[X] My Assistant

[Fortune]

[martindv]

[PBTHHHHT]

[Snow_Fox]

Kusanagi's memories also set up the relationship between her and Kuze later.

The trial episode gives you an idea how screwed up the court system is, which is why they have no faith in it later on and why Ghoda is so contemptuous of the threat of being arrested, and yeah, loved how Section 9 dealt with the problem. which also shows they can be cold in search of Justice.

The Saito episode exists as mainly filler, but remember it is told while they are on guard duty at a state visit from the "American Empire" and you see more of this relationship exposed at the climax of 2nd gig.

The 1st season of GitS certainly has much more filler episodes with the Laughing Man over all theme getting a much less prominent placement than the Individual 11/Kuze plot in 2nd Gig. Though the fact the Individual 11 was a faux book was revealed about half way through, when the guys chop off their heads. Togasa confronts the newspaper man who tells him that, right before he slashes his own throat.

[Kagetenshi]

[mfb]

hamhanded compared to what? i can think of few TV shows or movies that work with as much subtlety as GitS:SAC. i mean, if you want to talk hamhanded, let's look at the original movie and its sequel! the philosophizing in Innocence left contusions.

[Snow_Fox]

Right, I see it as incredibly subtle. They don't telegraph what they are doing like so many programs do, you have to pay attention to the episodes to get the 2 minutes of eprtinant stuff out of a 22 minute episode but later, when they reveal the important stuff, you appreciate "Oh yeah, they did set this up already!" Rather than just surprise you, like:
"Konzudo Ghoda, per law 25.25 section C, that we haven't mentioned in the last 25 episodes, you cannot leave the country." And I'm trying to avoid spoilers since this thread was started by someone who wants to know 'is it worth watching?'
The point is by the time they wrap up the threads, you realize that they did set up important details in an episode you took for granted as filler. That is what I think of as tight writing.

[Enigma]

Alright, the next question is this. I have seen the Ghost in the Shell movie only. If I am interested in watching this wealth of material previously unknown to me in chronological order (storyline order not production order) then is there a particular order I should watch things in, or does it not matter.

Also, thank you all for your very helpful posts.

[Kagetenshi]

You can watch Innocence at any time. You should watch the first season of SAC before the second season, though it isn't imperative; the second mostly depends on the first in terms of characterization (though also the fu^H^Htachikoma plotline is mostly set up in the first season). If you're going to watch Solid State Society, do it after watching SAC.

I would advise reading the first manga before watching SAC. The 1.5 manga can be read pretty much whenever. The second manga can be read whenever, and is IMO, like Solid State Society, optional.

Edit: ok, I'm still asleep. You were asking for chronological order. Ok, the thing is that there are three independent timelines going on, so the orders go like this:

Ghost in the Shell (movie) -> Innocence

Ghost in the Shell (manga) -> Human-Error Processor -> Man-Machine Interface

Stand-Alone Complex -> SAC: 2nd Gig -> SAC: Solid State Society

~J

[PBTHHHHT]

And don't forget the novels they came out. yes, print, book, word novels. ;-)
they were written by several of the writers of the SAC series and it takes place in that time. Some of them are quite good.

[Daddy's Litt...]

There are three books, written by the main writer of 2nd Gig, who is now directing the amine Blood+. The books seem to take place between the first season and 2nd Gig.

Of the 2 TV series you can watch them seperately. If you watch 2nd Gig first, it can be a little confusing when they say stuff like "Just like in the Laughing man case." But that does not really affect it. But you should watch Solid State Society only after 2nd Gig.