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There have been those who have said I've been too hard on the "Ghost in the Shell" franchise. And,to be honest,that's a fair thing to say. I don't dislike the entire show. A lot of it's pretty good. My complaint,and I've made this often,is that the show portrays America as an evil country and that Americans are an evil people and anyone who emigrates here is evil.
I think that the show's portrayal of this country is overwhelmingly negative. If there were good Americans on the show as a balance to the bad ones,I wouldn't have a problem with it or it took a more neutral stance. If I did a show similar to this one and I had a look at Japan,I'd at least be evenhanded. If I had a Japanese villain on the show,I'd have a Japanese good guy there as well as balance. I wish "Ghost in the Shell" did the same thing instead of painting America with this broad brush. I'd just want an evenhanded portrayal of this country,that all. Nothing more,nothing less.

Alright Captain America, then that is settled.

Seeing as anything Ghost in the Shell in animated form pops into my player at least twice a year, I can easily say that this is my favorite anime property period.
At first I was getting daydreams about Kamiyama doing 3rd Gig and topping even the two seasons before that. Then I saw that he wasn't going to be in on this project, just as Yoko Kanno. Butthurt ensued but you know, actually they could be working on 3rd Gig separately. Or something else that may not be ready for announcement.

By now I have given the whole thing a little thought and yeah, the fact that they put someone unexperienced in charge of directing this makes me happy. Simply because Anime needs more new talent. And seeing as he has learned from some of the best and will work in the only animation company that I would call myself a fan of- why shouldn't it be good? If it were to follow the first movie? Awesome! A series with that atmosphere, maybe condensed into 12 episode could be amazing. If it was something completely new? Why not? The manga holds enough good ideas that have yet to be put into motion.

2013 is gonna be awesome and I hope that this will be the first of many more GitS anime and that we someday will get a 3rd Gig.

GitS does not portray America as evil. It portrays a part of the three countries America split into in the future as full of arrogant, reactive douchebags.

As an American, you just have to take the criticism. Especially since there's a ring of truth to it.

Big Hed wrote:

I agree. SAC is consistently critical of the Japanese government and Japan's ability to self-determine--not exactly an uncommon theme in anime, from my experience.

Agreed, it's definitely a notable and noticeable trait in anime and in games. I didn't realize it until I replayed Final Fantasy 7 years later but there's a lot of anti-one world government stuff tied up in Shin-Ra and some biting commentary about how control over people is handled depending on the actions of the government to force people to submit or coerce them to do so.

Either way, time to get into 2nd GiG and I'll be more than happy to give the new show a watch and hope that it's good. I think someone mentioned that the new director directed the animation/opening sequence of the Cowboy Bebop movie, and it's been near 10 years since I've seen it back when I marathon'd it back to back over a weekend and I certainly remember the opening scene as one of my favorite parts, the music of course helped.

I hope this is more like SAC and less like 2nd gig. 2nd gig was pure trash. But I am not optimistic.

redranger wrote:

2nd gig was pure trash.

Oh gee, I don't even know what to say anymore. It's hard to comprehend how one can like the first SAC but then hate 2nd Gig. It's basically one big series, apart from different plotlines...

I'm can't wait for this. My GitS collection will be even bigger.

Let me just say this... WHOEVER gets to release this series in the US... PLEASE for the love of GOD get Mary Elizabeth McGlynn back to voice Major Kusanagi. PLEASE. The character would NOT be complete without her...

According to that interview with the Bandai CEO, the Ghost in the Shell franchise is uneffected by their closure, and that Manga has the whole franchise (Bandai only had a sub-license), but Manga is mostly active in the UK, and their only new release here in recent years is the Redline movie (they've let many of their licenses go, like Ninja Scroll and Perfect Blue). They are active in streaming though, and they stream many countless anime titles on Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, their website, and many others, including titles not licensed by them (like Roboteh). That might be because some of those streaming rights came with their UK licenses.

Manga still has the streaming rights to GiTS: SAC, but something tells me that their DVD rights will soon expire and Sentai or FUNimation will pick this (and other GiTS properties) up.

Snomaster1 wrote:

Wow. Just what the world needs,another round of America-bashing from "Ghost in the Shell." Is that just swell? Neutral

Quote:

I think that the show's portrayal of this country is overwhelmingly negative. If there were good Americans on the show as a balance to the bad ones,I wouldn't have a problem with it or it took a more neutral stance.

You are probably one of the few who would focus on that, and take umbrage because the U.S. was presented in a less than glowing light. And immediately assume this new series would have the same theme.

Would you still feel the same way if the country involved was a Middle Eastern country, or China, or Russia, etc. Or do you think that if it's not U.S., then it's ok and look at it as just a piece of fictional story?

@Snomaster1

Patriotic much?

I like these 2 replies:

eaglestorm wrote:

Snomaster1 wrote:

Wow. Just what the world needs,another round of America-bashing from "Ghost in the Shell." Is that just swell? Neutral

Quote:

I think that the show's portrayal of this country is overwhelmingly negative. If there were good Americans on the show as a balance to the bad ones,I wouldn't have a problem with it or it took a more neutral stance.

You are probably one of the few who would focus on that, and take umbrage because the U.S. was presented in a less than glowing light. And immediately assume this new series would have the same theme.

Would you still feel the same way if the country involved was a Middle Eastern country, or China, or Russia, etc. Or do you think that if it's not U.S., then it's ok and look at it as just a piece of fictional story?

penguintruth wrote:

GitS does not portray America as evil. It portrays a part of the three countries America split into in the future as full of arrogant, reactive douchebags.

As an American, you just have to take the criticism. Especially since there's a ring of truth to it.

GITS is not bullying any country as you paint it, period.

If you have that mentality, its ok when the US does it all the time, but when you feel your country is the one targeted in some negativity then you raise and eyebrow and two!

And this is precisely one of the reasons why many people around the world criticize you as a country and people.

Anyway, it will do you good to not take your political views and patriotism into anime.

PurpleWarrior13 wrote:

Let me just say this... WHOEVER gets to release this series in the US... PLEASE for the love of GOD get Mary Elizabeth McGlynn back to voice Major Kusanagi. PLEASE. The character would NOT be complete without her...

...

Manga still has the streaming rights to GiTS: SAC, but something tells me that their DVD rights will soon expire and Sentai or FUNimation will pick this (and other GiTS properties) up.

Agreed wholeheartedly. I'm perfectly fine with Sentai or Funimation getting the rights to the Ghost in the Shell franchise, but only as long as they make damn sure to bring back Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Motoko Kusanagi for the English dubs of any future productions. There are no substitutes.

They get the english voice cast back if this is not a whole new anime.

loved the english voice cast in one and two!

Panzer Vor wrote:

Agreed wholeheartedly. I'm perfectly fine with Sentai or Funimation getting the rights to the Ghost in the Shell franchise, but only as long as they make damn sure to bring back Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Motoko Kusanagi for the English dubs of any future productions. There are no substitutes.

Agreed. I'd also extend that to include all the original English voice actors from the SAC series. One of the reasons I personally rate the SAC series at the top of my anime series list is how well the voices fit the characters, and also how strong the actors performances were. It felt pretty strange watching the two compilation movies with the different VA cast members.

I always look forward to more GITS, so I'll be keeping a close watch on the progress of Arise. With the twentieth anniversary of the original movie coming up in a couple of years, I wonder what other treats will be in store for us.

If this is a whole new adaptation, I hope that they actually have a whole new dub cast, so as to give it more distinction from the other series. I wish FUNimation did the same for FMA: Brotherhood, in-line with what the Japanese version did (something of a similar situation to this one).