I don't understand why this was made, i suppose it has something to do with the need to franchise and make new products and therefore create more revenue because this manga fundamentally doesn't do anything noteworthy or worthwhile, the art is fine, i'd even say at times it's pretty, but the dialogue felt atrocious and cliched at the best of times. having watched all the OVAs for Arise i never felt a dying need to know about Batou's and Motoko's history, their short conversation in Ghost Pain said enough, they encountered each other, perhaps on the battlefield and that encounter wasn't entirely friendly and thatwas that, the story continued on its story beats and i was satisfied with this knowledge.

having read this, i can't but feel like i've wasted my time, this doesn't add anything to the story, it doesn't bring any interactions to a new light it doesn't do anything. on its own merits it's fundamentally uninteresting because it needs the Arise OVAs to be noteworthy or worthwhile. all in all, i just feel like this is just disposable media. i wouldn't go as far to say it's bad, just painfully average. you won't hate it, you won't love it, you will just leave with a stale taste in your mouth. and that's just how it is.