Flag
(13 episode series)
While short, this was an effective, fairly good series. The vast majority takes place in a fictitious country of Uddiyana in Central Asia, which is in the midst of a civil war between the two major religions of this country. The United Nations has been called in to help, with its fictitious UNF military force securing and bringing order to the country's capital city. At the time of their arrival, some of the locals made a makeshift flag from a UN flag that became a symbol for peace after a young Japanese photojournalist named Saeko Shirasu snapped an iconic picture of it. The UN is supposed to be setting up some kind of a peace treaty that will bring a permanent cease fire to the country between the warring sides. As one might expect, holding this flag up as a symbol made it a target and it was stolen. A special military unit, the SDC, has been put together to recover the flag, with Saeko going along as an embedded journalist.
This is a fairly typical "documentary" style series, except of course for the fact that it's an anime. It's a somewhat different way of telling a story, as everything is supposed to be from cameras which were on the scene recording everything that's been happening. There's also some heavy hinting that the narrator and character Keiichi Akagi, another photojournalist, is going over all of the raw footage and editing it for us, which is also we see his part of the story. I have to admit that the attention to detail is pretty impressive, and I both liked and disliked this unique storytelling technique. The reason I disliked it at times was that it could get a little obnoxious at times. Since doing it in a completely realistic way would really restrict what could be seen and heard, there tended to be a lot of shots taken that realistically wouldn't have been. That and all the camera guides and indicators superimposed over the image could get a bit annoying at times.
As for the story itself, we get to see everything that's done to recover this stolen flag. It soon becomes apparent that there are some sinister dealings going on behind the scenes, as the terrorists end up packing some pretty serious hardware that normal terrorists wouldn't have access to, like say attack helicopters. The UNF is also made to look pretty shady, which is a little different since anime tends to practically glorify the UN. It brings into light the frankly quite corrupt way the UN tends to do things, and how ineffective they can be. For instance, when their headquarters in the capitol city is taken over an occupied, none of the numerous remaining UNF forces want to do anything. And then there's the way the upper echelon is more interested in saving face then in actually accomplishing the mission. So when a mission they planned to recover this flag goes wrong, they try to make a scapegoat out of one of the SDC pilots involved in the operation rather than accept responsibility for themselves. Then there's how the morning pres briefings try to tell one story when the journalists were are following know that the opposite is true. Of course there also tends to be something of an anti-military tone to all of this, and I can't help but think that the people who made this had a somewhat unrealistic expectation out of the UNF's military strikes. With all the complaining about collateral damage and demonizing of the UNF for it, one wonders what short of just not being there is expected. After all, if they did leave, the country erupts into civil war again and the UNF would be blamed for leaving. Of course this is also somewhat realistic as a reflection of the real world where the impossible is expected of the participants in any military conflict.
Most of the time, though, we follow Saeko as she hangs around with the team tasked with finding and retaking the flag in time for the all-important peace treaty signing, and the personnel she documents are very sympathetic. While somewhat stereotypical, especially the Japanese pilot, they were for the most part very human and it was easy to like them. None of them was really singled out much as comedy relief, though the mechanic could at times be a comedic foil to Saeko since he often took pictures of her at awkward moments as a kind of karmatic way to get back at her for always taking pictures of them. It was also nice to see a female commander who was strong-willed, competent, cared about her people as much as her mission, and who wasn't ever put on the spot in any way because of her gender, unlike say Argento Soma.
Keiichi Akagi is also very easy to like, though he isn't seen a whole lot in the series until closer to the end. He actually comes off as somewhat stereotypically the dashing adventurer type, especially the few times we get to see him on screen – he very much looks the part. The other free-lance journalists he hangs out with seem oddly cooperative with each other considering the competitive field they are in. Mostly his part of the story is there to glorify photojournalism. To be fair some of the things they accomplish can be pretty cool, but this tends to really glorify them while tending to skim over their less admirable traits. His part of the story is also where some of the hammiest scenes come from, in particular one of the scenes where he is initially trying to reach Saeko during a battle both of them are documenting. At one point he stops trying to reach her and instead shouts all kinds of hammy encouragements at her to keep taking pictures, completely reversing his earlier shouts of how stupid she was to risk everything like that. I think that scene would have actually been way more effective had he not said anything, but that's me.
