Ghost in the Shell

The year is 2029.  In a city where the line between man and machine has blurred more than ever before, the infamous cyber hacker, The Puppet Master, has come to town.  The task of catching him is assigned to Major Motoko Kusinagi and her elite counter cyber terrorism task force Section 9.  Motoko is a pro, an agent who is as beautiful as she is deadly in battle.  But this latest case will push her moral boundaries and make her question her own existence in this ever changing world.  And what happens when she finally comes face to face with this hacker who has come such a long way just to meet her?  It found a voice, now it needs a body.

When I first saw Ghost in the Shell back in the summer of 2004, the same summer the sequel was coming out in Japan, I’ll admit, I was kind of disappointed.  After hearing that this was a film that had such heavy influence on The Matrix, I expected a more run and gun action thriller.  Instead I got a few cool action scenes while being flooded with discussions about man and machine coexistence in an age when it was tough to tell the two apart anymore.  Looking back on then, I was such a brat.  Then again, it wasn’t until I saw Blade Runner a second time that I fully appretiated it’s messages.  As a result of a second screening with a clearer head, Ghost in the Shell went on to become one of my favorite Anime films of all time and introduced me to one of my all time favorite Anime franchises, up there with Dragon Ball Z and Mobile Suit Gundam.

Seeing as how this is a Mamoru Oshii directed film, it should surprise no one that this is a deep and very talkative flick.  When she isn’t in the field, kicking ass and looking good in the process, Motoko Kusinagi is questioning life, the universe and everything.  It’s like she’s going through a teenage existential crisis (I think Batou even mentions she’s acting like an angst filled teenager at one point).  There not bad questions or resulting discussions.  Like Blade Runner it’s the kind of dialogue that makes for awesome scifi storytelling.  This isn’t an action adventure and if youre going into Ghost in the Shell expecting that, like I did on first run through, you’ll be let down.  But, while some conversations tend to go off the rails a bit, especially in the final confrontation between Motoko and the Puppet Master, you’d  be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t try to be involved in the scenes going on.  Theyre surprisingly poignant and thought provoking.

Of course, if the philosophy course bores you, the animation and music will not.  God did Oshii bring his A-Game to this one.  Even for a film made in the mid 90’s, the animation looks more lifelike than Anime, like a next step in the animation style.  The world around Motoko, Batou and the others feels so cold but also so lifelike with all the hustle and bustle of a town market place or flying by a ginormous metal skyscraper.  One of my favorite moments of the movie has no dialogue or action, but it’s just the team all heading towards the same final battle from different directions.  The haunting strings of Kenji Kawaii’s legendary score lends to a sense of contemplation and anticipation you can feel in every character.  It feels like the infamous scene from Miami Vice featuring “In the Air Tonight”.  It is, in my opinion, one of the single best scenes of Anime I have ever seen.  If I were to make a playlist of scenes I love more than others, this one would be on it, a testament to the perfect pairing of animation and music that is Mamoru Oshii and Kenji Kawaii. 

More than two decades after it’s release, Ghost in the Shell continues to rank up there with Akira and Spirited Away as examples of why Anime rocks.  The gorgeous visuals, thought provoking storyline, complex characters and very adult atmosphere further the argument that Anime isn’t just another animation medium meant for kids.  This film, much like Akira, changed how we look at the scifi storytelling medium, a logical next step and in a form few took seriously for a short while.  For all of it’s deep talks about what it means to be human, Ghost in the Shell still rocks and should be recommended to anyone who is a fan of Blade Runner, Cyberpunk or storytelling in general.  For me, the Ghost in the Shell franchise has always been one of Anime’s strongest anchors…and it all started here with this masterpiece of a film.

9.5/10

The only question now is, did the sequel manage to equal, surpass, or fall flat on it’s face compared to this film?  Well you’ll just have to wait til next week when I review Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.  The countdown to the make or break debut of the live action Ghost in the Shell film continues.  And man does it have a lot to live up to with films like these in existence.