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Review of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Lawrence Person writes "Given how the series itself touches on so many topics near and dear to the hearts of Slashdotters everywhere, I thought my review of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (first season) at Locus Online would be of interest. It is longer and more in-depth than the average review, and touches on GitS:SAC's relationship to obvious cyberpunk and postcyberpunk source material, the elements that make it unique among anime science fiction, the role of P2P networks in popularizing anime, and how GitS:SAC compares to the other great science fiction TV show currently on the air right now, Battlestar Galactica."
I've got them all in my collection, so here's my opinion:
First, watch the first and second Ghost in the Shell movies. Watch the older Ghost in the Shell first, in which Motoko encounters the Puppet Master and merges with him. Then, watch Innocence, which deals with how Bateau handles her disappearance and reveals a lot about how they feel about each other. Great quote from the second movie: "let a man walk alone, let him commit no sin, with few wishes, like an elephant in the forest". This quote is partial; it comes from Buddha's Dharmapada Sutra. The full passage is:
"329. If a man find no prudent companion who walks with him, is wise,
and lives soberly, let him walk alone, like a king who has left his
conquered country behind,--like an elephant in the forest.
330. It is better to live alone, there is no companionship with a
fool; **let a man walk alone, let him commit no sin, with few wishes,
like an elephant in the forest**."
My understanding of this is, Motoko was Bateau's "prudent companion" and since he can't travel with her, he would prefer to live alone. No one else can fill that role for him. Deep.
Once you've enjoyed the two movies, then I'd tackle the series. The series is basically about Section 9 prior to the disappearance of Motoko. Some people think it's an alternate universe, but I like to think of it as simply the period before she merged with the net. If you read the original manga, there was a huge amount of activity before she merged. Lots of those stories haven't found their way into anime yet. And the second manga volume deals with the period after she merges and splits off into a number of different artificial intelligences. So I like to think about it this way:
Period 1: Before merger with Puppet Master: Section 9 has various adventures, ultimately leading up to the puppet master incident. Many of the adventures are unrelated.
Period 2: After merger with Puppet Master: Motoko has merged with an AI, and has split into a number of AIs, and is being studied by her former bosses, who think there are going to be serious ramifications of her change, and that there's some kind of cosmic transcendence about to occur (this is in the manga, not the movies or series).
I view the series as taking place in period 1, the first GITS movie in period 1, and the second movie (Innocence) as taking place in period 2, but not at the same time as the second manga, which would have been years later.
Enjoy! It's some of the best sci-fi available anywhere.
The movies and the tv series (1st Gig and 2nd Gig) are actually stories that exist in alternate universes. The movies and the tv series can be watched independently of each other, since both universes' storylines are self-contained.
In the movie universe, the events in the first movie (GITS) happen before the events in the second movie (GITS:Innocence), so it is best to watch in chronological order. Ditto for the episodes of the TV series. The TV series, however, is premised on a what-if-this-event-did-not-happen-in-the-movies universe. So you do not have to have watched the movies to grok the TV series.
Season 1 of the TV series (1st Gig) has a season-long story arc that is best appreciated if you watch the eps in order, but there are a few stand-alone episodes that are kinda Monster-of-the-week and do not tie into the big story arc. The events in season 2 of the TV series occur after the events in season 1, but it has its own season-long story arc that does not depend too much on your knowledge of season 1.
There are some fantastic subtleties that you get from watching the eps in chronological order.
Netflix has both movies and the entire 1st Gig. They also have the first 12 eps of 2nd Gig. I think the next DVD for 2nd Gig is coming out in March.
HTH
It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.
One thing that's rather glossed over is Shirow Masamune's writing style itself. The manga in original Japanese was very complex, and written in mostly in kanji (chinese characters) which has caused even the average Japanese difficulties in understanding it. To give you an idea of the use of kanji, the common Japanese only needs to know about 500 or so kanji to be literate, resorting to hiragana and katakana the rest of the time. The common Chinese needs 1200 (Since it's all chinese characters).
This is very normal of Shirow's style as his writing and stories and a partial reason of why his stories are quite intricate. To give you an idea, it would be like comparing the writing styles of JK Rowling to William Gibson, one is very simple and easy to read, the other is very high-level and in-depth. Even Shirow's earlier works like Appleseed (Which is also very good), Black Magic, Dominion Tank Police, etc., are very detailed and intricate if you dig down into the origial versions of them, which unfortuantely is lost when much of it is translated. Even the bloke that brought the material over (I can't remember his name, Terrance-something-or-other I think), and knows the reclusive Shirow once complained that even he had problems).
The complexity of the socio-economoic, political, and contempoary moral issues that is personified in GITS:SAC is what sets it apart from shows like Cowboy Bebop (Which I also loved, I'm still trying to find one of the limited edition box sets). It's in a different genre of anime (yes there are a ton of genres in Anime) and definitely not comparable to Cowboy Bebop. Both are fun, likable, and are a treat for your senses, but CB is more entertainment while GITS:SAC is more a commentary. It's like Starship Troopers vs. 2010; They're both movies about space, but you watch one to be entertained, and you watch the other to be inspired.
GITS:SAC actually takes place pre-GITS manga, but does overlap and transmutate into some section of the manga. Avid GITS fans will draw the parallel of Kusanagi getting snipered in the TV series, and her body getting shot in the manga, as well as many other similarities that do occur between the two. It's one of those "Let's retell the story, but change a few things around to make it work, even though it'll screw up the interdepencies". Any avid Asian film buff will know what I'm talking about, it happens quite often even in "live" movies (i.e. Windstruck and My Sassy Girl).
One other thing to mention is that the 2 movies were Oshii's movies. Oshii tends to take this weird spin on the GITS world, and often leave out a lot of the details Shirow puts in, and more often than naught, substitutes his own views and imagery in (Read: the damn basset hounds). If anyone's ever seen Oshii's "Avalon", you'll know what I'm talking about. The style and subject matter is the same as the 2 GITS movies, and so is the way he presents his imagery (and the damn basset hounds again). Shirow has always defered creative control to Oshii in the movies, but has retained it, and works very closely with Production IG for the SAC series. Hence, this is much more true to the feel of the original manga, and is greatly departed from the movies, hence the additional complexity. It's almost an impossibility to compare the TV series (both of them) to the movie due to the differences in direction.
-Misao Little Weasel Girl
If you take a look at CD Japan and look at how much new region 2 disks are to the Japanese and do your own conversions into Euro/Dollars/Whatever, we are getting a deal. Fate/stay night 1 [Limited Edition] (which is HOT at the moment), is episode 1-3 listed 6190 Yen so it will probably end up being between $55-$50US. Sometime next year, Gennon will release it in the US for about $30 for the same 3 episodes with other goodies (like a box). We are not only getting shows that are filtered (the less popular shows are not offered, material on DVD is often revised and reedited), we are getting it cheaper.
The fact of the matter is that they are charging exactly how much the market seems to support. Anime is now and probably always will be a "fringe element of a fringe element". To make money at the sales rate they support they have to charge this much, which it seems the market is willing pay. In any event, if they are making money now at what is deemed "expensive" what incentive do they have to lower? It is all market forces.
BTW, if you an entire series that seems too cheap, it is probably a bootleg (there are exception but few and far between). Buy it if you wish but realize almost almost nil of any of that money is going back to the talent or producers.