Anime Ghost in the Shell

[Guest Solid Snake]

[color=teal]I thought that the movie was pretty good. When you get over the fact that they constantly threw hentai into the movie, you come to see the plot as quite nice, in my opinion. I don't want to give too much away, but I came to really like the fast and sudden action that was given off by this movie. Could have been better, but I believe that they did a good job over-all.[/color]

:blah:

[Guest Zero]

It's great but is there more to this movie they left it wide out at the end.

[Ray]

I thought it was an ok movie, but i prefer the manga. Most of my friends had to watch the movie about 2 or 3 times to understand it. I felt the manga was much more dumbed down and understandable. I've been waiting for my copy of Ghost in the Shell II to make it's way to my local comic store along with some collectibles from Preivews catalog(is it still called Previews?). I don't really trust the people down there, though. So I think I may never see it. ;_;

[Guest Zero]

It was pretty easy to understand to me but of course my old brother didn't get it at all.

[amiboshi]

It was okay. I liked all the tech stuff in it. It was a good action movie, but I didn't like it [i]that[/i] much. It seemed to lack plot a little bit..... It wasn't the most interesting thing in the world to watch.

[PrettygurlRei]

I thought it had a weird ending. When she was in a little girls body. But other then that I thought it was a good movie.

[XxmagentaxX]

i thought itwas good.. but i had to watch it afew times to complety understand what was going on.. cuz i kept getting lost..

[Sephiroth]

I didn't really like this film very much, simple as that....

[Guest GriffXL]

it was alright with the story line.I understood it but the nudity was obscene.Oh yeah i read some where that hentai actually meaned pervert,i think i saw that on a site against hentia.

[amiboshi]

At first, all the nudity in certain animes and mangas seemed obscene, but now it just doesn't really matter to me. They didn't make it seem crude or anything, so it didn't matter much. Especially after reading so much of Rumiko Takahashi's books. That's a lot of nudity. And if you look at it from an artistic point of view, it's not obscene at all. Just depends on how you look at it....

[Def_Kun]

I thought the story was dragging. It was too technical for me. Borrowed it twice from a friend and slept through it on both occassions.

When I was a kid I always had the VHS remote with me. Everytime there's a nude scene or a panty shot I would get ready to turn it off in case my mom passes by. It was really hard to watch Ranma without feeling the sense of danger everytime Ram-chan enters the showers.

[Semjaza]

The nudity wasn't used to just show people naked. It was really only used when Motoko cloaked herself. The cloaking device doesn't work on clothes, so she had to remove them.

The manga isn't like that though, so I'm sure they put it in just to have some nudity.

I don't agree that the manga was more dumbed down at all. The movie only uses the story of the "puppet master". In the manga, the story of the puppet master was kinda the bookends to the rest of the story. So basically, the start of the book was about the puppet master, so was the end...but everything inbetween was about other things that their group did. So many things were brought up in that book it was ridiculous, and Shirow put in way to many details at times. So many that there is a footnote section that is several pages long.

I prefer the manga... Mainly, because the anime changed the character designs a little and I didn't like them. And second, it changed a LOT of the manga, especially the ending. I also dislike the fact that Motoko sounds like a robot in the dub, as I never pictured her sounding like one...she is a cyborg, not a full robot. I have yet to hear the sub though, so it's possible she sounds like that originally as well. Either way I wouldn't like it.

Still worth seeing though, as the animation is excellent and the story is still pretty good.

[Kent]

um, yea...
you all can have opinions of your own and that is fine, but ghost in the shell is an awesome movie. maybe not the best of all time, that title changes for each person; but with out a doubt very good. i think the quality of the animation is wonderful and the story is very original. 4 out of 5 stars in my book. if not 5/5.

[Twinzam v]

I thought The film was quite good and the story line was ok as well

[PrettygurlRei]

So did I. I loved this movie, it was great but I laughes so hard at the part where she had to strip to become invisible. I thought it was funny

[SephirothNIN]

I knew nothing of ghost in the shell except that I heard it was good. Then when I rented it it said from the creators (or whoever) of Akira, so I thought it would be even better. But while watching it I was pretty disappointed, bored at times =\. I don't know what it was, the story was good but....the last part was all dialogue and uneventful. I don't need fights nonstop but...I dunno I didn't care what happened to anyone in that anime.

[Acid]

Well, what does everyone think about this movie? It's on my christmas list so i figured I should know if it was good or not. A friend of mine brought it over (burned on a disc) once. But I was a bit to active to pay attention. :p So, opinions?

[amiboshi]

Eh, I thought it was cool, but it was a bit boring at some parts. The actions is pretty good, and it was very techy, so I liked that aspect of it, but I had to stop it in the middle and take a break because it was just a little dull at some parts, and I didn't really understand where the plot was going, even once it was over...

[Hinata]

I had to look at Ghost in a Shell twice to understand it.. and it seemed to help out alot. There is action but it does wind down in most places and makes you think...Yeah you will get confused the first time but look at it again if you must. It's a very good movie... and to think about it... I gotta go watch it again!!!

