I admit it -- I'm watching the animation marathon out of order. I've seen half the films (but will re-watch all of them), and am watching the others as they become available to me. So on Tuesday night, I was at my local video store and noticed Ghost in the Shell on the shelf, and as it was "Everything for $1" night, I borrowed it.
I didn't really have any expectations for this film -- the only Japanese animations I've seen are Astroboy, Miyazaki's films and Ghost of the Fireflies. Honestly, I really didn't like it at all. I found it really cold and uninvolved. The story was convoluted and I didn't care for any of the characters. It was only 10:30am when I watched it, and the thing literally put me to sleep. I managed to stay awake for the whole film, and immediately fell asleep for two and a half hours afterwards. People also seem to talk about how amazing the actual animation is, but I just didn't see anything that really jumped out at me. It was all a bit "meh". I really like Miyazaki's work, so maybe it's an 'anime from manga Vs anime from an original idea' thing (although I love Astroboy, which was originally a manga)?
I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts on this.