Talking About Stuff, with Mike and Christiana

Continuing in my effort to catch up on some of the classics of anime, my next review is for Ghost In the Shell.


I'd actually seen this one years ago, my first exposure to anime beyond a few of the cartoons on Nickelodeon, but at the time, I don't think I was quite ready for it. I found it interesting even then, but it was a little bit overwhelming.

See, it's good anime, and good science-fiction, and good action, but it's not, (and isn't intended to be,) Anime 101.

Seeing it again, especially after coming to love the spin-off TV series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, was even better than I'd expected.

For one, I'm caught up now on some of the science-fictiony content, (cyber-brains, extensive integration with computers, etc) that I was only just being exposed to for the first time when I originally saw it. This is some heady stuff and is not really entry-level. It IS coherent, just complex, and even those who consider themselves well-versed in computers and their place in science fiction will find that they need to pay close attention to the dialogue lest they risk losing all track of what's happening.

Second, I'm a little more sophisticated now, and animation with bloody gunfights, cerebral science fiction and naked breasts doesn't blow my mind the way it did when I was sixteen.

It's not the most emotionally affecting film in the world, being concerned more with ideas and action than character and depth of feeling, but where it really shines is the feeling of authenticity and realism in the application of the science fiction concepts.

That's not to say that the characters are boring, (they aren't,) only that characterization isn't given as much screen time as the action sequences and discussions of technology and conspiracy.

Ghost in the Shell follows an investigation conducted by Security Section 9, a kind of elite ultra high-tech military/police force, which does the sort of jobs that just couldn't get done through normal channels. For example, when a traitor to the country is discovered, it's section 9 that gets called in to take him out before he can irretrievably flee the country with top-secret intelligence under the cloak of diplomatic immunity.

Central to the story is Major Motoko Kusanagi, usually referred to just as "The Major". Many of this future-Japan's citizens have cybernetic prostheses or implants or enhancements, but she has had her entire body replaced by an artificial humanoid body shaped like a beautiful woman, but capable of all sorts of neat tricks like super-strength and invisibility ("Thermoptics"). All these things make her very good at her job, but sometimes, in the quiet moments, she wonders if she really is who she thinks she is. She believes that she is Major Kusanagi, implanted into an artificial body, but how can she know for sure? How can she know that her memories are not simply programming? What if she's really just an artificial intelligence who has been programmed to think she was once human?

So when an investigation into industrial espionage and foreign hackers uncovers a sophisticated artificial intelligence that has apparently become self-aware, The Major is intrigued. She has to know if it is really aware. Is it possible that an entirely artificial being could have a soul? Is there a "Ghost" in the "Shell"?

All of this sets up some sophisticated (and complicated) science fiction that includes conspiracies, black ops, giant robot tanks, half-disassembled cyborgs and a whole lot of gunfire.

The movie is a little short. It only really has two acts, and in some ways, you feel like it ends just as it was really getting started. That's a relatively minor complaint however, and I would recommend this one to anyone who has an interest in science fiction. Have I said it was complex? Here's just a sample of the dialogue:
"It can also be argued that DNA is nothing more than a program designed to preserve itself. Life has become more complex in the overwhelming sea of information. And life, when organized into species, relies upon genes to be its memory system. So, man is an individual only because of his intangible memory... and memory cannot be defined, but it defines mankind."

Imagine 70+ minutes of that kind of dialogue, interrupted rather frequently by gunfights. I like it a lot, but if you don't have much patience for that sort of thing, you'd best look elsewhere.

I should point out here that up until now, I have only seen this film with the English dub. I know a friend who has it on DVD however, so I think I'll plan to borrow it and watch it in the original Japanese, to see if the different translations make any difference.

Typically, when watching a foreign film, I try to watch it in the original language whenever possible. I think that doing so can help to maintain the purity of the original artistic vision to the greatest extent possible. It's surprising sometimes, to watch a movie with the subtitles, and then to watch a dub. Differences in the translation, differences in the voices, differences in emphasis. It can be rather striking.

That said, I often find that, with films I particularly love, (Spirited Away, for example,) I prefer whichever version I see first. Since I saw that film as an English dub before I saw the original Japanese version, I usually watch it that way, since that's how it first captured my heart. Nevertheless, I would urge any of you who are going to watch these films for the first time to give the original language track a try, rather than defaulting to the English dub. For me, it can really add a new subtle layer to the experience.

Note: There is a sequel to this film, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, and a spin-off television series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex, that is currently showing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim Saturday lineup, with repeats on the following Thursday. I haven't seen the sequel film yet, though I plan to soon, but the series is also excellent in much the same way that the film is, though with the blood and nudity toned down just a bit. Still, it's probably the most intelligent science-fiction show I can think of on the air right now. The new Battlestar Galactica maybe being a close second.