There isn't much to say but WOW... No, not World of Warcraft, as tempting at that is to review. I'm writing about the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex anime series. Unless you've been hiding in a hole somewhere in the middle east, perhaps eating your own faeces because your too scared that the American military will shoot you, you should at least have an idea about the cult following that Ghost in the Shell has had. The original movie, made in 1995, tells the story of the near future in the year 2029. Technology is firmly embedded into society, cyborgs and prosthetics are now common parts of human existence and robots are as common as humans. Major Motoko Kusanagi and the Public Security Section 9 find themselves in a constant battle with the newly created wave of technological terrorists and cyber-hackers. Sounds uber cool doesn't it? there's also a second movie called innocenceThe series takes places a few years before the first movie. Section 9 is drawn into investigating an incident that occurred 6 years earlier involving a mysterious cyber hacker known as the "laughing man". In typical Anime fashion some of the episodes see section 9 deviating from there main goal, what’s commonly referred to as "filler episodes" none of which are terrible though and all of which generally lean towards the laughing man case anyway.
If I can fault the series there is only a couple of things that got on my nerves. So we'll start with the negatives first. For one, animation isn't nearly up to scratch as the movie, but I can't expect that anyway, the production budget of a 90min movie is usually somewhere around the cost of an entire 26 episode series, but when you first see them all of the characters look "anime-ized", all of which means watered down, less detailed, slightly odd versions of themselves. The GitS:SAC DVD's are all copies made from high def originals, which converts into fantastic visual clarity. You really do notice the difference than that of other anime series. Some of the stories are a little on the forced side, and don't have nearly as much depth or philosophical questioning as I've come to expect from the movies as well, which was kind of disappointing, but mostly is isolated to the first 6 or so episodes and once the series gets a foot hold there's very little to be complaining about.
I noticed while watching the series I was actually looking forward to putting on the next episode, something I haven't had with an anime series in a long time. The series does a good job of allowing the viewer to connect with Motoko, Togesa and Batou. Honestly speaking the rest of section 9, besides the chief, didn't really have much of a role until the last 3 episodes of the series. Still it manages to keep you wanting more, not so much as just to see how things turn out but also to see what they'll get up to next. None of the stories ever touch on being gay, and some of them are down right classic, they can be laugh out loud and thought provoking episodes.It's great to find out what goes on in Motoko's head some of the time. The reason she became full cyborg at such a young age and it even touches on how she became such a wiz with technology, counter hacking and so forth. I often wondered if she could actually feel the G-string that's so obviously jammed up her ass. Batou's story is told on why he's such a hard ass and if I can pick one character that wasn't portrayed correctly it'd be him. He's usually so brooding, it was weird to see him kind of happy in some scenes and socialising with other characters. Togesa has always been a favourite of mine, mainly because he's the family man and has the least cyber parts of any other member of section 9. You get to find out about his family and what makes him tick.
I'll have to mention the Tachikoma's as well. Put mainly in for what I think it's a bit of comedic relief they have got to be one of the best additions to any anime series. Fuck they are so damn funny and lovable. They kind of get shafted later on in the series but they make a triumphant comeback (you just know they will) which brought a tear to my eye. I just hope they make a second appearance in the second season.So what did I think of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex?
I'll give it 95/100. Fucking awesome, it makes me happy in my pants. The best anime series I've seen in a long time. I can't wait to get the second season. A word of the wise to enjoy this series fully; Watch both movies before you start it and be technology savvy. There's ton's of nerd references to computer and next work stuff. You'll get lost if you don't know what the characters are talking about. Oh shit... *creams pants*