<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/2015-11-22Ghost in the Shell.jpg">
<b>Review of Ghost In The Shell: Arise - 3 and 4 by Ian Wolf</b>
<em>"</em><em>I'm the trouble starter, punking instigator.
I'm the fear addicted, danger illustrated.
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter,
you're the firestarter, twisted firestarter</em>.<em>" - The Prodigy</em> <br>
It has been a year since the first two episodes of this <em>Ghost in the Shell </em>prequel were released by Manga Entertainment, but the general quality has still been maintained.<br>
In the third OVA, "Ghost Tears", Major Motoko Kusanagi and Batou are out investigating the crimes being carried out by a terrorist organisation called "Syclla". While on duty Kusanagi plugs herself into the cyberbrains of one of the felons, but in doing so infects herself with a virus created by someone called "Fire-Starter". Fortunately she is helped by a new love interest, an expert on prosthetic bodies named Akira Hose. At the same time, Togusa is investigating a murder case which leads him to a company that is making artificial limbs that have been turned into bombs, in a case that is connected to the one being examined by Kusanagi.<br>
The fourth episode, "Ghost Stands Alone", begins with the "Fire-Starter" virus still causing chaos. A protest ends up in chaos when riot police have their brains hacked and end up killing both the demonstrators and themselves. It is revealed that the individual responsible is inside the cyborg body of a young girl, but the body has two cyberbrains. When Kusanagi attempts to investigate she becomes a victim of a hack. The attempt to stop the virus from spreading leads to more confusion, with the government even putting the Major on their "Most Wanted" list for fear that she has caused deadly chaos too.<br>
Like before, this collection features great use of traditional and computer animation, great character design, nice music, and thrilling action to keep the viewer entertained. There are also lots of extras too, but some of the extras feel as if they are not really needed.<br>
There is plenty on there that people would want to see: short bonus animated sequences; documentaries, trailers, adverts, the textless opening and closing and so on. But this collection also contains what is possibly the single most pointless extra I can think off. It is a trailer for the 2015 <em>GitS</em> film, which was released earlier this year. This trailer, which is 15 seconds long, consists of just two white screens with text on them. One says: "<em>Ghost in the Shell: The Movie</em>", and the other says: "2015". That is the entire extra. Did that really need to be on the release? I cannot see how that is worthy of inclusion.<br>
Aside from the four episodes that have already been released so far, there is more to come from the <em>Arise </em>series. There is a fifth OVA, although where this will be released is not yet known. There is also the aforementioned film, which continues the events directly after <em>Arise</em>'s fifth episode. Hopefully these will be released soon as well.<br>
<b>Final score: 7 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-11-22Ghost in the Shell 1.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-11-22Ghost in the Shell 2.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-11-22Ghost in the Shell 3.jpg">
<b>Review of Ghost In The Shell: Arise - 3 and 4 by Ian Wolf</b>
<em>"</em><em>I'm the trouble starter, punking instigator.
I'm the fear addicted, danger illustrated.
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter,
you're the firestarter, twisted firestarter</em>.<em>" - The Prodigy</em> <br>
It has been a year since the first two episodes of this <em>Ghost in the Shell </em>prequel were released by Manga Entertainment, but the general quality has still been maintained.<br>
In the third OVA, "Ghost Tears", Major Motoko Kusanagi and Batou are out investigating the crimes being carried out by a terrorist organisation called "Syclla". While on duty Kusanagi plugs herself into the cyberbrains of one of the felons, but in doing so infects herself with a virus created by someone called "Fire-Starter". Fortunately she is helped by a new love interest, an expert on prosthetic bodies named Akira Hose. At the same time, Togusa is investigating a murder case which leads him to a company that is making artificial limbs that have been turned into bombs, in a case that is connected to the one being examined by Kusanagi.<br>
The fourth episode, "Ghost Stands Alone", begins with the "Fire-Starter" virus still causing chaos. A protest ends up in chaos when riot police have their brains hacked and end up killing both the demonstrators and themselves. It is revealed that the individual responsible is inside the cyborg body of a young girl, but the body has two cyberbrains. When Kusanagi attempts to investigate she becomes a victim of a hack. The attempt to stop the virus from spreading leads to more confusion, with the government even putting the Major on their "Most Wanted" list for fear that she has caused deadly chaos too.<br>
Like before, this collection features great use of traditional and computer animation, great character design, nice music, and thrilling action to keep the viewer entertained. There are also lots of extras too, but some of the extras feel as if they are not really needed.<br>
There is plenty on there that people would want to see: short bonus animated sequences; documentaries, trailers, adverts, the textless opening and closing and so on. But this collection also contains what is possibly the single most pointless extra I can think off. It is a trailer for the 2015 <em>GitS</em> film, which was released earlier this year. This trailer, which is 15 seconds long, consists of just two white screens with text on them. One says: "<em>Ghost in the Shell: The Movie</em>", and the other says: "2015". That is the entire extra. Did that really need to be on the release? I cannot see how that is worthy of inclusion.<br>
Aside from the four episodes that have already been released so far, there is more to come from the <em>Arise </em>series. There is a fifth OVA, although where this will be released is not yet known. There is also the aforementioned film, which continues the events directly after <em>Arise</em>'s fifth episode. Hopefully these will be released soon as well.<br>
<b>Final score: 7 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-11-22Ghost in the Shell 1.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-11-22Ghost in the Shell 2.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-11-22Ghost in the Shell 3.jpg">