Best Movie I ever saw. I often wondered what makes a great movie or better yet a perfect movie. This movie related to me more than anything else I have ever seen and therefore, to me is perfect. I first wanted to invite everyone to see this movie but realized this isn't for everyone. To fully enjoy this movie, one really needs to see the first one to understand the references to Major Kusanagi and "2501", and have at least a slight interest in philosophy and religion. There's a lot of philosophical references from Confucius, Old Testament, Buddhism, etc. which I personally thought were great, and realized how much I appreciate that this movie is not out to please everyone. Director Mamoru Oshii clearly made this for the fans, and fans knew from the first movie and the series (Stand Alone Complex), anything GITS explores deep philosophical questions, and it's philosophy that is the real reason for these movies. Life, death, god, ghosts, nature of reality... I personally think about this stuff all day, and let me say that while I watched, I was thinking, 'this is it!' It's a movie that sparks contemplation. Beside this point, I can go on and on about how the visuals in this movie are so beautiful, how the 2D art work meshed with CG seamlessly, how the directing was well done, and how technically advanced this movie is.
The techincal part will one day be over come as we develop better ways to render graphics, but this in addition to the intelligent script makes it a classic that will lead the pack (in animation) for years to come, as did the first one. Saw this movie twice in the theatre already... Greatest time ever. 10 out of 10.