Reading Anime 008: Ghost in the Shell 2 (2004) by Mamoru Oshii

Wow. Seeing the two films Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence back to back, one can really see how far the animation and storytelling has advanced in just one decade. Some years after the events narrated in the first film, Batou and his partner Togusa investigate a series of murders in which pleasure bots suddently and inexplicably murder their owners . . . .

Where Ghost in the Shell had depth, its sequel gains solidity. There is a feeling of mass, in both the animation and the writing. If one is to be the Neuromancer of the series, the other is its Blade Runner (or maybe its Mona Lisa Overdrive). There is a sequence in the middle of the film where the action loops back upon itself twice that is reminds me somehow of the Matrix, I don't know why.

Both a philosophical and lyrical film. (Something that I'd say is unusual in science fiction, except I have seen more of it lately in other works.)  It speculates on the nature of humanity and artifice, of memory and souls, etc. It references Confucius, Psalms, Milton and Descartes. An intelligent, accomplished film that makes you think. Needles to say, highly recommended.