I hear that. The older GiTS really took its audience seriously. I mean a finale scene that's a conversation about Jameson and similar theories? Heady stuff for an anime. The original movie is one of my all time favorites because it hits such a poignant mood, and it's portrayal of a Hong Kong that's ravaged by climate change and technological advancement that isn't utopic was prophetic imo. Edit: re the last sentence this is the sequence I'm thinking of: [this video]
Mamoru Oshii's style seems to heavily include this kind of sequences. Your link is from Innocence, right? The original Ghost in the Shell also has a sequence of Motoko simply walking and riding a boat, doing nothing but staring: [this video] (I love this movie!)
There's high praise in some movies or animation where they depict the mundane; the long sequence in Ghost in the Shell just showing the city as it is, away from the main story ( [this video] ), most of Studio Ghibli's films, a lot of Breaking Bad and especially Better Call Saul, where there's a lot of scenes of people just going about their day, John Travolta getting a can of paint and a pizza in the opening of Saturday Night Fever ( [link] ), etc.
Long sequence depicting the city away from the main story
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