uniform and with the same hairstyle are all okay, but an organisation where individuality is respected and every one is given freedom as an acknowledged specialist with his own way of doing things - you don't know how much I envy this structure, oh no, not unless you are working in a dull governmental organisation with significant rotation and absence of initiative, like I do. Understanding all negative points of such structure I still think I'd be very glad to say 'my ghosts whispers to me I should do so' to my boss - and be allowed to do so immediately.
And then, how can I keep from praising the art and visual design when it creates such an inimitable atmosphere...

Who decided to portray the digital environment as this kind of colourful space? He is a genius isn't he? And who created this scene in the movie, he must know it captured my heart conclusively and irrevocably.

So now, what was supposed to be a short compilation of the thoughts that came to my mind while I was watching the series, evolved into a huge mess in the shape of this post. And I don't care.
Still, there is one thing I regret.

I hope this new society will not be bogged down in its beauty vlogs, live streams of something no one really asked for, street pranks, silly DIYs and, even though I myself watch them constantly, cute cats videos.
The net is vaster than ASMR and letsplay, right?

IMHO. 'Full Metal Panic' anime and manga

If you ask me about shoujo manga I have read, I can easily divide them into two groups: the one I completely dislike, when authors try to keep the readers' attention by not letting them enjoy seeing the heroine happily united with her beloved and constantly creating troubles out of nothing; the other – more simplistic but, thanks to that, much more enjoyable, plain but captivating. Even when mangakas try to add something bittersweet, the ending is usually happy and relieving.

That won't do with shounen genre. Probably there's not a single work I've read that can be judged so simply. And the strangest thing is that you don't know before you start watching or reading - you don't know that what starts as your usual shounen adventure will be one of the most impressive works you have read in your life.

Accompanied by soft melodies sung by Mikuni Shimokawa, the first season was a good way to spend my free time watching something interesting. At first I thought those melodies too soft for such an energetic story, until I finally understood what they are about

A calm, peaceful, happy world which is the ultimate goal of all the fighting.

At some points I liked the pace of the anime more than of the manga, but at another I enjoyed manga more. I guess this is the rare case when both anime and manga are independent interpretations of the original novel, and since both have strong sides, I wouldn't say which is better, though of course manga is more profound since it is longer.

I know there are female mangakas who write shounen manga from a boy’s perspective, moreover, they make it so cruel it’s hard to bear. I also know there are male mangakas who write manga about girls as if they knew exactly what’s going in their heads. However, in case of FMP, the gender roles are just what you’d expect, typical. Retsu Tateo created though a shounen, but with a girl, Kaname, in the centre, showing much of her emotional experiences during the events. Compared to the fast-paced anime, I could more thoroughly enjoy her moments of happiness, especially after I was scared together with her, angry together with her, and sad and lonely together with her. Other characters and other chapters are also depicted from a woman’s point of view, and while it may be not very obvious from the beginning, this feeling grows with time.

After the author changes to Hiroshi Ueda in FMP Sigma, Sagara turns into your typical shounen hero

As for Kaname – she doesn’t turn into a maiden in distress, and that’s a fact I am extremely grateful to the authors for,

but she gets more distant and is shown less, by which I mean that she both appears less, and that within the time she is given her thoughts and feelings are given less time in comparison to the first manga.

However, what I noticed while reading the second manga is that though I got to see less Kaname, I got to see more Sagara and other characters with their feelings, doubts, past traumas and current inner struggle, again given more time than in the anime and thus deeper, finally providing me with understanding of their actions.

All this may seem good, but for one thing: I started to read it as a usual shounen adventure, hoping to see the enemies defeated triumphally and the main characters living happily ever after. Instead, it got darker and darker, too serious with time, making me deal with problems like unwanted cruelty, philosophical issues and time warps causing some favourite characters to change their way and other favourite characters die. By the way, this is not an entertainment show about conquering the world, and I am almost amazed at myself for being able to stay sane with so much blood.

The last several volumes were a trial for me. Constantly worrying about the characters, plunging into despair and climbing the mountains of hope, I spend several days completely out of the real world. In the end I can say that all the 'good fellows' are worthy of respect, and those who strayed from the right path are worthy of pity. Not a single of them, not a single relationship was left without attention, including supporting characters and even the AI. I'll add FMP to my list of works with impressive characters.

The art gets more pleasant and sophisticated around volume 6, when the characters finally look realistic and attractive. Sagara turns into an athletic young man rather than a pathetic youth he was in volume one.

By the last volume, the Ueda's style changed significantly. He said himself he liked this final version most of all, and though I'd never agree this is very beautiful, I'd say it was solid.

Anime art was good enough too, getting even better and better with years.

The last thing to add to this perfection is music by Sahashi Toshihiko and incredible quality of voice acting by the cast.

Still, FMP is not only about blood and struggle. It's also about completely awkward situations,

 toy bears speaking with horses,

 stupid puns,

and bawdy jokes.

I guess the author himself couldn't bear constant gloomy battles and had to insert unexpected situations to laugh at. And that again made the characters even more lovable.

I don't like plain words in anime and manga, and it's been a long time since I was impressed by a scene when a defeated enemy admits he has lost to the power of love, but when love is protected by such people in such circumstances, I have to take my hat down. Despite the huge amount of nerves that I have lost with no change of recovering, I don't regret reading.