Video Backlog: "Ghost in the Shell"

Publisher: Honneamise (Bandai Visual, Japan)
Format: Region 2 DVD and Code Free Blu-ray Box Set, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and Japanese and English Subtitles
Length: 82 mins
Production Date: 1995
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes (Numerous formats just about everywhere)

Story Outline: 2029 AD, Newport City. The world is now connected by a global electronic network and most people cybernised to some degree such as their entire bodies being mechanised. Naturally this leads to crimes being committed. Section 9, a near secret government organisation which deals with cyber terrorism warfare and major crime, are working on a new case involving an elite hacker called the Puppet Master. The Puppet Master hacks into people’s cyber brains and re-writes them to make the victims do his/her bidding. Section 9 manages to thwart one of the Puppet Master’s plots which has him/her hacking the brain of politician’s secretary, but the Puppet Master still remains at large. Major Motoko Kusanagi, the leader of Section 9‘s team, begins to question her own existence as the case drags on. The case becomes stranger when a cyborg body is illegally created at the Megatech company, creator of all Section 9’s prosthetic bodies, and ends up in Section 9‘s hands after it escaped and was hit by a truck. Section 6, an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance unit, comes to claim the body. They claim that they have been chasing the Puppet Master and he has copied his “ghost” into the cyborg’s body.

Mini Review: So, it’s been over a decade since I last saw this film (my guess is 12 years). It’s only now that I’ve decided to buy the DVD. This was due to horrible history and problem this film has had on the format. Bad subtitles (dubtitles), the Japanese language version had the Brian Eno/U2 song tacked onto the end of one DVD version rather than the original choral choir etc. A dog’s breakfast of releases really. However I heard the Japanese Honneamise Blu-ray/DVD combo pack version had proper subs and was rather good, so I decided to buy that, only problem was I only got around to buying it about a year after it was out of print. Regardless, I got a searched around and found an unopened new copy and for almost a third of the original price.

Anyway, let’s talk about the film. 15 years on and what surprises me most is how well the film stands up to today’s anime. Some of the animation looks rather dated, and the cel animation isn’t as bright as today’s computer coloured digital work, but gee, to looks damn good. I don’t know if it was the subs on the disc (different to my old Manga subbed VHS tape), but I really enjoyed the story a lot more this time around. Yes it is an action movie, but it’s also a philosophical one in regards to what is human. Like an extension of “Blade Runner” except maybe more direct and less abstract than that film. The thing which got me in this film however was how bloody good of director Mamoru Oshii is. The ambience and framing of the shots is just about perfect. Though a big part of this is Kenji Kawai’s soundtrack which is perfect.

The original manga by Masamune Shirow was full of tons of little notes explaining in great detail what the hell was going on, especially in the latter stages. I always found it a bit of a chore to read. Oshii seems to have simplified the manga a lot. And although the Oshii trademark of pages of superfluous philosophical moments is there, I don’t think it’s to the point of being overwhelming or self indulgent like a lot of his other films. It fact it seems rather reasonable especially compared to something like “Patlabor 2” (one of my favourite anime films) or the impenetrable borefest that was “Innocence (Ghost in the Shell 2)”. Even his trademark Basset Hound motif seems to blend in nicely. The major problem though is with Motoko, or more accurately the way she is portrayed. I know it was intentional, but there seems to be no humanity in her, unlike the way she is portrayed in “Stand Alone Complex”. Also her nudity (she has to nude up EVERY time she uses the thermo optics camouflage? What the hell...?) and the absurd conclusion to the tank fight scene really spoils the film for me. Regardless the film is mostly an excellent piece of celluloid. 9 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 19 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).