Micro Anime Review: Ghost in the Shell Arise - Another Mission

The premise of the story: "Snatch the rebel elements' secret data using the Surface! There is a leak saying that the giant coporation Ishimiya Industry will commit an act of international terrorism, and Motoko Kusanagi and the Armored Riot Police head out to seize the plug data!" (Source: ANN)

Let's be real: it's a promotional video for Microsoft's Surface tablet. But for a promo, it's pretty darn shiny and entertaining, a lot more entertaining than the idiotic dancing adverts they keep showing in the States. And it's a decent refresher on who will be appearing in the latest Ghost In The Shell series, featuring everyone's favorite folks from Section 9 doing what they do best: hacking and kicking ass.

The story itself is pretty simple - get the info, stop some terrorists - that is given a extra veneer of importance due to the constant usage of the Surface device, which literally is thrown around from member to member in the course of the three minute promo. Honestly, I'm not bothered by the product placement, because it has got me officially ready to start diving into Arise and the adventures of a pre-GITS Kusanagi. And I'm pretty sure that was the point the whole time. Well, aside from selling tablets.

Ghost In The Shell: Arise has been licensed by Funimation for North American digital and home release; there's a page for Arise on the Funi site, but no release information seems to be available at this time.