And now comes the part I've been purposely putting off until the end – the mechas. As the other "with a difference" aspect of this series, what is otherwise a show about war journalism apparently felt the need to add, "but with mechas" to its pitch/description. While not done in an overly obnoxious way, I still can't help but think it's a bit silly that they felt the need to make this yet another mecha anime. God knows how many of them I've watched up to this point. In my opinion that aspect of it brings this series down a little bit, especially since these mechas, called HAVWKs (or "havocs" phonetically) are depicted as basically being super-weapons. It's true that at least one of them is destroyed and that they tend not to come out of fights entirely unscathed, the amount of punishment they can take and their capabilities can at times come off as pretty ridiculous. I think it could have been a pretty good show without the mecha, but in some ways that’s what makes the story somewhat unique. It really helps, though, that the focus is on the characters and not the mechas.
The series does have something of a downer ending, though. It isn't really unexpected considering the extremely heavy foreshadowing given by the narrator. While a little anticlimactic, I can't help but note that real life just tends to be that way sometimes, and this series has made a point of trying to make this show as realistic as possible given the subject matter. It may not be the best thing ever, but it's still a good series and I'd recommend it. I'm thinking that I'll actually add it to my over-all recommends list. 8/10.
CX anime reviews
Moderators: justTripn, Elessar, dark_rain
Re: CX anime reviews
Ga-Rei: Zero
(12 episode series)
This was an okay-ish series. If I had to describe it, it's kind of like Ghostbusters, but with a Japanese twist. It's actually pretty much what you would expect from an action anime, and they even have it revolve around a couple of school-girls just for fun and fan service. So it isn't really bad, but it doesn't do a whole lot to impress me either. Then there's also the fact that this is apparently a prequel story to a manga rather than an adaptation or a story which would otherwise stand on its own. The frustrating part about that is that the anime then makes the assumption that you know who people are and what's going on. Since I didn't, the first episode almost turned me off entirely.
This series really got off to a bad start with me, because it did two things that really annoy me. The first thing it did was to start off at what is basically the end of the story, and this is made all the more clumsy by the fact that this flash-forward isn't even entirely contained in one episode. The other thing it did, which actually was a lot worse in my opinion, was to kick everything off with a set of characters in order to fake those of us who haven't read the manga into believing these are the main characters. While their introductions are rushed in order to keep up the absurd pacing a lot of action anime like this tends to take, everything still seemed to be revolving around this group of characters. And then they all die at the end of the first episode.
The second episode continues on from this point, introducing us to the real main characters of the story while still showing us about the 3/4 point of the story. Meanwhile, I still had no idea what was going on, and while it was apparent that the main characters knew who the big bad with the sword and the giant lion monster was, I still had no freakin' clue. If not for the fact that this series was only 12 episodes long, I honestly probably would have given up at this point, but I decided to give it another episode before I passed judgment. Fortunately, the story goes back to the beginning of itself and properly introduces us to the characters and the setting.
Basically, the world is under threat from paranormal threats that range from headcrab zombies (not kidding), to ghosts, to ghost monsters, to seemingly demon possessed humans who can transform into blue butterflies. There is apparently a rich history of exorcist families fighting these things, and they still do it in modern times, though there are also two secretive government-based organizations which are competing with each other to do the same. One is military based and relies on technology, while the other is civilian based and uses people from these old exorcist families who can actually see the supernatural beasties. The really fun part is how despite all the massive damage occurring to the city and all the people who end up victims, everything is supposedly kept secret. Now, I could rant about how this doesn't make any sense, and how both "secret" organizations seem to do everything they can to not go unnoticed, but whatever.
Why did I want to watch this again?
