Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - Ghosts in the Shell
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enurtsol
 Posts: 15203 |
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Don't forget that other PS1 game
Don't tell us that's not the Major before she lost her memory when she turned cyborg 
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justsomeaccount
 Posts: 531 |
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Fujimi Yoiko (the mangaka of the Half is More manga) a year ago or so posted she finally saw both GitS and Akira for the first time and she hates her gut reaction was finally getting all the references and internet memes above else. and I found it hilarious because months before I watched them too and thought the same.
Though I read the manga (the super cringy fetishy Shirow sequel included) right before watching the movie, so it was weird watching the movie because it really is a pastiche of very specifics chapters clumsily joined together by really forced exposition dump, especially the beginning; the rest we know the tone differences and try to make it a tight story with it and putting all the Oshii style that personally I find pretentiously voyeuristic without purpose as 80s and 90s OVAs tend to do and I find it obnoxious, like an self-jerking art house director, in that regard I respect the more honest silly fanservice of Shirow's original manga more (though even I cannot handle that sequel he made, god that was embarassing). To be fair, the movie is more thematically cohesive than the manga which is a lot of throwing things at the wall and see what sticks and very unseriously even in climatic moments (like, Kusanagi kinda just snarks at the Puppetmaster and accepts to join with them out of annoyance). Both have their charm in different ways and I see the impact the movie had, but honestly I thought it'd be tighter. I haven't seen any other GitS stuff yet. My question for this new adaptation honestly nowadays is whether they will include the Israel subplot of the second-to-last chapter of the original manga in some way given the current panorama (for those who don't remember: spoiler[the political backdrop by which Kusanagi is considered a criminal is related to a plot where a terrorist attack was provoked to jewish people in Japan, that later is discovered to be caused by Israel itself to break military agreements between Japan and Israel's neighbour countries. Which given the current reunderstanding, especially for USAns, of Israel's whole bloody history including what they did to jewish people across the region, is particularly relevant]), or they will be safe and not even include it (assuming the plot stays the same). |
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PorkBazaar
Posts: 13 |
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I'll also be interested in seeing how they adapt some things given the political climate. Shirow is not exactly subtle with his love of right-wing ideology and Japanese nationalism. It's how you can tell Shirow had little or nothing to do with Arise. I wonder if Science Saru is also going to try to not ruffle any feathers and omit some things from the manga like past adaptions did. I hope they don't but who knows. |
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DigiCom
Posts: 18 |
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Then, of course, there's Man-Machine Interface which is sort of "post-cyberpunk meets a university philosophy lecture, where all the women wear as little clothes as possible."
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Takkun4343
 Posts: 1749 Location: Englewood, Ohio |
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Ghost in the Shell is a franchise I've been attuned to for as long as I've been a conscious anime fan, and what a long and fascinating ride it's been.
