Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence Anime Movie Review

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Inosensu
Dreamworks
Movie - 100 minutes - 1 disc
$39.98 (2009) Blu-Ray
$29.98 (2009) w/book
$19.98 (2009)
$26.98 (2005) w/Millennium Actress
$29.99 (2004)
ISBN 678149175721
Japanese Audio - English Subtitles
English Audio (Blu-Ray only)
Director - Mamoru Oshii
Studio - Production I.G/Studio Ghibli

Synopsis: The future of humankind in the year 2032 is the progression of technology and its affect on organic life.  Scientific advances have allowed complete transference of human consciousness into prosthetic, cyborg bodies.  More commonplace is the addition of cybernetic enhancements to natural bodies.  Society has leaped forward with access to boundless information over the net and crime has followed.  Special units have been developed by the governments in an attempt to control the infinitely devious forms of cyber-crime.  Can you hack a person's soul?

Your standard black market sex doll dressed up as a geisha

Public Security Section 9 investigates the most serious cyber-crimes and has access to the most advanced technology.  They were once led by Major Motoko Kusanagi, a full-body cyborg, but she went rogue after merging with a completely artificial intelligence called The Puppet Master.  The rest of the group remains intact and continues to operate.  Batou was the Major's second in command and was very close to her when she disappeared.  He's a stoic tough-guy with a soft side as seen only by his pet basset hound.  Batou continues to search for clues to the Major's activities.

Let's just say you don't want to buy a malfunctioning sex doll

Batou's is now partnered with Togusa, the most human member of Section 9 (least artificial enhancements), who is a family man and was recruited from the police force.  The two investigate a series of gruesome murders perpetrated by life-like sex dolls.  It seems the dolls have malfunctioned and killed their masters.  Now the two Section 9 detectives must unravel the mystery behind the killer dolls.  Is it possible the artificial intelligence programmed into the dolls has gained a life of its own?  Could the Major somehow be behind the evolution of the dolls?  When a faint ghost is discovered in the most recent killer doll's body all bets are off!

Batou and partner Togusa are called in to investigate the grisly murders

Pros: Great animation, exhaustively detailed CG for the time period, lush backgrounds, focuses on Batou who was a favorite of mine from the first film and the manga, more Section 9 characters show up, presents an interesting detective case in the form of the dolls' artificial sentience, a lot for action than the first film, return of the Major (sorta)

The case runs deeper as Batou and Togusa investigate the sex dolls

Cons: Original DVD versions didn't include an English dub, English subtitles include sound effects ("helicopter approaching"), CG effects don't mesh well with regular animation and are too stiff (reminded me of a 3D video game background), Batou is a less compelling main character than the Major from the first film, too many quotes in the dialogue, action for action's sake, indulgent for the director (too much basset hound)

Batou is a complete hardass until he comes home to pamper his basset hound

Mike Tells It Straight: The first Ghost in the Shell was a classic, iconic film which helped define anime for a generation.  Oshii created a cutting edge masterpiece with international appeal and cemented himself as a major director.  The movie was so good it influenced the creators of The Matrix franchise.  Although it deviated from the original manga by a great degree GitS the movie was a standalone experience with its own philosophical and haunting voice.  A sequel was welcome news for fans everywhere and especially with Oshii at the helm again.

These sex dolls bear a striking resemblance to a certain Major

Animation technology had advanced considerably by the time the sequel was in production.  Computer graphics evolved in leaps and bounds with entire backgrounds being rendered digitally.  Even figures could be rendered, but the technology still lacked an organic feel to the human eye.  Oshii went with a combination of the two processes by digitally rendering the backgrounds with seemingly hand-drawn characters.  Western animators would fully embrace the all-digital process (Toy Story, Shrek), but Japanese animators were slower to adopt all digital and make a point to keep character renderings 2D in appearance (which I personally agree).

Batou has a difficult time buying dog food at his usual store

This film is an intense mash-up of incredibly rendered digital backgrounds with traditional ('organic') characters.  The attention to detail is ridiculous and works fairly well until we get to scenes with actual movement (like cars driving down a city street) where the differences become fairly obvious.  The combination works particularly well during the scene where Batou has a shoot out in a convenience store.  The first film was on the cutting edge of animation technology and Oshii continues this trend in the sequel.  Despite the lush backgrounds I felt the CG elements awkwardly interacted with the 2D elements at times and distracted me from the story.  In a few scenes I felt like I was watching a video game with the 2D characters moving through a poorly rendered background.

