Ghost
in the Shell (1995)
Directed
by: Mamoru
Oshii.
Written
by: Kazunori
Itô based on the manga by Masamune Shirow.
I had not seen Ghost in the Shell
since around the time I met my anime loving wife – and tried to impress her
with my knowledge (which was limited then – but has grown since) of the genre
she loved. I remembered liking the film – although for some reason, I hadn’t
revisited it like I have with other anime films (Akira, Grave of the Fireflies,
Paprika, Perfect Blue, all of Miyazaki, etc.) in years – so I was looking
forward to reason to see it again before the live action remake hits theaters
later this month. Watching the film again surprised me – it was slower than I
remembered it being, and even after watching, I’m not sure I could pass a test
on what exactly happened in it. It’s also odd to see it just in the contest of
how far animation has come in the last 22 years – Ghost in the Shell was once
lauded for its visuals, and while there is great stuff here, it’s not all
great. While I mainly enjoyed the return trip to Ghost in the Shell – I was
also at least somewhat disappointed.
The film is set in the future –
some point at which humans and cyborgs live alongside each other mainly in
peace. The protagonist is The Major – a beautiful, strong woman who spends a
lot of time naked for some reason - who is more robot than human. She is a cop,
assigned to investigate one potential criminal – but in the course of that,
stumbles over the Puppet Master – the most dangerous cybercriminal around – a
man who says he once had a body, but was tricked out of it – and no exists in
the electronic universe exclusively – and perhaps wants the Major to join him.
There is a lot – at times
seemingly endless – talk in Ghost in the Shell, about just want it means to be
human, and the line between human and robots – what makes one human, and what
doesn’t. In many ways, its biggest influence is probably Ridley Scott’s Blade
Runner (1982) – which has a lot of talk, and mixes in action alongside it as
well. The dialogue is rather ponderous and philosophical – sometimes reaching
for something profound, sometimes sounding like the rambling of pot addled
university students.
The film was groundbreaking in
many ways on a technological level – using cutting edge animation and sound techniques
– and much of the film does look great. Yet, there is a reason why its
animation style didn’t become the standard going forward either – and you can
see the filmmaker hitting the limited of what they can do at times (there are a
few odd scenes in which it doesn’t look like much of anything is moving- as
long reams of dialogue are read).
Ghost in the Shell was meant to
be a breakthrough when it was released in 1996 in North America – a coming out
party for anime, which wanted to break into the theatrical marketplace, and not
just exist on import VHS tapes. In that, it had mixed success – the film didn’t
gross much when it was released, but more and more anime made its way to North
America – legally (my wife complains that when she first got into anime in the
early to mid-1990s – she had to work to find every book and tape she had – then
they made it too easy). Ghost in the Shell is a good anime film – but it
wouldn’t make my list of the best the genre had to offer – and oddly, it
wouldn’t even be among the first I would show to people who are new to the
genre. The film has its merits, but it’s also a little bit of a confusing mess.
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