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View Full Version : [Movie] Ghost in the Shell



miniPhil
01-07-2007, 07:48 AM
Type: Movie, Running time 82 minutes
Genre: Action, Drama.
Aired: 1995
Companies: Manga Entertainment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga_Entertainment)
Plot synopsis
In the not too distant future (twenty two years to be exact) everything gets complicated! Our main character, Major Motoko Kusanagi, is a police officer of section nine (a mysterious organisation that we aren’t told much about). To make maters more confusing she’s actually a robot that’s inhabited by a ghost, which could be described as her conscience or mind. She and her fellow section nine operatives are charged with the mission of finding and capturing an international hacker known as ‘the puppet master’. As Motoko digs further into the case things (if possible) get even more complicated, old allies can no longer be trusted, is the puppet master the real enemy? And the very question of her own existence arises (it just wouldn’t be a proper anime if the philosophical element hadn’t been added in now would it.).

Story (7/10)
It’s not bad (if you can keep up). Ghost in the shell gets thumbs up for originality and the ability to make you say ‘what? I think I missed a bit’ every twenty seconds. But don’t be discouraged by the confusing plot, it all ends up with some beautifully thought out fight scenes and the confounding part of the plot guarantees value for money as you watch it again and again! And if you would like to know the story actually inspired the making of the matrix.

Characters (7/10)
Could be better. The characters don’t differ a whole lot and when the do its not necessarily for the better. I love the idea of some characters being inhabited by a ghost or spirit, which adds more to the philosophical element of the film.

Art/animation (9/10)
For its time the animation is superb. Perfect framework and the camouflage looks wonderful. The fight scenes as well as some cool exploding heads are nicely drawn and have absolutely no flaws at all. The film runs so smoothly that you ponder what the artist had to go threw just to get this effect.

Voice acting, music (9/10)
The music fits perfectly with the movie in the category of ‘strange’. It comes across as a light classical background with African music chorus…… you have to hear to believe it. However strange does not, by any means, mean bad. The music fits perfectly with the movie and gives a very satisfying effect.
The only problem I have with the voice acting is being able to hear them (perhaps this is why the story is so confusing). Apart from that the voice are not bad (for an English dub).

Overall (8/10)
Overall Ghost in the Shell proves to be one of the best anime films in existence. Golden music, long drawn out plot and animation that puts many other anime to shame. I highly recommend Ghost in the Shell for your collection, if you don’t buy it at least watch it once so you can say ‘ive seen the film that inspired the matrix and many other anime to date’.

auroradreamer
06-18-2008, 04:54 PM
Hmmm. Not sure I completely agree with some of the stuff said for the first Raiting. The first post seemed to critisize on what it isn't rather than what it is. Can't do that. For anything actually.

Plot (10/10): Original, long, sweet, precise. Read fist post on what it was about as I don't want to type it all out. Great job. No problems AT ALL. Very good mind bender, this one. When I watched it I did go "what? Let me review that bit." But it was only because I first saw it at age 12 and didn't quite understand half the terms and philisophical meaning behind it all.

Flow and consistency (9/10): Bit confusing but then you realize what was really going on. Cop gets job, job gets difficult, cop goes after wrong guy, cop finds another lead, cop gets head blown off during a mind jump into a strangers body and gets melded with some weird entity AI created as if by accident, then cop gets little girl body and that is where the anime truelly gets "weird"... And that is where it ends... Smooth yet made you think. Love those. I hate anime that spell everything out for you. I would like to use my 140 IQ and put it to the test thank you very much.

Art/Animation (10/10): I like the fact that the future isn't perfect OR completely run down like so many other anime out there seem to predict. The scenery clearly looked used and maybe even poor but things weren't ugly. The city was just like I said, "used." Each character was very well drawn. Smooth and character representing. They weren't human but not quite biological androids either. The beginning couldn't have been sweeter, although, not to be a pervert but I am very miticulous on detail no matter what I watch and do, I would very much like to have seen a "vagina" where a "vagina" should be. If your going to show it then show it. That is all i have to say about that.
Camoflouge was excellent. The characters vision was cool too. Great effect. Each scenery was so well done that it was a shame you couldn't spend a whole lot of time looking out it without burning your eyes from looking so close when the video was paused. So much detail, you could take just a square inch and find something to respect the animation about.
One of the best finallies of all time. Well done, realistic, and beautifully animated. Flawless. There were limits given to the future weapons of destruction in this anime and it was great to watch and ponder what will be done about it all.

Characters (8/10): First off, don't let my 8 fool you. I think it was very well done. As far as who they are as a character I would give a 10. However, the problem was that sometimes the characters seemed boring. They didn't represent humans but came close. But when they were "coming close" they were boring. Sometimes I felt the conversations they had were a bit iffy in the sense that humans do the exact same thing only they changed a few words around to make it sound like they were coming from a machine rather than a human. Inner conflict was obvious and well done. The confusing parts were well put to make you think and you wouldn't beleive some of the theories I have heard about what this anime was really about. Would liked to have seen a bit more interaction and less... Well, whining from Kusinagi...

Voice Acting (10/10): No real complaint. It wasn't something to concentrate too much on as a lot of the anime was body motion and watching the scenery and characters rather than just listening to the philisophical parts.

Overall (9/10): Must have for any collector and must see for anyone who enjoys originality. Supremely enjoyed this one. The sequal, however, is pretty much the exact opposite other than the graphics. 9 out of 10 for great origniality an slightly boring character interactions.

Liquidus Zeromus
08-19-2008, 07:31 AM
Here's what I think.

Storyline: 9/10. Amazing plot and alot of detail for its length. I was interested all the way through. However, I thought they could have expanded a bit more on things, rather than just left it to the sequel, Innocence.

Animation/Art: 10/10. I agree with others on this. The original style is beautiful, and doesn't go over the top. No super-deformed characters, and massive attention to detail.

Characters: 7.5/10. The three most important characters are well-done, but I thought that, again, their personalities and motives could have been expanded upon. Major just fights because her body belongs to the government? It seems a little vague. Hence the 7.5.

Music and voice acting: 8/10. The Japanese music sets the mood very well in parts, but I thought that there could have been a wider variety, such as metal in some scenes. Forgive me if there was, but it would have been good to have light metal, especially in the action scenes. The voice acting was appropriate, but a voice is only as good as its script.

Overall: 8.5/10. A timeless classic, with a few flaws which are balanced out. I strongly recommend it.

The Wing Man
10-10-2008, 12:10 PM
Story (7.5/10)The story is good and shows huge potential, but the length of the film kills it from going to the place it needs to and we have a story that feels unfinished.


Characters (7/10)
3 of them are pretty damn good, but for the most part the length kills the characters from being developed enough for us to care about them at the end of it all.

Art/animation (8.5/10)
The animation is pretty good, it still holds up today and the film just looks great on a HD tv but I would like to see it on bluray.

Voice acting, music (8/10)
Better then alot of animes, the voice acting is pretty dead on for the most part and the music was sweet.

Overall (7.5/10)
I love the movie for alot of things, but I hate that it is only 82 minutes when it has a plot that could easily handle a 2 hour feature and the ending just feels rushed.We have a brilliant film for the first half, but I just wish they would have spent more time on everything and because of them not doing this I can't even rate it an 8.Still a solid movie, and did alot for animation in general and I would say watch it because it so damn good in certain places but overall a missed masterpiece.