Overrated

I know I am going to catch a lot of flack for this...But after seeing Ghost In The Shell(2017) in theaters and watching the Anime again afterwards? To me personally? The live action film is a better story and a better movie.
Yes. I know some people will cry out blasphemy but this is my personal opinion. The thing I liked the most about the anime was the visuals. And they are still admittedly impressive. The score was nice too, and the voice acting was fine as well. And the direction was great as anime's go. I also liked the bits of extreme rated R action in it as well. And that's definitely something the 2017 film was lacking. But to me? It wasn't lacking much.
I haven't seen very many but this was definitely one of the better ones I have seen. It's no Akira/Ninja Scroll for me but I didn't mind the film. Don't get me wrong here. I liked this ok, but I would be lying if I said I loved it. Maybe it's because I didn't grow up with it or it didn't blow my mind at a young age. Or I didn't read the manga. But whatever it may be? The film didn't impress me as a whole this time around.
The story was severely lacking to me. You learn next to nothing about these characters, the plot is either confusing or not very interesting, and the action when it is there? Is alright but nothing spectacular. And the climax is so anticlimactic it's shocking. To be perfectly honest the anime was a let down upon second viewing.
The anime couldn't do what the film did direction wise and I know that. But that doesn't change how static the animation is on more than one occasion in the film. And the criticisms against the 2017 film for being too dialogue heavy? Really should be equally given to this film if you ask me. This was even more dialogue heavy and exposition heavy than the live action film was to me. And I didn't care for the "philosophy for dummies" dialogue in this either. It came across as completely unnatural towards the rest of the film and pretentious.
I was left with the question "What makes this movie a masterpiece?" did I miss something here? I did saw it in 96 at age 14. But since then I have seen films like Ninja Scroll and all that to me blew it out of the water. And the live action adapation to me also told a better story, had better characters, better pacing, action, and had the same stunning visuals as the anime did. Everything that was a positive about the anime? The live action film pretty much had the same things going for it.
In fact it even did some things better in my eyes. The live action film is more of a character piece than the anime. And it honestly works a lot better to me personally as a story. The anime's story feels distant and fractured because it doesn't have any real focus. We learn nothing about the puppet master in the film, in fact we don't even see him. The puppet master in the anime feels to me like a vessel for philosophical quotes and nothing else.
At least in the live action film he has more of a purpose and is a character that you actually learn to care about. A tragic figure. And he isn't just a philosophy major's wet dream. And Major herself is also a more interesting character in the live action film. With a lot more dimension and backstory. Here you get absolutely nothing. Not a single thing whatsoever.
The themes of what makes us human, and the loss of identity are also much stronger in the 2017 adaptation as well. The themes are present in the anime but they are just kinda there to me. As fleeting glimpses. A few lines of dialogue here and there but that's it.
So yeah. Shockingly I found the 1995 anime to average at best for me the second time around. I didn't feel any emotional connection to any of the characters, and the story didn't grab me either. The 2017 film managed to do both very well.
But it is not a terrible film by any means. I love the animation, the visuals are stunning, the concept and the idea behind it is unique, but the story and the characters fell flat to me. None of it really felt fleshed out. It really did come across as a shell so to speak. It could have been so much more, and it had these grand ideas, and potential but it didn't really expand upon any of it.
I didn't hate the anime by any means. But I can't lie and say that I loved it this time around. It just felt so hollow and empty to me. Unlike the 2017 film which immersed me in it's world, and really did make me feel and care for it's characters and enthralled and intrigued me with the story it was trying to tell. The 1995 film just grabbed me with it's visuals, the score, the directing, the ultra violence and it's idea and not much else.
You can get your pitchforks and torches ready if you want to. But you're not changing my opinion. The 1995 anime is a shockingly average film in comparison to it's supposedly inferior 2017 adaptation in all aspects except for the score, the direction, the violence and the visuals. At least in my opinion anyway.