Your opinion, the Ghost in the Shell universe.

Heimdall_Xtreme

Heimdall_Xtreme

Hermen Hulst Fanclub's #1 Member
Besides being passionate about the world of video games of all kinds, I love futuristic and cyberpunk universes, whether fictional, literary, or otherwise.

For various reasons, I wanted to watch the Ghost in the Shell series, but I never got around to it.

I did see the American film with Scarlett Johansson and the movie innocence.

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They weren't bad movies, but what's your honest opinion?

 
I love the two animated films. Haven't watched the SAC series since the home releases are a goddamn mess.

Live action film was crap.
 
Original movie: excellent
Manga: excellent
Stand Alone Complex: mostly excellent
Everything else: meh
 
I'm the lone defender of the scarjo film. It has plenty of issues, but I guess I had seriously low expectations because I enjoyed the ride. Her character is fairly flat, but I think they did a terrific job rendering that cyberpunk world. 100% impossible but I wish it had been successful so that we could see a follow up.

I was a decent enough fan of the original manga back in the day, although I always was much more blown away by Appleseed (especially the earlier works).
 
After the First, none exist to me and are an afterthought.
The first was another lightning in a bottle type deal.
The movie… it wasn't too bad. I consider that at all because it's a live action of the first and it has Scarlet Joe
 
Only the original manga and anime are great in my eyes. Even the follow-up manga, Man-Machine Interface, wasn't very good. Masamune Shirow got a little carried away with CG artwork and nonsensical storylines.
 
I agree with the consensus that the original manga and the 1995 anime movie are incredible works. Everything after that was kinda mid (Stand Alone Complex had its moments, though).
 
I saw the Ghost in the Shell anime movie long after The Matrix and really liked it. I don't think I would've understood what was happening in it without The Matrix introducing me to some of the concepts.

To that point, I also watched Ghost in the Shell 2 and was confused by it and had to read up a synopsis to try and grok it. Same thing for the last couple episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Maybe I'm anime-illiterate and/or those specific examples are confusing because I'm rarely lost when watching movies/TV shows.
 
The Anime was the first time I saw that someone would draw a naked cartoon. I thought it was an impressive anime and still think it is. But I wouldn't let my kids watch it.
 
AJUMP23 said:
The Anime was the first time I saw that someone would draw a naked cartoon. I thought it was an impressive anime and still think it is. But I wouldn't let my kids watch it.
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Why? We watched Rose Of Versailles, Nobody's Boy Remi on cable TV in the 80s which were way way more intense.
 
I think I prefer the Appleseed world as a cooler interpretation of "is manufactured life the equivalent to human life" as you get the contrast of the genetically altered bioroids and Briareos. Plus the mecha designs are hella cool.

GOTS tends to get too enamored with real-time cybernetic hacking and AI, plus most of the adaptations omit or reduce the role of the Tachikoma which are very personality driven AI things.

Shirows drift from his elegant and technical line art to the overly abstract CG stuff was a great loss. Well, and the hentai focus. As fun as that stuff is, its not nearly as rereadable or interesting, I wish he had kept up with serialized stories. I have a big collection of his stuff, a lot of which needs to be in my "burn this upon my death, never open it!" chest :P
 
jason10mm said:
I think I prefer the Appleseed world as a cooler interpretation of "is manufactured life the equivalent to human life" as you get the contrast of the genetically altered bioroids and Briareos. Plus the mecha designs are hella cool.

GOTS tends to get too enamored with real-time cybernetic hacking and AI, plus most of the adaptations omit or reduce the role of the Tachikoma which are very personality driven AI things.

Shirows drift from his elegant and technical line art to the overly abstract CG stuff was a great loss. Well, and the hentai focus. As fun as that stuff is, its not nearly as rereadable or interesting, I wish he had kept up with serialized stories. I have a big collection of his stuff, a lot of which needs to be in my "burn this upon my death, never open it!" chest :P
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Still the GOAT is this. Was traumatising during my short astronaut training.

 
Only ever enjoyed the original movie and I remember it being a pretty big deal when it released. Local indie cinemas were playing it which you never saw with anime at the time (at least where I grew up) and it was even getting huge ads and articles in the city paper. Took awhile to finally find a copy to rent too because stores NEVER had dual copies of anything from Japan (yet).

The fight with the tank at the end is still one of my favorite moments in any anime movie ever.

 
p_xavier said:
Watching Akira in "88 was such an amazing thing even if I was a kid (yes there was nudity but it was common at the time).
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Not in the house I grew up in. We were watching IClaudius one time with my parents and then had to leave the room when the nudity started.
 
p_xavier said:
The amount of traumatising cartoons I watched as a kid made me a better person IMO. French/Japanese collabs FTW.
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That's right, my friend, they made me a better person too, and somehow anime teaches important life values, like perseverance... And I'm so glad I watched them, I prefer and am grateful for Japanese animation... to Western animation and its toilet humor.
 
