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GitS Sequel and Appleseed Remake Are Coming
LocusMote writes "Masamune Shirow, the creative genius behind the manga and anime Ghost in the Shell , has a few new irons fresh from the fire. One of his earlier manga, Appleseed, already exists as a rather disappointing television quality anime. Shirow thought so too, apparently. He went back to the original manga storyline, blew off the dust, and has produced a beautiful new all-CG Appleseed which hits the Japanese theaters in April. (Quicktime required) Oh yeah, there's a Ghost in the Shell sequel in the pipeline, too, called Innocence ... w00t!" Beautiful.
This news is mostly misguided in that respect.
Shirow is only behind the manga.
GitS the movie would never have been the wonder it was without the genius that is Mamoru Oshii.
I'll go as far as saying that Mamoru Oshii gave more power to the story than Shirow ever could.
Even the anime design shouts "Mamoru Oshii team" all over it.
Kenji Kawai is part of the "Mamoru Oshii team", so, well, even though he has his detractors, I always found him to be on par with the like of Joe Hisaishi or Youko Kanno (geniuses), and sound plays a great role in the feel of Oshii's anime (like for Sergio Leone films).
The trailer is also available as a Windows Media stream from the official Appleseed site, which also features an introduction to the film and soundtrack info.
http://www.a-seed.jp
It'll be starting on the country wide "Road Show" at a Toho Cinema theater near you. "One Piece", the pirate mange/anime, also has a movie starting at the same time. I'm hoping it'll be a double feature (in my dreams, incompatible demographics). 1700yen (US$16-17) for a regular showing is expensive. I really miss getting ripped off at American theaters. The japanese ones I've seen are generally nicer, but the snack bar prices are about double for half.
I wonder if that's how they subsidize rebuilding Tokyo everytime Godzilla attacks?
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"Common sense will be the death of us all"
Innocence official US site at Go Fish Pictures (subsidiary of DreamWorks)
Far less impressive site though, compared to Japanese official site. I doubt their promotion - at least they should spend enough amount of money for web design, as it should cost not so much as "real" PR. Isn't internet for such virtual advertisement?
Now Japanese official site has gorgeous final trailers in wmv, small/medium/large.
The theme song, "Follow Me" is by Kimiko Itoh, and the new version of her 1989 jazz hit (English profile here).