[Kent]

I have this movie in my collection.

Its a good one, no doubt. I really liked it.

But I thought it went a little far with the self questioning nature of the main charactors.

although, the animation was excellent.

action was really good and the technical drawing in the film was really good.

The way they could show guns being broken down, and barrells falling out into a puddle of water only to create steam from the heat of the barrel after firing.
That was great.

Over all, I would give this movie a 3 1/2 out of 5.

[Guest Hikaru Ichijyo]

Eh, its an ok movie that is considered an anime classic for its storyline and animation styles. Personally not one of my favorite movies, I suggest renting it before putting it on your Christmas list that way you can see if its really worth having for yourself.

[Mnemolth]

The following is a review I wrote for an anime review site. Easier to copy & paste from my Word than find the link. Its a little on the long side tho, and seeing as you are an 'active' sort, I'm not sure you can last through my review! *lol*

Ghost In The Shell

Only Human

Taking its lineage from the cyberpunk genre pioneered by William Gibson?s ground breaking Neuromancer, this is an example of intelligent and provocative animation, a feast for the eyes and for the mind. The film is both fluid and intense. Detailed backgrounds with multi-layered animation, the almost perfect blend of CG with traditional cell compositions, bring the story to life. The crowded streets and decaying buildings, the low flying commercial airliners that seem to just scrap over the tall residential blocks, they all draw us into the industrial wasteland and set the scene for the unfolding plot. From the stunning opening sequence to the open-ended conclusion, this is one hell of a ride.

It is the near future, humans are augmented by cybernetic bodies and parts, their individuality captured as information in ?ghosts? and transferable to these so called ?shells? as the need arises. Into this world is born the ?Puppet Master?, a world class hacker, able to penetrate and manipulate people by breaking into their minds, much like a burglar would break into a house. At a time when information transcends all boundaries and borders, information becomes the key, and valuable. Chasing this outlaw is a group of clandestine security officers headed by Major Motoko Kusanagi. Practically a cyborg, she is the protagonist of this story and brings out much of the themes hidden amongst all the gun fire and violence.

Its true this anime overflows with longwinded explanatory monologues. Don?t they all? Akira anyone?? ;) Perhaps that is a fault in the translation, perhaps not. It is after all targeted at the young male adult market, youths whose pretentiousness is legendary. But looking past the set speeches that seem to ram the film?s message down our throats (why is it that people give the audience so little credit that they feel the need to explain everything, as if we?re children they have to spoon feed!), looking beyond the sexy graphics and the stylized violence (with a particular fetish for guns), there is something much more that this movie has to offer. The questions it raises will remain with you for hours and days after you have seen it.

Just what does it mean to be human? Who are we? Where do we come from? And where are we going? These are the eternal existentialist questions. But packed, as we are, like sardines in a can that is a city, separated and isolated from each other, these questions take on an increasing poignancy and we all feel an urgent need to understand and resolve these issues, for ourselves and to make sense of the world around us. If our individuality can be captured as ?information? or ?ghosts?, then what separates us from a highly evolved computer program? If we are but the sum of our experiences, then any highly developed sum of information could possibly be human, could it not? What is so special about us? It?s a frightening thought. Our identities, our souls, who we are, these are things that give us strength and solace. Take them away and we become weak and hollow. Has the advancement of technology launched us onto a cross-roads in human evolution?

These questions resonate in our minds long after the movie has finished. They are well served by the soundtrack, an unforgettable mix of haunting drum beats and eerie chants?.in a word?awesome?

Perhaps all this is reading too much into the film, to give it too much credit. Maybe its simply a thriller, an action flick with attitude. Yet, the best of science fiction entices us to think of possibilities, the best and the worse of possibilities. And here, in this feature length animation we do just that.

A must see.

[James]

[color=royalblue]Great review, Mnemolth. :)

I agree completely.

Ghost in the Shell raises a lot of questions...and brings so many aspects of humanity clearly into focus. I haven't seen this movie in a while, but I will always remember it.

It is visually stunning, the directing is superb...and the story is full of interesting parallels. Definitely a must see. :)[/color]

[Semjaza]

Ghost in the Shell was really hard to watch after the manga... It takes more liberties with the storyline and characters that most any other book to film conversion I can think of. Some of the characters barely even looked the same.

The anime can't even begin to compare to the questions and ideas the manga brings up... The only problem is that sometimes you can get totally lost, and have to rely on the footnote section in the back of the book. Masamune Shirow seems to like creating a whole world for his series (government, world layout, everything -- Appleseed was just as complex in this aspect).

Still worth seeing, but I really don't think it was all that special.

[Ryuujin]

I enjoyed Ghost in the Shell. The action was the best part though. Cool techs, and stuff. I haven't seen it in a long time, i should go watch it again. It'd be cool to be invisible. Don't like the draw back though...Lataz

-OD