The CG work in this film is incredible.  This particular parade scene is crazy!

Oshii makes a real case for animation as high level art with this film.  The story is an obvious progression of his viewpoint on society and technology's potential for change, but I felt his execution and particularly the script was a bit too much.  It's a long movie and has quite a few drawn out scenes.  The dialogue was rife with literary quotes which stifled any natural feel to the character interactions.  Try talking in quotes all day and see how long people take you seriously.

Batou and Togusa follow up a lead with an unsavory hacker

With the Major out of the way at the end of the first film, Oshii would shift focus to fan-favorite character Batou and explore deeper into the consequences of limitless advances to technology.  The stage was set for a repeat performance of the first film's success.  Even the composer returned for the sequel.  It was a no brainer, right?

Oshii has mastered the fish eye lens

Batou's personality in the movies is much different than in the manga and Standalone Complex television series where he's a bit of a clown, but Oshii makes him a stoic hardass.  He's just not as compelling or deep of an individual as the Major.  The DVD released by Dreamworks had no English dub which cut it off from a majority of fans of the first film.  Unless you're into foreign films with subtitles then the pre-2009 Innocence releases were not aimed at you.  Thank goodness someone finally added a dub to the Blu-Ray release.

Batou has commando training and he gets to use it!

Dreamworks even pissed off the hardcore anime fans who hate dubs by making the subtitles closed captioned = including sound effects.  My favorite is the very first subtitle in the movie - ("helicopter approaching").  Despite its flaws I thought GitS 2 was a beautifully rendered movie and the story was mildly compelling.  It dragged on forever with those damn quotes, but I got what Oshii was trying to say. Check out this movie if you liked the first film and want to see where Oshii's vision goes.  Definitely get the Blu-Ray version with English dub and crisper visuals.  Standalone Complex is much more interesting and I recommend watching both television series if you haven't already (they were both run on Cartoon Network several times).

Is that the Major?  Is she behind the malfunctioning sex dolls?

TO BUY and Recommendations:

Ghost in the Shell Anime Movie Review

Ghost in the Shell
Gosuto in za Sheru and Kokaku Kidotai
Manga Entertainment
Movie - 82 minutes - 1 disc
$14.98 (2010) 2.0
$19.97 (2009) 2.0 Blu-Ray
$19.97 (2007)
$34.98 (2005) Special Edition
$19.98 (1998)
ISBN 780063552929
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Mamoru Oshii
Studio - Production I.G

Synopsis: Human technology has been steadily advancing to the point where in the year 2029 cyborgs are commonplace and the net is a vast landscape of information.  The line between human and machine continues to blur.  Cyborg enhancements enable great strength, dexterity, information processing, and direct communication through data links (similar to telepathy).  Entirely artificial prosthetic bodies are available with the human's soul residing as a 'ghost' in the machine.  Crime and espionage have reached a new level and governments have set up special groups to deal with the elevated threat.

The Major repels down a building after completing a mission

The Japanese government's Public Security Section 9 is a sanctioned group which deals with the highest level of cyber-crimes.  They use the most advanced technology and their field commander is Major Motoko Kusanagi, a full-body cyborg.  She's an expert at hand-to-hand, urban combat, and tactics.  Her right hand is Batou who possesses enhancements to his eyes and upper torso.  He's a tough customer, but still bows to the Major's authority.  Section 9 is led by Chief Aramaki, a man with intense morals and attachment to his team.

A diplomat's aide gets her cyberbrain hacked and Section 9 is called in

Section 9 investigates a hack into the cyberbrain of an aide to a government official.  Soon they're embroiled in a chase to find the powerful hacker known as the 'Puppet Master'.  This hacker is able to enter the cyberbrains of individuals and make them perform involuntary tasks.  It's called 'ghost-hacking' and one of the frightening drawbacks of cyberization.  When their investigation draws attention from Section 6 it becomes a political power-play to find the Puppet Master.