[url=http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/captainexcabier/funny/Anime/Ga-Rei2.jpg]
Oh yeah, lesbians (supposedly).[/url]
The two main characters are both school girls, though Yomi Isayama is older than Kagura Tsuchimiya, the real protagonist of the series. Yomi has lost both of her parents, but was adopted by the head of another exorcist family and has become his heir apparent. The actual story starts with Kagura's mother having died in action during a demon attack. Since Kagura's father is super into his exorcist job, he decides he can't be arsed to raise his own daughter and instead asks Yomi's adoptive father to do it for him, who in turn asks Yomi to look after her. This proves difficult as right away, Yomi is repeatedly called away by the secretive civilian organization I mentioned earlier to fight the supernatural with her sword and magic lion beast who lives in the sword's scabbard. Since Kagura is kind of hurt by being repeatedly left to fend for herself by the otherwise kind Yomi, Yomi brings her with on one of the jobs. She gets chewed out for doing so, but not long afterwards Kagura becomes part of the team anyway. The two become very closely bonded and really it's more of a sisterly thing, but that doesn't stop the series from teasing us with some lesbian fan service. It actually might've been more interesting if they'd really been lovers, but that would have given it something of an incestuous overtone unless they'd had a different backstory. Of course they were both still in school and therefore jailbait anyway, so if you liked the fan service from them you should feel bad (I mostly do). Damn it, Japan! Give me some grown-up lesbians to drool over!
Anyway, something good the story does is to carefully set up the characters relationships with each other, so we actually kind of feel something when a lot of them wind up dead. We're introduced to a number of them, and there's even some humor to be had from some of their antics. Like the guy who makes their weapons going around in nothing but a loincloth, and his introduction being that he gets sprayed in the face by Kagura because she thinks he's some pervert who's snuck into the place. I wasn't really taken in all that much, but it was still fairly good. It also helped to understand Yomi's eventual betrayal that we already saw before being properly introduced to her to even know she had become a turncoat. The drama resulting from that kind of even works a little, though a lot of it is lost in the hyper action of the series. Still, the fact that Yomi kills basically all of her friends, coworkers, and even Kagura's doche father and still comes off as somewhat sympathetic is something.
This isn't what I'd consider a favorite by far, but this series does have some good-ish qualities to it once the major hurdles it trips the audience up with in the beginning are past. If you like hack n' slash action with secretive organizations fighting for the good of humanity, this would probably be worth seeing. Other than that, all I can really say is that while interesting at times, I did have some trouble getting into it. 6/10.
(12 episode series)
This was an okay-ish series. If I had to describe it, it's kind of like Ghostbusters, but with a Japanese twist. It's actually pretty much what you would expect from an action anime, and they even have it revolve around a couple of school-girls just for fun and fan service. So it isn't really bad, but it doesn't do a whole lot to impress me either. Then there's also the fact that this is apparently a prequel story to a manga rather than an adaptation or a story which would otherwise stand on its own. The frustrating part about that is that the anime then makes the assumption that you know who people are and what's going on. Since I didn't, the first episode almost turned me off entirely.
This series really got off to a bad start with me, because it did two things that really annoy me. The first thing it did was to start off at what is basically the end of the story, and this is made all the more clumsy by the fact that this flash-forward isn't even entirely contained in one episode. The other thing it did, which actually was a lot worse in my opinion, was to kick everything off with a set of characters in order to fake those of us who haven't read the manga into believing these are the main characters. While their introductions are rushed in order to keep up the absurd pacing a lot of action anime like this tends to take, everything still seemed to be revolving around this group of characters. And then they all die at the end of the first episode.
The second episode continues on from this point, introducing us to the real main characters of the story while still showing us about the 3/4 point of the story. Meanwhile, I still had no idea what was going on, and while it was apparent that the main characters knew who the big bad with the sword and the giant lion monster was, I still had no freakin' clue. If not for the fact that this series was only 12 episodes long, I honestly probably would have given up at this point, but I decided to give it another episode before I passed judgment. Fortunately, the story goes back to the beginning of itself and properly introduces us to the characters and the setting.
