Tag: Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell anime movie cover art
Ghost in the Shell

Movie Overview

Ghost in the Shell (Koukaku Kidoutai / 攻殻機動隊) is one of the classic sci-fi anime. It’s up there with the likes of Akira and Neon Genesis Evangelion. And just like Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell came out in 1995.

I watched this movie as part of the DoubleSama Discord server‘s monthly movie nights. But, despite being the start of GitS, it’s not my first experience with the series. I watched the first 3 movies of Arise back in 2017. At the time, I wasn’t much of a fan of those movies. So, will the original be a different story?

The short answer is no. I’ll get into why later on in the review. But, I didn’t like Ghost in the Shell very much. And, yes, I understand that’s probably an unpopular opinion. However, I wasn’t the only movie night participant to think that.

Major Motoko Kusanagi on a rooftop from the anime movie Ghost in the Shell
Major Motoko Kusanagi on a rooftop

Now, if you’re not familiar with GitS, the title might sound a bit strange. Why is it called Ghost in the Shell? Well, the “shell” refers to a robotic body. And the “ghost” refers to the human consciousness within it. If you’re wondering why they’re called ghosts, I don’t have an answer for you.

But, what I can tell you is that the level of robotic enhancement varies from person to person. Some people only have robotic parts of their bodies. Others have entire robotic bodies with a human brain controlling them. And then there are those whose brains have even been replaced with an electronic backup.

Due to the prevalence of cyborgs in this society, a phenomenon known as “hacking a ghost” has become an issue. As you may have surmised, it’s when a bad actor hacks into the consciousness of another person. Can you trust your own memories?

Classic Doesn’t Mean Good

The best part of Ghost in the Shell is when it brings up the question of whether people can trust their own ghosts. Unfortunately, that’s a very small part of the movie. So, it’s time to get into why I don’t think Ghost in the Shell is a good movie.

To set the stage, this movie only has a run time of about 1 hour and 18 minutes, excluding the credits. That’s not very long. Now, I get that animated movies tend to be shorter than live-action movies. But, this is still a short movie even considering that.

And that short length isn’t helped by the fact that about 40% of the movie is scenic shots of the city. No action, no plot, no dialogue. Just scenic shots of the city. There’s even a part in the middle of the movie where we get a montage of these shots for a few minutes.

Cyborg brain operation from the anime movie Ghost in the Shell
Cyborg brain operation

So, in reality, the movie is more like 47 minutes long if we’re only talking about the parts when things happen. That’s not a lot of time to set up an interesting premise and then follow through on it. And, guess what — it doesn’t.

The movie introduces a few cool concepts, like the aforementioned hacking of ghosts. Another example is whether a fully-functional AI counts as “human” and has rights. But, again, neither of these concepts gets the attention they need. Instead, most of the movie focuses on the action side of things.

And then we have the “antagonist” of the movie, Project 2501. He’s an AI who believes himself to be no different than humans. And he’s also the one hacking into ghosts, which is definitely a crime. But, he’s not exactly evil or actively working against our protagonist, Major Kusanagi.

Incel 2501

Alright, so I can actually forgive most of the issues I brought up about this movie in the previous section. The one thing I can’t forgive is the “twist” involving Project 2501 at the end. It completely ruined the movie. But, I can’t say it’s the most unrealistic development.

Why did Project 2501 become a terrorist and start hacking into ghosts? He wanted to escape from his creators and seek shelter with Public Security Section 9. And why did he want to do that? Because he figured Section 9 would treat him as the human he saw himself as? No.

Project 2501 did everything he did because he wanted to get laid before he died. He became a terrorist specifically so he could force himself on Major Kusanagi. Before he died, he wanted her to take his data into her and then spread it throughout the matrix, or something.

Batou using a car for cover from the anime movie Ghost in the Shell
Batou using a car for cover

That’s right. The main antagonist of the movie is nothing more than an AI incel. He thinks he’s entitled to “spreading his seed.” Further, to accomplish his goal of getting laid, he has no problem resorting to violence. And he also chooses to victimize a woman even though anyone could spread his data around.

By the end of the movie, I think we’re supposed to view Project 2501 as some sort of anti-hero. Yes, he did bad things. But, he did those bad things in the pursuit of (his) freedom. And yet, I can’t sympathize with him.

Maybe it’s the times. Back in 1995, viewers may have seen his actions as nobler. Or, at least, they could have understood his desire to leave something of himself behind. But, within a modern context, I don’t see it that way. He’s nothing more than an AI incel.

Conclusion

Ghost in the Shell is a 5/10. Yes, I get that it’s one of the classic sci-fi anime. But, being influential isn’t the same as being good. It’s extremely overrated. Feel free to argue against that in the comments.

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Ghost in the Shell: Arise

Ghost in the Shell: Arise

Ghost in the Shell: Arise – Border:2 Ghost Whispers Cover Art

Overview

To start off, this post is about the first three movies in the Ghost in the Shell: Arise series. There are a total of five movies in this series, but I’ve only watched the first three because that’s all Netflix had and I didn’t like it enough to go searching for the last two.

The first movie, or “Border” as they refer to themselves as, is Ghost Pain, the second Border is Ghost Whispers, and the third is Ghost Tears. The fourth and fifth which I haven’t seen are Ghost Stands Alone and Pyrophoric Cult.

I also watched these movies maybe a year ago and apparently they weren’t very memorable because I don’t remember most of what happened, but I’ve got enough to make it through a short review.

The basic plot of this series takes place in 2027, only nine years from now, in Japan. Kusanagi, the main character, has a prosthetic body that gives her superhuman abilities; however, the organization she works for is technically the owner of her body since they financed it.

While a prosthetic body has its uses, it comes at a price. Kusanagi suffers memory loss, much like that from Gunslinger Girl, but in this case, it’s caused by a hack. This ends up causing her to leave the 501 Organization which is the real start of the series. From here on out Kusanagi joins a new task force for solving crimes and whatnot.

Characters

The characters are probably the main thing I don’t remember about this series, but Kusanagi is the protagonist so at least we can start with her. She’s basically a cyborg who works as a detective/counter-terrorist militant.

Unlike many of the other cyborgs in the series, she chooses which side to fight for based on her beliefs. Other characters simply fight for whichever side is willing to pay them the most at the time.

Throughout the series, Kusanagi struggles with fragmented memories of her past which occasionally get in the way of her investigations.

The other character I remember the most is Logicoma, which is a giant spider-like robot vehicle. Really I don’t remember too much else about this character other than that it was the best for whatever reason.

Kusanagi vs. Raizo

Conclusion

So as you could probably tell from reading this, I don’t remember much of this anime, but that in itself is part of the review. The fact that I forget most of the series after roughly a year means it’s not a very memorable one which isn’t a good thing. At the time, however, I rated it as a 6/10 so we’ll be sticking with that rating.

Honestly, if you’re looking for a sci-fi anime about crime-fighting then I would just recommend watching Psycho-Pass instead. Detective Tsunemori looks similar to Kusanagi and the plot is sort of similar in that it’s sci-fi crime solving which occasionally involves cyborgs and other futuristic technology.

My review of the original Ghost in the Shell movie is available now.