The last few years have seen some exciting new additions to the Ghost in the Shell franchise, which hadn't seen any new entries for almost a decade. It's not just the anime that made the property famous, but the original manga and the video games that brought more fans into the world of Section 9.
The most recent addition is the series Ghost In The Shell: SAC_2045, and both Seasons 1 and 2 are currently playing on Netflix. Ghost In The Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War is the name of the movie that neatly condenses the events of Season 1 of the series. Contrary to popular belief, it's not a sequel to the first season, nor does it fit in a separate place in the timeline.
What was originally 12 episodes of 25 minutes each is edited and cut into about two hours. Considering the basic differences between movies and television shows, some of the differences between the two are obvious, but some others are so subtle that only hardcore fans would catch them.
6 Less Individual Character Development
This is one of the obvious sacrifices that had to be made. The show has a lot of room for character development and includes several episodes that focus solely on individual characters or specific character arcs. The movie, on the other hand, doesn't have time to get into too many details. Mokoto and Batou get the most love, followed by Togusa.
Omissions include Batou's bank robbery episode and how it fits into the underlying issue of the Simultaneous Global Default. The audience doesn't get to hear as much about Togusa's troubled home life, and unlike the series, it might not exist at all.
5 No One-And-Done Storylines
"PIE IN THE SKY - First Bank Robbery" is the episode in which Batou finds himself mixed up in an unusual heist. It's a great episode with a satisfying ending that shows Batou using his heart of gold and cybernetic eyes to do some good, but it has no place in the movie.
Any of the episodes that focus solely on one character, or have a "one-and-done" storyline are missing from Sustainable War. The missing scenes are good ones worth seeing, for the most part, but they don't work with the movie's structure.
4 More Focus On "The Sustainable War"
It's not just an expression that refers to the political and economic upheaval that frames the plot of Ghost In The Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War. This is a system that several nations have developed to stay in a state of perpetual conflict to keep their economies from failing, and the social fallout is partly what drives the creation of Post Humans.
If this sounds similar to the plot of a certain dystopian novel written by George Orwell, that's because it's directly referenced as part of the movie's storyline. That's another reason for the use of the term "Sustainable War" as the movie title.
3 A Different Title
The title of the movie makes it more clear what the focus is going to be, but it's not just because of the politics afoot as to how certain major countries are going to keep their economies going. This is also the title of the first episode of the series that gave the viewers some backstory as to what the gang has been up to in the years since Stand Alone Complex ended. The first few scenes of the movie do the same thing in less time.
Basic character introductions are neatly done in the movie in the first few minutes. The scene with the GHOST squad of mercenaries ends neatly with Aramaki appearing in the reassemble Section 9 and announcing they're legit again.
2 Origin And Purpose Of The Post Humans
The movie gets into more details about this by setting up Season 2 in a more exciting way than the series did, mostly because it's done a lot faster. The difference is with more exposition and backstory about where the virus that makes Post Humans originated.
The story of Takashi Shimamura is told in a way that's more compelling and easier to understand because it's in a more coherent sequence without the need for filler or distractions. Togusa's disappearance is part of the final climax and seems to have more weight in the movie version. His whereabouts form the continuing storyline for season two.
1 A Condensed Intro Sequence
The series has several different opening sequences depending on the episode, with newer ones coming up for Season 2. The movie only has the time and space for one opening sequence, obviously, so the creators had to make it count.
Viewers learn more about the backstory and series in the first three minutes of the movie than they would after several episodes of the series. The movie uses text to inform viewers of the backstory at the very beginning, and the style looks similar to the text that opened the original movie from 1996. The series uses several episodes to show us where the team has been but the movie fills in that blank much more efficiently.