YMMV / Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045

• Awesome Music:
  • The first opening, Fly With Me by Millennium Parade, is considered a pretty good bop by most fans. Even a few detractors of the series have admitted this was one of the few high points of it.
  • The ending theme, "sustain++" by Mili.
  • The insert song, "Don't Break Me Down" by Scott Matthews, who did the ending song of Stand Alone Complex Season 1, is also good.
  • Team Ghost, for when the Ghosts (later Section 9) is about to kick ass and take names.
• Base-Breaking Character: Purin. While some viewers like her energetic personality that contrasts the very serious Section 9 members, her contribution to the team, and her fun dynamics with the Tachikomas, there are some who hate her for being a stereotypical moeblob girl who looked very out-of-place in the Ghost in the Shell setting and her weird obsession with Batou. It doesn't help that Season 2 focuses much on her which puts the rest of Section 9 at the side.
• Epileptic Trees: There are a lot of theories about Purin when she was first introduced in the show and how on earth she ended up joining Section 9 given her age and appearance. The most common ones are either she's a human version of a Tachikoma (her personality is similar to them and there's her interest in Batou, who initially mistook her as an A.I.) or she's a posthuman. Turns out that she's neither. She was the child who's parents were two of the victims of the serial killer in "Jungle Cruise" from Stand Alone Complex season one). She's simple an exceptionally gifted individual who lacks social skills because she's extremely young for her position and has a massive crush on Batou due to him having been the one who rescued her all those years ago. However, after her resurrection, she develop some posthuman abilities as she managed to toe-to-toe against the posthuman Takashi Shimamura.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • What happened prior to 2045 that made the government get rid of Section 9?
  • The Major's activities in the Americas leading Batou, Saito, Ishikawa and newcomer Standard under GHOST.
• Fanon Discontinuity: There are some fans who considered the show to be separate from the Stand Alone Complex continuity and see it as a spinoff instead given to some inconsistencies between Solid State Society and 2045 (e.g. In Solid State Society, Aramaki is preparing to retire from Section 9.)
• Growing the Beard: The few first episodes are purely action and drop the viewers In Medias Res, making them confused on how on earth did the Major and company ended up in America as mercenaries while Togusa remains in Japan. It takes around 5 to 6 episodes where the plot settles in, giving a backdrop on the geopolitical situation of the story.
• Like You Would Really Do It: The penultimate episode of season 2 has the entire team being killed, nuclear missiles launched, and a bioweapon killing seven million people. The only question for the next episode is how exactly all of this was faked.
• Narm: When Batou orders Patrick Huge to stand down, the latter drops his robe and somersaults while going up the stairs and into the closet naked. A sizable number of viewers on social media compared the scene's awkward animation and Patrick's Barbie Doll Anatomy to the memetic "going to the store" video. It doesn't help that his looks is based from the show's character designer Ilya Kuvshinov which makes that scene very awkward and hilarious.
  • The moment in episode 3 of season 2 where Purin gets gunned down by the Prime Minister's bodyguards after shooting one who was infected by the Post Human virus is clearly meant to be a dramatic moment, but it comes across as comical as in the moments leading up to it, the cast and the audience think that she has been the one who is infected and seeing her shoot someone repeatedly with a giant Desert Eagle then start jumping up and down and cheering to Aramaki that she saved the day moments before getting absolutely riddled with bullets almost feels like parody with how out of place her cheerfulness is with the rest of the show. It doesn't help that Aramaki gets uncharacteristically emotional at her death, complete with crying out her name as she dies despite the fact they have barely interacted.
• Ship Tease: Togusa's conversation with the Major in episode 8, "Assemble: What Came About As Result of Togusa's Death", implies that his divorce was partially the result of his feelings for her.
• Tear Jerker: Purin's backstory. Her family is massacred by Marco Amoretti and she's the only survivor. Batou saved her and told her that she must start a new life under a new name. This explains why Purin's attached to him and why she joined Section 9. Sadly, her backstory is only revealed after she was killed by the Prime Minister's bodyguards after being suspected as a post-human who tried to assassinate the Prime Minister only to turn out that she's innocent and is trying to save him. The worst part is that Batou only finds out about this information too late and laments why he didn't recognize her in the first place.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Most fans of the original Stand Alone Complex series didn't take well about Yoko Kanno not composing the soundtrack and they've criticized the switching from the hand-drawn graphics to the CGI, judging it souless and bordering into the Unintentional Uncanny Valley which some described it as "video game cutscenes from Fortnite".
  • Togusa being divorced didn't sit well either because being a family man without any cybernetics (except for his brain) added an unique element to a team otherwise made up of bachelors with various degrees of cybernetic enhancements. In fact, it was one of the reasons the Major recruited him in the first place. It doesn't help that his divorce adds nothing to his character in Season 2.
• Tough Act to Follow: Stand Alone Complex series are both highly praised by critics and fans for its animation, music and plot. While the plot in 2045 is still often considered nearly as good as that of Stand Alone Complex, the 3DCG animation turned off a lot of fans which consider it the weakest link to the show. The music also is considered forgettable in contrast to Yoko Kanno's work and the opening song dosn't hold much against the opening songs by the late Origa.
• Win Back the Crowd: As noted in several tropes above, the series was not received very warmly by fans or critics at first, even after the first season went through gradual improvements. The second season on the other hand has received much better reception thanks to the improved animation and action, writing and characterization, and a storyline that veers away from overt reliance on mystery and obfuscation and a return to its cyberpunk DNA. The result, while still below Stand Alone Complex standards, is a much improved and tighter overall sequel.