Batou is the Major's second-in-command and a real hard-ass

Who is the elusive Puppet Master and who is really trying to find him?  Are Sections 6 and 9 being to carry out another government's kill order?  The Major and almost every member of her team have been cyberized - are they easy targets for the Puppet Master?  The intrigue thickens as Section 9 gets closer to finding the answers to these questions.  What is Project 2501?  Where does the line between humanity and machine intelligence begin to lose coherence?

The creation of the Major's cyborg body - here we see the
final formation of the artificial skin

Pros: Visually stunning and CG layering was revolutionary for its time (released in the mid-nineties), haunting soundtrack, compelling story which still resonates today with the nature of computers and humans, great action sequences, amazing technology (thermo-optical camouflage)

The backgrounds in a chase scene literally look like photos

Cons: Very little action and a lot of theorizing about electronic souls, movie does not end with a frenetic crescendo instead more theorizing, absolutely no humor (which deviates from the original manga), dry and existential movie - Oshii's specialty

Who is this mysterious prosthetic body which just walked
off the assembly-line and ran into the streets

Mike Tells It Straight: Ghost in the Shell (aka GitS) can easily be considered one of the top anime films of the 1990s and has been considered the decade's Akira.  It was a revolution in film making with highly detailed backgrounds, advanced use of computer graphics in tandem with traditional animation, and compelling exposition on the nature of humanity/technology.  The film is often considered director Mamoru Oshii's (The Sky Crawlers, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade) masterpiece and has garnered much international attention.  It's originally based on the manga by Masamune Shirow, a prolific artist with many works translated into anime (Appleseed, Dominion Tank Police) although none quite so popular as GitS.

One of the creepier cybernetic enhancements portrayed these
prosthetic hands expands out for lightning fast typing.  I think
this would instantly de-sexy any hot receptionist

In stark contrast to Oshii's film, Shirow's manga includes many humorous moments.  It's intricately detailed and paramilitary focused, but Shirow clearly enjoys contrasting the serious subject matter with comedy.  The character of Batou particularly has an amusing, awkward side in the manga, but is portrayed as a complete hard-ass in the film.  GitS the film spawned (thankfully) several sequels including another film (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence) also by Oshii, two television series (Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex and Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex 2nd Gig), and more recently a prequel OVA series (Ghost in the Shell: Arise).

The Major takes on a Think Tank (multi-legged tanks) by herself

One of the biggest issues with the DVD and Blu-Ray releases of GitS are the various changes with each release.  I sometimes find this maddening (as in the case of Akira on DVD where the dub was replaced from the VHS version) and GitS has not escaped changes over the years.  What is the best version of the Ghost in the Shell movies?  Due to the critical popularity of GitS many fans have cried foul on the various releases.  The original Manga release seems to be fairly decent while the Special Edition gets lambasted for poor transfer quality and different closing song.  The 2.0 versions make many changes such as using amber hues for all of the formerly green CG elements and replacing several scenes with pure CG.

Original version thermo-optical camouflage effect from opening scene

CG enhanced/replaced version - major differences!

These changes were overseen by Oshii to make his first film more consistent with his second film.  The 2.0 release also includes an HD version of the 1.0 film, but surprisingly it's a transfer from the laserdisc.  It's tough to say which is the best version because we always cherish the one we were exposed to first (especially if we actually like the movie).  I suggest picking up the older and newer versions to make your own decision (if you're completely new to the film).  If you've already seen the film then try out the 2.0 Blu-Ray, but hang onto your older versions in case you end up disliking the changes.  You should be able to pick up a current copy for relatively cheap (unless you want the penultimate version = Japanese 1.0 Blu-Ray which is a bit more expensive and includes English dub/sub).

This scene looks much better in Blu-Ray HD

I believe GitS is an iconic film which caught international attention at just the right time to cement itself in anime history.  Despite being an anime classic it's quite dry and relatively straightforward (i.e. explains itself pretty directly through the dialogue of its characters).  It can be hard watching a film that's been built up so heavily by critics yet is almost two decades old and still come away with the intended experience of its director.  Technology has changed, but GitS remains the same.  I was pleasantly surprised to observe the future technology and feel of GitS has held up really well since it's release.  It's easily one of the cornerstones of anime cyberpunk history and worth at least one watch.  I don't really get the urge to re-watch the film aside from wanting to check out new versions (same thing with Akira).  It doesn't stop me from having it in my collection though!  I'm looking forward to checking out the sequel film by Oshii and the two television series.  Stay tuned!

