Ghost in the Shell

Original Title: 攻殻機動隊
Romanized: Koukaku Kidoutai
Literal: Mobile Armored Police Division

Plot Synopsis

A few decades from now, nations have been replaced by city-states and mega-corporations, and the world has been tied together by a vast computer network (fancy that). In the Japan of this new world, Section 9, a covert division of the Japanese police, investigate cybercrime and crimes committed by runaway robots. The story follows Major Motoko Kusanagi of Section 9 and her partner Bateau in their investigation of what at first appears to be a hacker known as the Puppet Master, who specializes in implanting unsuspecting people with false memories and manipulating them to do his dirty work. As it turns out, the mysterious character that has been operating behind the scenes is apparently an AI program, code named Project 2501, that has become sentient and is now seeking asylum with Section 9. But the government agency that created the AI isn't about to let it get away, and it still remains a mystery why the Puppet Master sought out Major Kusanagi in the first place--or what it intends to do with her.

Quick Review

Rating: 4.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2006-08-18

Though Ghost in the Shell is a departure from the Masamune Shirow story on which it is based, director Mamoru Oshii has constructed a reserved, philosophical movie examining the meaning of the mind and the effects of technology on the soul. It lays out it's intricate political plot on a dark, subdued canvas that implies as much as it explains outright, in a world populated by harsh characters questioning their humanity. Undeniably stunning visuals, with fluid animation and incredibly detailed art, coupled with an abstract but impressive soundtrack round out the picture.

As with many movies following a strong vision, this one's strengths are its weaknesses in the eyes of some viewers, and whether you will find it engrossing or weighed down by its own pretense will depend entirely on your taste. In either case, though, Ghost in the Shell is an impressive film.

US DVD Review

The DVD, one of the first anime DVDs produced, has just about anything you could ask for; it includes the English Dolby 5.1 and Japanese Dolby 2.0 soundtracks, English subtitles, the theatrical trailer, and a 30 minute extra feature about the making of Ghost in the Shell (in both Japanese and English, though there are no subtitles). The illustrated menus also provide access to a Manga Video Club trailer, and a promo video of coming (non-anime) Polygram Video DVDs, plus all the text information about Ghost in the Shell that you could possibly want--there is a detailed story synopsis, notes about the director and several other members of the production team, a long glossary of terms used in the movie, illustrations of and information about the main characters, and essays on a plethora of topics. The making of video includes interviews with some of the creators, including a rare interview with Shirow himself (audio only, of course--no one knows what he looks like).

There is a much newer 2-disc special edition version that takes this does it one up: Remastered anamorphic widescreen video, and an absolutely unprecedented variety of audio options: 6.1 DTS-ES in English or Japanese, Dolby 5.1 in English or Japanese, and if you want, Spanish, French, Italian, and German stereo. Woah. There's an entire second disc of biographies, character info, trailers, previews, and making-of stuff.

Content Guide

A combination of very graphic violence and some nudity make this more appropriate for the 16-up category.

Violence: 3 - Realistic and graphic (but relatively brief and not gratuitous) violence.

Nudity: 3 - Several brief scenes, though none are erotic (most are incidental and of a partly destroyed cyborg); there are also several scenes where the Major has a skin-colored bodysuit on that could easily be mistaken for nudity.

Sex/Mature Themes: 0 - Nothing.

Language: 3 - A fair amount of profanity.

Notes and Trivia

Ghost in the Shell was released theatrically in both the US and Japan. In fact, the dubbed version was also released on video in Japan, subtitled in Japanese.

While the film Innocence follows this one in plot, the Stand Alone Complex TV series are not directly connected, and have far more to do with the original comic than the movies (or the comic sequel).

A note about the director: Mamoru Oshii, now a renowned anime director, has been at work for decades, bringing a surreal touch to parts of the wacky comedy Urusei Yatsura, among other things. His style since seems to have solidified into dark, reserved, complex stories such as this one, and probably epitomized by his later work Jin Roh, which is in many ways the same story as Ghost in the Shell told in a different setting.

A second note about the title: Although "Ghost in the Shell" is the English title and "Koukaku Kidoutai," meaning something to the effect of "Mobile Armored Tactical Group," is the Japanese title, it would be more accurate to say that the title is both. On the original manga cover and in the movie, both titles are written (the former in English, even on the original Japanese versions) so you could probably say that either one is the title--particularly since the Japanese title uses some very obscure characters. This is kind of like another of Shirow's comics, Orion, which had that English title along with a title in Japanese.

A third note, about the video game: The old PlayStation game of the same name is worth mentioning, since it included several sequences of real cell animation. Furthermore, the animation was not taken from this movie--it was created specifically for the game. What's really interesting is that the animation and characters in the game are true to Shirow's originals--the art looks like Shirow's, and the characters all have the personalities that they did in the comic (though the actual gameplay is of debatable quality).

Availability

Available in the US from Manga Video on bilingual DVD, both in an original and 2-disc enhanced special edition version. Was previously available on dubbed and subtitled VHS.

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