Let's say I take your argument in good faith, that this would still suck even if it wasn't named GitS and that your rose-tinted glasses for the 1995 movie aren't affecting you here. Sure, I believe you.

You mentioned cinematography twice, so let me ask you this... what? Why? What part of the cinematography didn't click? Because I thought it was very creative!

We have high angle shots, low angle shots, bird's eye view, mirrors, characters in foreground/background with a rack focus. We have some different POV shots of the tachikomas, some shots of how cramped the characters are when piloting them, we have a couple different HUDs for different characters/factions, the final 2 bullets that Motoko fires is actually a gorgeous tracking shot, I think the slow motion works wonders for it.

There's a lot of variety to the shots and their composition, I think it gives the episode a lot of character. SAC has it's own character as a police procedural drama, but it's pretty plain by comparison. It's straightforward and non-distracting, which is totally valid, just a different style to suit a different show.

So, what part of the cinematography here did you not like? Or are you just throwing words around that you know have something to do with filmmaking?