The Major dives into the Jane Doe prosthetic body!

TO BUY and Recommendations:

The Sky Crawlers Anime Movie Review

The Sky Crawlers
Sony Pictures
Movie - 121 mins. - 1 disc
$34.95 (2009) Blu-Ray
$27.96 (2009)
ISBN 043396307520
Japanese/English Audio
English/French/Spanish Subtitles
Director - Mamoru Oshii
Studio - Production I.G

Synopsis: Yuichi Kannami is a fighter pilot reassigned to the base at Area 262 as a replacement for another pilot who died recently.  The plane he is assigned belonged to the deceased pilot, but its in perfect condition. Being curious as to what happened to the pilot he is replacing, Yuichi attempts to discover the pilot's cause of death from the base's commanding officer, Suito Kusanagi.  She appears to be a young woman and coldly brushes off his questions.

Yuichi Kannami arrives at Area 262

Three other pilots are stationed at the base - Aizu Yudagawa, Yuriyuki Shinota, and Naofumi Tokino.  Yuichi attempts to fit in, but only manages to befriend the reckless Naofumi.  The two bond during a trip to the nearby whorehouse where one of the escorts reveals her past relationship with the man Yuichi replaced, Jinro Kuita.  

Suito Kusanagi and Yuichi Kannami

Amidst the endless sorties and downtime ennui, Yuichi grapples with a disturbing mystery as puzzle pieces slowly reveal themselves in a greater picture.  He is one of the Kildren, a group of people who never age and can only die by being killed.  It appears they are exclusively fighter pilots in a neverending aerial war fought by rival corporations.  The young CO, Suito, is also a pilot and Kildren, but she has lived long enough to begin questioning the order of things.  A young girl visits the base - is it Suito's daughter?  Who could the father be?  Why is Yuichi irresistibly drawn to Suito despite her cold demeanor?

Yuichi and Naofumi pilot two push-prop planes on a sortie

The greatest mystery is what happened to Yuichi's predecessor, but will learning the cause of his death result in Yuichi's similar demise?  Something is not right in the war and on the base.  What is the origin of the Kildren and how does their existence fit into the larger whole of society?  The other side's ace pilot, "The Teacher", appears in the combat theater - will Yuichi and the pilots of Area 262 survive long enough to discover the cause for their predetermined existences? 

Yuichi learns about Jinro from a prostitute

Pros: Excellent computer graphics melded with seemingly hand-drawn animation, good soundtrack, suitably vague characterizations, captivating mystery by end of film, lots of extras, hardcore final dogfight, has received a lot of critical praise (won awards at the Venice and Sitges film festivals), the 'ah-ha!' moment when I was reminded of George Orwell's book 1984

Yuichi and crew participate in a massive aerial battle

Cons: Agonizingly slow-paced at times, characters (particularly Yuichi and Suito) have zero personalities, final scene with "The Teacher" was unsatisfying (guess that was the point), Kildren are not really explained until much later in the film, character facial designs are somewhat generic/simple

Yuichi and Suito have dinner and talk about existentialism

Mike Tells It Straight: Based on the first book in the novel series by Hiroshi Mori.  The pace of this film is incredibly slow, but it really works to build up the mystery of the Kildren and Yuichi's personal dilemma.  I liked the synergy between the computer graphics and traditional character animation - the two didn't noticeably clash.  The planes and dogfights were highly detailed CGI (completely obvious and unnatural), and while not perfect by any means they were much better than a score of other anime which attempt to do the same.

Naofumi and Yuichi make plans to hit the town before the big battle

By the end of the movie the great mystery is revealed and it all makes sense - the slow pace, Yuichi's bland personality, and a score of subtle atmospheric hints.  Watching the film I had a great 'ah-ha!' moment when I realized the connection between George Orwell's book 1984 about a totalitarian society where independent thought is a crime, information is suppressed by an all-powerful government (to the extent even history is rewritten constantly to suit the current party objectives), and nations are perpetually at war causing all sorts of food rationing/resource shortages.  Loved that book!

This image (w/fish-eye lens) pretty much sums up the whole film

If you have the patience and are looking for a vague, psychological mystery then The Sky Crawlers is your anime film.  Overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit, but was scratching my head half the time and have to admit it took me three sittings to finish watching it.  

TO BUY and Recommendations: