[the_af]

Fans of Shirow will probably lynch me, but I didn't like the manga all that much. Not even the art style, which the new animé seems to replicate.

To me, Mamoru Oshii's 1995 GitS is THE version, because I'm seldom in the mood for slapstick and I much prefer the introspective mood of the movie, and its cinematic visuals. And the music!

I haven't liked any other adaptations since. To me, the movie is almost perfect. I didn't like Innocence much though.

[BLKNSLVR]

I liked Innocence for the overwhelm-of-ideas. I will say outright that 'i don't entirely get it' but I very much like that it exists and I rewatch it every couple of years to just sit under the waterfall of concepts, no matter how pretentious it all may be.

[the_af]

That's valid!

I just can't get over how pretentious it is, and also I miss Motoko in it. I mean, the first movie (1995) also toyed with pretentiousness, but this was miraculously curtailed before it had a chance to bog the whole movie down [1], and its awesome mood, soundtrack -- much like with Blade Runner, another favorite of mine, I find it hard to separate the movie from its awesome soundtrack -- and visuals overpowered everything else. Motoko questioning if she was human, and what it mean to be human, it all worked for me. Maybe if she had spent the whole movie doing this, without any payoff, I'd like it less.

Innocence has great visuals too, I'll grant you this!

[1] mostly because the movie ends :D