The Ghost in the Shell Uber Thread

[The Ghost Of Ember]

My experience with GITS is mostly limited to Stand Alone Complex, which I've seen the first season twice now and about half of the second one. I've seen bits and pieces of the original movie, but usually something got in the way of me actually seeing it all the way through. I keep saying I need to rent it and the second one, but well, it never ends up happening.

As far as the series goes though, I've enjoyed it. It's never evoked any level of *Squeee~* fannishness though. One thing I really do like about it is that it examines the technological future it presents with neither a 'Science is Great!' or 'Technology is Evil!' that are the common downfalls of Sci-Fi. Instead it shows both the advantages and problems with a sort of rude indifference. Not inherently good or bad, just there. Which is truer to life, in my opinion.

One thing that does bother me about it is while I like the characters of Motoko, Togusa, and Batou, I sometimes feel that the other members of Section Nine are underdeveloped.

[Galatea]

Any hopes for a third season?

[DOMON KASSHU!]

You know, that's a good question. Ghost in the Shell was an exceedingly popular show, a third season would be quite profitable, I'm sure.
War.

[The Baker St. Irregular]

In the Mitsuhisa Ishikawa (founder of Production I.G.) interview extra on the SSS special edition DVD, he said it depends a lot on how well the American audience receives SSS.

That seems to be the way it is with many animes nowadays. The Japanese parent companies and studios are really beginning to realize how much of an audience there is overseas. Ghost in the Shell, in particular, has enjoyed a soft spot in the hearts of American anime fans ever since the movie came out. It would be great to see  our influence help create more SAC.

[DOMON KASSHU!]

True enough, and if that's the case then I can most certainly see a third season becoming reality.
War.

[Citizen Nine]

Also, I watched Solid State Society recently and I was going to rant about some of the aspects I didn't like about it (technical wise and all, >_>) but I'll do that another time.

I guess I'll do this now;

There was one scene in Solid State where Section 9 (Togusa, Batou, Proto, Boma and Ishikawa) where talking about the kidnapping of children in the first detail of the Puppetmaster case they were working on. Now for example, when they would have two members talking (lets say Ishikawa and Proto here), they would have both members in the frame and they would have one talking, giving intel on what they knew about the case. But then as soon as they were done talking and the other character in the same frame would start talking, the camera would shift slightly up to them. I hated that very much. I didn't even notice it before until I watched the movie again, but that really hurts the cinematography of that scene itself. When the camera moves to the character that is talking, it renders the other completely nullified and it makes or forces the viewer to focus solely on the one talking and not anything else in the frame. That's manipulation and I'm not down with that, something that annoys me very much with 90% of Spielberg's pictures. I know its a lot of influence from Orson Welles, Francis Coppola and Russian filmmakers but just keep the camera still and let the viewer decide themselves what to focus on in the frame.

That was pretty much the biggest offense to me in Solid State Society. Other things were the acting of the characters. One would say something and the other character would just stand there doing nothing with a blank expression on their faces. I know its GITS, but something, anything needs to be done when someone else is talking to you. The other thing is, Togusa and his wife have the worse chemistry I've ever seen in anime (not regarding stuff like Evangelion I guess). Its like he just tolerates her basically and he's so cold to her. It almost reminds me of Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman's relationship in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, except with no flair and no Taylor and Newman period. I think if the daughter wasn't there anyway, I would probably have no idea that Togusa and his wife were married in the least.

That's my rant basically. Even with all this, I still think Solid State is a helluva a movie. There was one scene late in where Section 9 breaks into the faculty where the children are being kept and they are going through all those robots. In that scene, there's one shot where Motoko and Batou are pointing guns at each other after Batou and Tachikoma just went through a steel door and on Motoko's side there's a yellow-greensish palette and on Batou's side its white and the two colors meet in the middle between them. That alone is one of the best shots I've ever seen in any form of motion pictures. Just the use of the colors alone was damn amazing.

Also Mistress if you see this post, do you know the name of the song that was playing in the beginning of the movie where Motoko is listening in to the current situation and she's standing on some tall structure near the waterfront. If so, please tell because I really want that piece.
Peace.

[Galatea]

It's called 'Zero signal' if i find a link to it i'll post it.

[DOMON KASSHU!]

Huh. This Solid State Society movie seems unfamiliar to me, and I thought I'd followed all the GitS stuff. What kind of setting is it? The old movie GitS or SAC GitS?
War.

[The Baker St. Irregular]

Huh. This Solid State Society movie seems unfamiliar to me, and I thought I'd followed all the GitS stuff. What kind of setting is it? The old movie GitS or SAC GitS?
War.

Uhhh... Stand Alone Complex. It takes place two years after 2nd Gig.

[Sharpshooter005]

Oh look, the dub of the first movie is on, and the major's voice is actually..possibly even more distractingly awful than I remember it being the time I rented this

[EyeOfPain]

That's not hard to believe. When I first saw GitS: SAC premiere on [adult swim], Mary McGlynn sounded so wrong as The Major for some reason. Now, it's hard to imagine anyone else playing the role. Not having watched the original Ghost in the Shell probably helps keep me from imagining the old dub voice, though.

[Citizen Nine]

That's not hard to believe. When I first saw GitS: SAC premiere on [adult swim], Mary McGlynn sounded so wrong as The Major for some reason. Now, it's hard to imagine anyone else playing the role. Not having watched the original Ghost in the Shell probably helps keep me from imagining the old dub voice, though.

Um, I liked McGlynn as Motoko right off the bat.

And yes, don't listen to the dub of the first movie. Just... don't.
Peace.

[Sharpshooter005]

Alright having watched the movie a second time, I'm firmly convinced the series and the second movie were better. And I'm not referring to the awful voice as the primary reason or even a large one.

[Galatea]

Aw man, the original GiTs movie really suxs after watching it like 10years later, they should really re-dub it with the current motoko english seiyuu.

[Brooklyn Luckfield]

According too Richard Epcar, the VA for Batou and several other sources have said that the Laughing Man OVA (the first season shorted into OVA form) won't have the Animaze cast but is in fact done by The Ocean Group. This isn't the first time Bandai has done this, Char's Counter Attack had an Animaze dub way back in 99, but then redubbed with ocean.

http://www.crystalacids.com/