Heimdall_Xtreme said:
That's right, my friend, they made me a better person too, and somehow anime teaches important life values, like perseverance... And I'm so glad I watched them, I prefer and am grateful for Japanese animation... to Western animation and its toilet humor.
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I've rewatched Nobody's Boy Remi if you didn't see in another thread and it's just amazing even if it's nearly 50 years old, if you don't cry watching it you're not human at this point.
 
Heimdall_Xtreme said:
Besides being passionate about the world of video games of all kinds, I love futuristic and cyberpunk universes, whether fictional, literary, or otherwise.

For various reasons, I wanted to watch the Ghost in the Shell series, but I never got around to it.

I did see the American film with Scarlett Johansson and the movie innocence.

a428thgWVfAZtKAD.jpg



They weren't bad movies, but what's your honest opinion?

Click to expand...

Dude you havent watched the 1995 film?
Wtf you doing?
Shits the peak.
Skip 2.0 and go with OG.
Innocence sucks in comparison outside the opening firefight and the convenience store part.
Sac is cool too.
 
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Here in Mexico, it was very niche and complex... It was entirely in Japanese with subtitles and wasn't easy to screen on any platform. It might have been found on the black market.
 
p_xavier said:
I've rewatched Nobody's Boy Remi if you didn't see in another thread and it's just amazing even if it's nearly 50 years old, if you don't cry watching it you're not human at this point.
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Yes, I did see that incomplete series, but it included religious and tragic elements... And it wasn't even censored. Another popular series in Mexico is Candy Candy... The funny thing is, I never watched it, but I met the creator last year and she autographed a manga for me... I only kept it for the signature 😂
 
Ghost in the Shell was my Super Mario 64 — my first real, mind-blowing anime. I had no clue something this deep even existed. Renting that VHS from Blockbuster completely changed my world. And my obsession with cyberpunk didn't stop there. I've lost count of how many times I've rewatched Stand Alone Complex and 2nd GIG. Oh, and I even have this crazy rare, 1 of 1 holographic poster from the '95 film.
 
Having really enjoyed the first film back when it came out I heard about 2.0 and SAC and everything else and always felt like I should dive back into that world as it was clearly a space that had so much potential.

I eventually did watch the first few episodes of SAC having struggled to figure out what I should actually watch, and it was ok. I failed to go back for some reason though.
 
Speaking of which, I'm kinda mystified why animes and movies that tackle themes about existentialism or self-reflective topics, like GITS, have sorta vanished. I actually miss these kinds of flicks from the 80's and 90's that used to explore and study these ideas. Those that left a lasting impression on you and gave you something to ponder or talk about. The current rapid changes happening in society leave plenty material and themes to pick up to tackle in a new flick in that regard.

These kinds of themes hardly happen nowadays in anime at least AFAIK.
 
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The original manga was weirder and more comic, then the 1995 movie started to to push it into a direction of style over substance, which ended up going too far, but was the right decision commercially.
 
Hypereides said:
Speaking of which, I'm kinda mystified why animes and movies that tackle themes about existentialism or self-reflective topics, like GITS, have sorta vanished. I actually miss these kinds of flicks from the 80's and 90's that used to explore and study these ideas. Those that left a lasting impression on you and gave you something to ponder or talk about. The current rapid changes happening in society leave plenty material and themes to pick up to tackle in a new flick in that regard.

These kinds of themes hardly happen nowadays in anime at least AFAIK.
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I've only watched a handful of animes/anime movies, but surely there are some modern ones out there like what you're looking for? I just asked AI for some existentialist ones, and while they weren't all full sci-fi like GITS, Akira, & NGE, it gave a list of a dozen post-2010 examples.
 
There were 3 films I asked for Christmas when I was 13 and those were Ninja Scroll, Akira, and Ghost in the Shell. I got them all too. My mom and sister had no clue. I was able to witness their glory at a very young age. The music and animation were on a whole other level. I didn't bother with the sequel or series of Ghost in the Shell. It felt it couldn't hold a candle to the original. I still won't watch them even though I own the sequel (bought it for a couple bucks).
 
apocaliptic said:
I am a big Fan. I have all of the movies and series in blue ray both the english version and also the italian version. Also the manga
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I need to find the movie dubbed in Mexican Spanish... I know they did a dub.

Usually, Mexican dubbing is much better than Japanese dubbing.
 
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Grildon Tundy said:
I saw the Ghost in the Shell anime movie long after The Matrix and really liked it. I don't think I would've understood what was happening in it without The Matrix introducing me to some of the concepts.

To that point, I also watched Ghost in the Shell 2 and was confused by it and had to read up a synopsis to try and grok it. Same thing for the last couple episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Maybe I'm anime-illiterate and/or those specific examples are confusing because I'm rarely lost when watching movies/TV shows.
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Bro,I feel like if anyone says they get those last couple episodes of Eva, they have to be lying. Just floaty, pretentious art house nonsense if you ask me, and I absolutely love the series but it is what it is. I haven't seen the second Ghost film, guess I need to get on that.
 
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