Ghost in the Shell

Anyone like Ghost in the Shell? When I mean "Ghost in the Shell" I'm talking about all the movies, tv episodes, and manga. I know that there are some differences between the original GITS movies and the tv series, for example.

I've seen both the first GITS movie and Innocence. I enjoyed the first movie, but found it too short. Innocence well...I found it incredibly annoying like every 4 minutes they were rambling about philosophical quotes and discussions. I did enjoy the fact that Innocence had more character development and interaction than the first. That being said, I don't hate philosophy but I feel like there was too strong of an emphasis put on the philosophy and not the actual story.

As for the tv series, I'm enjoying S.A.C so far. I've only seen the first 8 episodes. It's definitely more like a "police show" with not so much philosophy in it, but then again, I've barely had the time to watch any animes. I'm dying to get my hands on the manga. Can't find it anywhere around where I live.

GITS has made me become obsessed with cyberpunk, sci-fi, and technology. I'm trying to find books similar to a GITS-type world. I think GITS is easily one of the best animes out there in terms of what it means "to be."

Are the 3-D Appleseed movies any good? I'm only interested in getting my hands on the original 1988 OVA. I don't know why, but the CGI ones just kind of turn me off. The manga looks pretty awesome too, but again, very rare.

And Strix, when you say "stay away from the dvd releases", do you mean the Laughing Man OVA or the entire season 1? I'm curious, because I have the first 8 episodes on dvd...the rest I watched online. I actually just finished both SAC and 2nd GIG. I have to say 2nd GIG was ten times better than SAC. GITS has definitely become my favorite anime of all time.

I know some other good cyberpunk series are: Bubblegum Crisis(Tokyo 2040), Silent Mobius, any of the Patlabor movies, and the manga "Eden, It's an Endless World." Have yet to watch them though. But I know they're good anyway.

Surprisingly, the original GITS manga was just reprinted. I found a copy at Borders. Lucky me. I also happened to find GITS 2: Man/Machine Interface. I am slowly reading them.