Is Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045's Recap Movie Essential?

gamerant.com:

Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 — Sustainable War is a recap of 2020's SAC_2045, released to summarize the events of that series leading up to the upcoming second season. It was promoted as having upgraded visuals and new scenes, but was it enough to make this a worthwhile watch?

Furthermore, was the first season worth it? It's unfortunate to say, but SAC_2045 was a divisive return to the "Stand Alone Complex" continuity from the 2002 TV series. Even with Kenji Kamiyama returning to direct alongside Appleseed director Shinji Aramaki, the new show's 3DCG look turned old-time fans off of the series. It's extra unfortunate given that the series was actually pretty good and a continuation worthy of the franchise name. The story was written in part by Kamiyama, just as he had written the first two seasons two decades ago. The English version even saw the return of the entire original dub cast, including Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as the Major, Richard Epcar as Batou, and Crispin Freeman as Togusa, to name a few.

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Stand Alone Complex's story is in the name. There are «Standalone» episodes that are side stories and «Complex» episodes that directly factor into the main plot. The catch in the old series especially was that every episode was connected in some way. The memetic nature of the internet was explored, in how seemingly unrelated events spawn from a single source.

In season 1, the «complex» was a controversy involving a pharmaceutical company's CEO being taken hostage. In "2nd Gig", it was a terrorist conspiracy fabricated to turn the populace against refugees. In this new Netflix series, the threat involves an American AI that has gone berserk.

In the year 2045, A Global