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Author Topic: Animation Marathon -- Ghost in the Shell  (Read 2354 times)

crumpet

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Animation Marathon -- Ghost in the Shell
« on: November 30, 2006, 01:25:27 AM »
I admit it -- I'm watching the animation marathon out of order.  I've seen half the films (but will re-watch all of them), and am watching the others as they become available to me.  So on Tuesday night, I was at my local video store and noticed Ghost in the Shell on the shelf, and as it was "Everything for $1" night, I borrowed it.

I didn't really have any expectations for this film -- the only Japanese animations I've seen are Astroboy, Miyazaki's films and Ghost of the Fireflies.  Honestly, I really didn't like it at all.  I found it really cold and uninvolved.  The story was convoluted and I didn't care for any of the characters.  It was only 10:30am when I watched it, and the thing literally put me to sleep.  I managed to stay awake for the whole film, and immediately fell asleep for two and a half hours afterwards.  People also seem to talk about how amazing the actual animation is, but I just didn't see anything that really jumped out at me.  It was all a bit "meh".  I really like Miyazaki's work, so maybe it's an 'anime from manga Vs anime from an original idea' thing (although I love Astroboy, which was originally a manga)?

I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts on this.

MagnusFromBerlin

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Animation Marathon -- Ghost in the Shell
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2006, 11:16:22 AM »
I don't think it has aged well (but I haven't seen it in years)... The Animation was spectacular for it's time, but is nothing special nowadays, the animation in Ghost in A Shell 2 is way better, especially the parade sequence, also the plot is way more convoluted... And yes, Mamoru Oshii's movies are always cold, mostly dealing with cyborgs or machines, human emotions are not high in his priorities, other animes like "Serial Experiments: Lain" are far more success full in these regards ...

crumpet

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Animation Marathon -- Ghost in the Shell
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2006, 05:06:38 PM »
I don't think a film dealing with cyborgs and machines has to be cold though -- look at The Iron Giant and Astroboy for starters.

MagnusFromBerlin

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Animation Marathon -- Ghost in the Shell
« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2006, 04:49:32 AM »
Or "Short Circuit"  :)  ... I do agree, I probably phrased this in a missunderstanding way. What I meant is that Oshii always does it this way, even if he is not dealing with robots (like in Avalon), he is not interrested in human emotion, he's more interrested in the abstract philosophical idea of "thinking" machines, which tends to be cold and to many people quite boring...

CSSCHNEIDER

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Animation Marathon -- Ghost in the Shell
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2006, 07:19:42 AM »
I really hated this film when I first saw it. I was so baffled by its stake of importance I watched it again the following day and still didn't understand or enjoy it.

This nearly put me off Anime altogether, thankfully I perservered and found some other amazing material.
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Iko

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Animation Marathon -- Ghost in the Shell
« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2006, 12:43:26 PM »
Ghost in the Shell was ok, but it isn't a favorite from Masamune Shirow.  I prefer Black Magic M-66, but maybe because I saw that first and I felt it was really "fun".

Has anyone seen Metropolis (by Tezuka, Otomo, and Rintaro)?  The comparison between GitS and Metropolis is interesting one to make.

crumpet

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Animation Marathon -- Ghost in the Shell
« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2006, 05:35:57 PM »
I was returning a book to the library yesterday, and noticed they had Akira on the shelves, so I'll be watching that today -- yay for being able to hire free DVDs from the library!