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Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence in Theaters
Lord Prox writes "The long wait is over, the sequel to Ghost In The Shell is here in theaters!. Titled Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence for the US market and seems to be available in a reasonably wide distribution for anime. There is also a trailer available."
showtimes across the country
I had a chance to see GitS2:I at the Toronto International Film Festival last week. I'll need to see it again before I can properly critcize or praise it (I was a bit stoked about just having the chance to see it), but my first impressions are that it is visually stunning.
I don't know how the storyline or certain philosophical aspects of the script will be taken by North American audiences (it's practically Confucian at times), but there were some moments of genuine humour that I think the first movie lacked. The animation style is interesting, and it looks damn good. One person who saw the movie with me said she was hooked by the animation in the trailer, which stunned her. She works at an animation company, so she has some idea of quality animation versus crap.
Yeah. Worth a view, maybe two!
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
since TFS didn't mention any:
GITS2 Home page
Original HQ Japanese Trailer
Official Trailer for Gaijin, already stripped of the engrish "my very warm welcome to you for this most excellent trailer. I like to live life to the fullest!" headers.
The movie's core theme was about what makes us human. Motoko and Batou were both cyborgs (meaning that the only biological part left was the brain), Togusa was fully human (may have had data jacks though, been a while), most of the rest of Section 9 were cyborgs (though not to the degree of Motoko and Batou), and the Puppetmaster was a computer program. All were fully sentient, so the question remains, what makes one human?
Togusa was the only fully alive in a biological sense... but Motoko sure looked human enough. So, if instead, human is defined as having a human form, then we have Motoko and Batou. However, this then would include androids (dolls in GitS2)... and was the Puppetmaster not sentient? If he (she, it?) was sentient... should it be counted as alive despite lacking a biological body?
Basically, where does Human end, and Human-replica begin?
I hope that didn't just end up being more confusing...
I had the pleasure of seeing Ghost in the Shell 2 : Innocence at a midnight screening at the Toronto International Film Festival along with about 1200 other people who all fit nicely into the "anime geek" demographic. The director wasn't there for a Q&A, which was sad, because after seeing the film I definitely had some Qs for which the As would have been interesting.
The movie takes place some intederminate amount of time after Ghost in the Shell, and the Major's partner, Batou, has become something of a loner within Section 9. He feels that no new partner could ever equal the Major, and you really get the sense of the deep bond that had connected the two, and that he has lost. Of course, the fact that the Major's "ghost" simply disappeared without a trace is always itching at him, as well.
The movie opens with Batou showing up at a crime scene where a "Gynoid" has slaughtered her owner and two cops. A fight ensues, and before it ends, Batou hears the "Gynoid" ask for help in the voice of a little girl.
Section 9 decides to investigate, and Batou is assigned a new partner. The movie follows their investigation in pretty standard 3-act style, but the universe that the characters are moving through makes things a little more complicated. Everyone has an "e-brain" which is constantly connected to the global information net. Our characters spout obscure biblical and literal references, and more disturbingly, can have their heads hacked into if they're not paying attention closely. This frequently spurrs "Matrix"-like discussions and situations where characters are trying to determine what is real and what isn't. Batou's investigations take him to the modern Yakuza, an old border town, and eventually to the source of the plea for help he hears at the start of the movie.
But that's the plot, which adds to the enjoyment of anime, but isn't neccessarily all that requisite, right? Let's talk about the other stuff that matters: the animation, and the imaginary future society.
It rocks. There's an effective combination of computer animation and classic anime that causes some breathtaking moments (watch the alley scene at the beginning). The fights are fantastic, although I felt a little too few and far between. The futuristic world is well thought out, with a visual design being of a modern technological world that has gone 1920s-retro when it comes to industrial design and architecture.
It's definitely worth seeing if you like anime.
Note that GitS:SAC and the original GitS movie are alternative stories - they're not part of a continuous timeline.