Don't you already know my thoughts on GITS? I love it more than Gundam.
Specially the Major
on a side note what do you think about that dumb real action movie they are making for GITS?
I doubt its going to be good.
It's probably going to have a lot more exposition ruining the fun. I haven't read the manga yet, but I am assuming it's the best place to start. Starting with the shows/movie is difficult. There's no formal introduction to the team, nor is there any kind of background whatsoever (with the exception of the visualisation of cyberbrains etc. at the start of the movie). Seeing how Hollywood producers insist on dumbing things down, I doubt it's going to cary the same philosophical weight. Add to that the fact I had to watch the original movie twice to understand the plot, due to the impressive visuals and we can surely see that whatever story they'll adapt it'll probably be way too different.
I am in general very wary of live action adaptations. Dragon Ball Evolution and G-Saviour were disastrous (haven't seen Avatar: Legend of Aang, but it was apparently just as bad). The Japanese live action adaptation of Yamato and Death Note were pretty bad too. Anime/animation in general has a very different different tone/style then live action to begin with. I think DC and Marvel are doing a decent job of getting their comics adapted to the big and small screen. Particularly the netflix shows are a great way of telling these stories live action, due to the episodic nature of both comics and tv shows.
Considering these two points I share your doubt. Obviously I don't want to dismiss something this early on. Star Wars seems to be shaping up nicely even though I had doubts about Disney getting it's hands on it (rogue one second trailer was pretty awesome). But the set photo's I've seen thusfar are not very impressive. I guess Scarlett Johansson is a good pick though. Black Widow and Motoko have in common that when the reader/viewer first meet them, their backstory is unclear. The mystery part and looks part she certainly has down. Action scenes too. But I am not sure if she can pull off that distance the major has. You invest in her as a character, you get to know her, but she's never really part of the team. Even with Batou, who is supposed to be her right hand.
And I am obviously going to miss the voice actors. It's quite unnusual to have various iterations, but keep the same voice actors. So the one continuety there is, is basically gone with the movie.
On a side note: It seems like Gen Urobotchi took a lot of inspiration from GITS when creating Psycho-Pass. I really enjoyed that too, but it's similarities are perhaps a little obvious now. I guess you could call it a spiritual succesor. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.
