Ghost In The Shell

It was the original manga I was referring to, yes.

I wasn't just referring to stuff like the United States being split into three (although that was part of it), but also a lot of the concepts and terms they throw around like dummy barriers. I can get the general gist of what they are supposed to be most of the time but it can get a bit confusing since the show never dwells too long on any of them.

Apologies for the double post, but I just finished S1 of SAC.

Overall I really liked it. I thought the series was a bit dry at first, almost like watching a documentary in a way, but still intriguing enough to keep watching. I wasn't disappointed.

By far the biggest strength of the show is that it is probably one of the most interesting and thought-provoking anime I've ever seen. Its society, politics, technology, concepts and relationships are all very well-thought out and show a high degree of knowledge in a lot of areas, and it was never at any point boring to see more of it. A lot of people talk about shows that have enough depth that you will pick up something new on every rewatch, but I feel SAC is one of the few where that really is quite true. I am sure being more well-read in robotics, psychology, politics, etc would make a rewatch of this even more rewarding.

...I do however think it might have been better to pace out the episodes a little more. While the Stand Alone episodes are all quite fascinating in their own right, the long lull after the Laughing Man plot starts of something like 8 Stand Alone episodes I feel was more than a little awkward.

I don't necessarily think Yoko Kanno's score for this series is quite up there with the masterpieces that are the Cowboy Bebop and Wolf's Rain scores, but they are still quite above average and do a lot to give the series a strong audiovisual identity.

Finally, while the series can't exactly be said to place too much emphasis on its characters, I was caught off guard at how I slowly grew attached to the members of Section 9, especially Batou, Togusa, Aramaki and the Tachikomas as the series slowly fleshed them out and made me care about them a lot more than I was expecting. Their reunion at the end of the show was surprisingly emotional and really left me with a very satisfied feeling after what appeared to be a very dour ending at first.

I hear 2nd Gig is even better so I am highly looking forward to it.

edited 10th Apr '17 10:05:04 PM by Draghinazzo

2nd Gig is different but slightly better-definitely a more even tone in terms of season continuity. Also has some spotlight episodes-you get to learn more about Paz and Saito, since they were mostly in the background for season 1. Saito's story is probably my single favorite episode of the series-be sure not to spoil yourself, it is worth to watch it fresh.

2nd Gig is easily my favorite installment in the franchise. Yeah, almost every episode ties into the main plot, and those that don't are used to develop some of Section 9's members and/or to give another look at the world and society given.

And given recent events, 2nd Gig - much like MGS 2 (though for different reasons) - has only become even more relevant to the modern world.

edited 11th Apr '17 11:36:07 AM by TheAirman

Something I've noticed as I went through SAC: Any reason why there are different rifles used by any Japanese service branch? To elaborate, Section 4's Rangers and Section 9 have the Seburo bullpup rifles, and the JGSDF have the Type 89 + M16 in Second Gig episodes 4, 6-7 and the modified Type 89-F in Second Gig episode 25.

Bureaucracy would be my guess.

Part of that reason is that Sections 4/9 are treated as elite units.

Another thing I've noticed with Second Gig was that bit about the Individual Eleven. How exactly can the in-universe essay that became the namesake of the terror group that killed themselves not exist if it was publicly credited to Patrick Sylvestre?

edited 6th Jun '17 4:47:00 AM by HallowHawk

This is probably old news, but Anchor Bay's Blu-Ray release of this series has serious issues but i can't find anything about it on its trope pages or Digital Destruction, Bad Export for You, etc. yet. (I found out about it only because they did similar things to the latest Yu-Gi-Oh movie, which people compared to this release.)

And they're not recalling them either.

edited 28th Jun '17 1:15:01 AM by lalalei2001

New Ghost in the Shell Anime Will Have 2 Seasons

One directed by SAC director and the other by Appleseed director. Haven’t seen Appleseed so can’t speak to his work, but well.

Kamiyama coming back has me over the moon!

Oh yeah.

Bit of an update, but I heard some chatter that it’ll likely premiere after Ultraman is out on Netflix by next year.

Recently watched all of Stand Alone Complex for the first time. Including Solid State Society. I've gotta say, considering current events this is one of the most relevant shows I've ever seen.

Aaaaand we have a title.

Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045

Judging from the title, it sounds like this is going to be a continuation of Stand Alone Complex, 15 years down the line.

ANN reports that what was originally going to be 2 12-episode seasons of a new anime will now be a full-length 3DCG film.

GITS lore across the numerous iterations never goes beyond 2032 in the timeline(s), Going 13 years into the future is something that the series has no precedent. Whatever storyline and content the two directors come up with, will be almost guaranteed to be completely original.

Actually that article says its unclear if its a series or film, they're trying to get confirmation

Eeeeeeeeeh, not sure how I feel about this being 3DCG

It depends. Saint Seiya Legend of Sanctuary and the Captain Harlock film had really, really good CG so if this movie has comparable CG then I have no complaints.

Production I.G. specializes in computer graphic visual and animation techniques. Shinji Aramaki, who had directed all the Appleseed movies and the Appleseed XIII anime, has shown that his 3D animation artstyle is solid. Appleseed Alpha actually used motion capture technology to map out the character animations just like most video games these days do.

We're basically combining the masterful 3DCG direction of Shinji Aramaki with the masterful story and worldbuilding of Kenji Kamiyama.

Edited by DRCEQ on Dec 7th 2018 at 9:41:26 AM

Found out about this just now. Wasn't expecting it to be a return to the Stand Alone Complex continuity, and it's set after 2nd GIG which means it's entering uncharted territory (and I might have to play catch up on SAC). It pains me having to wait until 2020 since I'm already waiting for the second season of an animated show I really like coming then. That said, 2018 is almost over, so we'd only have to wait roughly a year instead of two. And a year can go by really fast.

Incidentally, how often does the Major smile in promotional material? Because she's looking really good doing it here.

It's been confirmed that it's a series. Apparently the reports of it being a movie was someone at Netflix being confused

^^ The fact that it's not called "Stand Alone Complex 2045" makes me wonder if it really will be part of that continuity.

^ Did Netflix send a follow-up tweet clarifying the confusion? Because right now I think everyone is.

Edited by DRCEQ on Dec 7th 2018 at 10:11:44 AM

Anime News Network contacted a Netflix rep for clarification, according to an updated article.

No doubt the pages need to be updated. Should we put the new info in the SAC page and divide the tropes according to show (SAC, 2nd GIG, 2045)?

And meanwhile, Mary is pleased by the announcement.

https://mobile.twitter.com/MaryEMcGlynn/status/1071233852851404800

Edited by Ominae on Dec 8th 2018 at 4:35:42 AM

I do think that, despite the name, we should hesitate on filing it with the rest of Stand Alone Complex until we have hard confirmation that its the same continuity.

Although if we assume 2045 is a third season, its interesting to note that just as the in-universe year is 15 years after the beginning of SAC, the release year 2020 is 15 years after 2nd Gig finished airing.

One thing I always liked about this series is how Motoko, despite a badass in combat, is actually a major sweetheart to her friends. I still remember how she teased that young boy in the first season of SAC as a mild nod to her more sexual incarnation from the original manga.

It was surprisingly wholesome and tasteful, even if it come across as MILF on Shota ecchi pandering to some.