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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.
The more Shirow we can get, the better. The art's gorgeous, and there's nothing like freaking out people with pictures from GitS.
Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
Because everyone loves cyborg lesbians!
Hey, I know I do.
no
Matrix was clearly ripped off Ghost in the Shell.. so will we soon get a new matrix sequel ripped off innocence... i wonder?
tim
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"
Well, the first thing you need to realize is that not all anime is created equally (I suspect you know that, but just saying it in case), and that, just as with any other media, what's popular isn't necessarily what's good. I personally hated Ghost in the Shell, so I understand where you're coming from. Basically, you just need to find your niche. My anime niche is incredibly small, consisting basically of Miyazaki's stuff, as well as a smattering of random things (Rojin-Z, Memories...hmm...too few to even recall now, but I'm sure there are others).
Some anime has a lot of Japanese cultural references, some doesn't (comedies, predictably, have much, much more, which is true in any medium). I suspect that it isn't so much the cultural divide that keeps you from enjoying anime, but discerning tastes.
Just remember, if you hear a billion people praising a certain anime, it means no less and no more than a billion people praising a certain movie. The Fast and the Furious was very successful, but that doesn't mean it was good. The good stuff is out there, but you have to look, and that can be a pain in the butt.
What I recommend is: don't bother looking. However, keep in mind that there is good stuff out there, but you haven't seen it. Then, one day, when a friend of yours whose tastes you trust recommends some anime, give it a shot and see if you've found the proverbial needle in the haystack.
whath them in japanese with subtitles.
often what happens when they translate and dub anime is that the translation is compromised so that the sound fits in with the mouth movement - i'm not talking exactly here, by example...
perhaps in Japanese someone can say "waaachaaa" and in English it actually means "hey how you doing, gee i haven't seen you in ages". so the dubbers will reduce the english to match the amount of time taken to say "waaachaa" and will come up with something like "hello". extend that to cultural references and more in-depth conversations and you begin to understand that watching a dubbed version of an anime is perhaps not a great idea if you're after good dialogue.
i saw GITS first in English, twice as that was the only VHS version available to me. i then got it on DVD and watched it with subtitles where they tend not to compromise (although some subtitles can be awfully done!). the film took on an entirely different meaning to me - a lot of the "side scenes" (for example the apparantly random scene of the old dude getting out of the helicopter) actually made sense to me!
one great example of rectifying this was Princess Mononoke where the entire edit was redone based on a translation from the brilliant Neil Gaiman. here Gaiman not only correctly translated the film, but he also adapted some of the metaphors and cultural references so that they had a western spin on them. the film was then re-edited so that the mouths matched his translation. watch it, its fantastic - don't get put off by the Disney'esque animation: after about 4 minutes of Bambi-like scenes evil monsters begin to appear and then someone has his head knocked off with an arrow...but its more than just that, it includes some fabulous human dichotomy and awesome fantasy scenses.
so that may be one reason you haven't enjoyed your anime experience. the other is perhaps you've watched the wrong ones. most of the "famous" ones are more action orientated (Akira, GITS, Ninja Scroll). you may wish to watch something more dramatic like Grave of the Fireflies. personally it was far to slow for my liking, you may enjoy it or find similar anime that isn't all just blood & guts.
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).