Naturally, I watched STAND ALONE COMPLEX and 2nd Gig via their [adult swim] broadcasts, initially out of order but most recently in the form of their in-order HD reruns in 2017 and 2018. Easily top tier, even if certain episodes of 2nd Gig did put younger me back to sleep when I first watched them. Elsewhere on the tube, it was through SyFy's Ani-Mondays block that I saw Solid State Society and GITS '95. Can't remember too much of either of those (a recurring weakness of the block's offerings), but I remember they were good. I might be overdue for a rewatch of '95, this time without the blur filters over the nudity. Haven't seen Arise or its Alternative Architecture TV recut, let alone The New Movie. But I have seen SAC_2045 and, contrary to popular opinion, enjoyed it where I did. Really, my biggest gripe with the show has less to do with its animation quality or its more bizarre storytelling elements or even Togusa getting divorced, but instead a couple pieces of wasted potential regarding the post-human plot, especially in season 2. When Takashi Shimamura was introduced in season 1, I really liked how he was portrayed as different from the other post-humans introduced to that point. In-depth explorations of his past and how he awakened as a post-human to begin with, goals where his rage against authority was small-scale and personal, an outright aversion to consciously harming his family, and most of all, capable of talking like a regular person instead of staying silent and closed-mouth in a way that would leave even Kuze unnerved. I liked how Takashi was not like the other post-humans in that regard. So when he returned in season 2 as effectively a cult leader and exhibited the radical terrorist, always-mute "personality" of the other post-humans, I was massively disappointed. Even then, that's nothing compared to the reveal his classmate who was being molested by their math teacher and then committed suicide - the one whose death prompted Takashi to actually do something as a post-human to begin with - was alive within N (with a hair color swap) and possibly working against Takashi's ideals, as proven by helping Togusa escape the thought police and meet back up with Section 9 within the geofront... only to do absolutely nothing with it past that one appearance! I was at least hoping she'd come back into play in the end and serve as Takashi's wake-up call to his terroristic actions, and I'll admit that's a pretty big "at least", but we didn't get that, or even a brief cameo. They completely wasted Kanami, just as they completely assassinated Takashi's character, and I feel far more sour about those than I ever would Patrick Huge's naked backflipping up the stairs. At least that had Batou calling him "some kind of freak" in the dub track. As for GITS 2026, I'm planning on watching that later in the year, once I wrap up Trigun Stargaze at the earliest. Here's hoping it (and the dub) prove worthwhile! |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 5345 |
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For the most part, I also liked 2045. I think the thing that bothered me the most was Togusa being divorced. He was the only Section 9 member with a family, and part of his reasoning for minimal cyberization was related to that. The Major also mentioned to him that maybe he should go full cyborg to make himself more durable and have a better chance of making it home to his family each day. I found it incredibly disappointing that that aspect of his character got brushed aside for the overworked cop doesn't have time for his family trope. |
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Zased
 Posts: 142 |
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I've seen various iterations over the years but my go-tos will always be the original manga and film and the original SAC. The rest range from alright to dislike for me. The wonky CG of 2045 was certainly not helping things so I'm glad to see the new series looks more inline with Shirow's original messy early 90s manga designs.
The reactions to the live-action casting is interesting to remember and compare to modern live-action adaptions. Mamoru Oshii had zero issue with the race-swapping the live-action version and praised ScarJo as the Major, saying her body is artificial anyway. Given the way people treat Oda's word as law for the casting of the live-action One Piece to people who complain about the casting there it would stand to reason that Scarlett Johansson should be afforded the same respect retroactively the One Piece cast is demanded if Oshii supported it. I'd love to see the reactions and discussion if the casting took place in 2026 in a post One Piece live action world. |
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Tao Jones
Posts: 5 |
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I guess the key differences here are: 1) One Piece isn't set in our world, whereas GITS is. 2) The live-action GITS tries to make the race-swapping text rather than subtext, and fumbles it in the process. Since "Motoko Kusanagi" is an alias anyway, this should invite more room for flexible identities, yet spoiler[by the film's end, the very white Johansson is meant to be her "true self". It would have been braver and more daring to have actually killed Johansson off, and have a Japanese actress assume her role.] The Altered Carbon Netflix show got a little closer to what GITS!2017 was trying to do and, while there was criticism of the show's treatment of women, the actual race-swapping element didn't get as many brickbats. |
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thecritter
Posts: 118 Location: Northwest GA |
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The first film and GITS: SAC are still my favorites, with the original comic right behind. I also consider the GITS: SAC dub to be the best I've ever seen.
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 6215 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed are my favorite anime from Masamune Shirow, I liked Black Magic M-66 (OVA) anime, though it is showing its age.
Hoping the Orion manga is picked up someday, it would make a great anime movie. I have my favorites of the various Ghost in the Shell adaptations, but there is something for everyone out there. More Ghost in the Shell anime is always welcome. |
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Smeagol_17
Posts: 72 |
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Noa Izumi? Noa is just a less manic Leona Ozaki (also by Shirow).
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