Ghost In The Shell

"Ghost in the Shell" is an intricate masterpiece of cyber-punk fiction and storytelling, successfully melding intriguing philosophical ideas with a coherent, well thought-out (albeit) confusing plot.Even more, it's a nightmarish vision of a society that's dominated by cyberspace and looking back now, is eerily prescient of today's computerized times. Many of the characters in the film are enhanced, someway or another by machines, to help them get the advantage in a vastly changing society.I'll avoid going real deep into the plot simply because there's a whole lot to grasp and even I got more than a little confused trying to follow it. The story is that a team of high-level government operatives are hot on the trail of a notorious computer hacker called the "Puppet Master," who is wanted for various crimes in cyberspace and has taken a particularly fond interest in the team's tough, female cyborg leader.Not surprisingly, as with the stigmas surrounding Anime', "Ghost in the Shell" is not short of nudity and graphic violence. But it's far from being gratuitous, and does not slow down the movie at all."Ghost in the Shell" was one of the first Anime' films to skillfully blend traditional drawn animation with computerized imagery. This helps to give the film a surreal, yet beautiful look. And the dialogue helps sometimes too, with helping to sort out the confusing plot and many of its mythical ideas about personal identity and human evolution.This film is also even more revered today, in 2004, since some of this film's core themes helped to develop the plot basis of the insanely popular "Matrix" films, and some scenes from "Ghost in the Shell" were even homaged to in the first "Matrix" movie. The Wachowski Brothers certainly do owe a lot to this movie for the success of their work in America.I think that to understand "Ghost in the Shell," it would help to accept that Anime' is much more complex and daring than traditional American animation. Most Japanese animation films, like this one, "Akira," or Mayazaki's "Spirited Away," are on a level of sophistication that will never be matched in America.It has been said that the majority of American audiences would be afraid of Anime' because of the many stereotypes surrounding it, but that's why it's boundless - it's been given free reign to use those stigmas to its advantage in developing truly remarkable pieces of art that have gone largely ignored here in the U.S. "Ghost in the Shell" could very well be a mere reflection or a parable of a doomed society that's probably already accepted its dark fate. Most American animation would never touch up on this sort of subject matter.

After seeing the recent live action remake of Ghost in the Shell and then reviewing various video essays on youtube, I decided to purchase the original anime to see it. The story in the original makes more sense in that the entire film seems to fit together in a cohesive narrative.The live action remake has more action in it than the somewhat contemplative feel of the anime which spends time on visuals of the city to give you an idea of the city. So this is very much a Japanese film and not a Hollywood action flick.The animation is good though different from the animation of current Hollywood animated films. The animation seems a bit flat and a bit subdued and a bit less detailed than current animation and the movement is not always fluid. At the same time there seems to be more life feel to the film, more realistic than the live action remake because though the animation is not detailed, the narrative and story is.This DVD came with several different audio allowing to choose English dubbing or the original Japanese with English subtitles. I found it interesting to check the English subtitles of the Japanese against the dubbed English. The English subtitles seem to be more appropriate so I wonder about the translation used for the English dubbing.

Ghost in the shell was released in 1995 and is a classic anime film. It has spawned a number of spin-off series of varying quality. The plot follows the adventures of Public Security Section Number 9, their boss Chief Aramaki, Major Motoko Kusanagi and Batou. Motoko became a public icon as a strong female character. She is essentially a cyborg with an artificial body. The film has an iconic scene of the Major "climbing" down a building and fading from view through thermal camouflage. This is a scene that everyone should see at least once. The movie explores some complex identity issues and has a strong philosophical character. The combination of CG and cell animation enables some truly artistic visions to be explored and whilst it can look a bit dated now it still has immense visual power. The music, composed by Kenji Kawai, blends beautifully into the overall character of the film too. This is a classic that every anime fan should see at least once to understand how complex stories can be presented and to see how the genre has evolved. Highly recommended.

Do not be fooled by lesser products of the same name starring Scarlett Johansson. This is it, the real thing, the original.There's a lot of chrome and glitter here in this anime vision of the future, but ultimately it's the story of Mokoto Kusanagi, the cyborg, the human ghost in the metal shell. The human/machine interface has been a staple of science fiction for over half a century now, asking the question "Where does humanity end and machine begin?" In Motoko we find an unusual answer: made cynical by her job (cop), essentially a slave to her higher-ups, Motoko makes the choice to become machine instead of human, the exact reverse of (recently) Alita Battle Angel or (going way back) Pinocchio.It's tough. It's brutal. It's a little slow in places, but it's brilliant. Watch it.