Basically, the world is under threat from paranormal threats that range from headcrab zombies (not kidding), to ghosts, to ghost monsters, to seemingly demon possessed humans who can transform into blue butterflies. There is apparently a rich history of exorcist families fighting these things, and they still do it in modern times, though there are also two secretive government-based organizations which are competing with each other to do the same. One is military based and relies on technology, while the other is civilian based and uses people from these old exorcist families who can actually see the supernatural beasties. The really fun part is how despite all the massive damage occurring to the city and all the people who end up victims, everything is supposedly kept secret. Now, I could rant about how this doesn't make any sense, and how both "secret" organizations seem to do everything they can to not go unnoticed, but whatever.
Why did I want to watch this again?
[url=http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/captainexcabier/funny/Anime/Ga-Rei2.jpg]
Oh yeah, lesbians (supposedly).[/url]
The two main characters are both school girls, though Yomi Isayama is older than Kagura Tsuchimiya, the real protagonist of the series. Yomi has lost both of her parents, but was adopted by the head of another exorcist family and has become his heir apparent. The actual story starts with Kagura's mother having died in action during a demon attack. Since Kagura's father is super into his exorcist job, he decides he can't be arsed to raise his own daughter and instead asks Yomi's adoptive father to do it for him, who in turn asks Yomi to look after her. This proves difficult as right away, Yomi is repeatedly called away by the secretive civilian organization I mentioned earlier to fight the supernatural with her sword and magic lion beast who lives in the sword's scabbard. Since Kagura is kind of hurt by being repeatedly left to fend for herself by the otherwise kind Yomi, Yomi brings her with on one of the jobs. She gets chewed out for doing so, but not long afterwards Kagura becomes part of the team anyway. The two become very closely bonded and really it's more of a sisterly thing, but that doesn't stop the series from teasing us with some lesbian fan service. It actually might've been more interesting if they'd really been lovers, but that would have given it something of an incestuous overtone unless they'd had a different backstory. Of course they were both still in school and therefore jailbait anyway, so if you liked the fan service from them you should feel bad (I mostly do). Damn it, Japan! Give me some grown-up lesbians to drool over!
Anyway, something good the story does is to carefully set up the characters relationships with each other, so we actually kind of feel something when a lot of them wind up dead. We're introduced to a number of them, and there's even some humor to be had from some of their antics. Like the guy who makes their weapons going around in nothing but a loincloth, and his introduction being that he gets sprayed in the face by Kagura because she thinks he's some pervert who's snuck into the place. I wasn't really taken in all that much, but it was still fairly good. It also helped to understand Yomi's eventual betrayal that we already saw before being properly introduced to her to even know she had become a turncoat. The drama resulting from that kind of even works a little, though a lot of it is lost in the hyper action of the series. Still, the fact that Yomi kills basically all of her friends, coworkers, and even Kagura's doche father and still comes off as somewhat sympathetic is something.
This isn't what I'd consider a favorite by far, but this series does have some good-ish qualities to it once the major hurdles it trips the audience up with in the beginning are past. If you like hack n' slash action with secretive organizations fighting for the good of humanity, this would probably be worth seeing. Other than that, all I can really say is that while interesting at times, I did have some trouble getting into it. 6/10.
Last edited by CX on Wed Jun 29, 2011 5:20 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Re: CX anime reviews
Gall Force
(4 films and 5 episodes of OVA)
I'm combining everything that made up the "canon" Gall Force series into one review, because frankly, it's going to be a short enough review as it is. The thing is, everything about this series can be summed up as one part space opera and one part fan service. The entire franchise revolves around the same seven female characters, and let's just say that the action tends to be broken up by frequent shower breaks, and that one character in particular tends to wander around naked or at least mostly naked on at least two occasions. Actually, the first three movies are all about a war between a really weird alien that is actually some kind of living goo, and its mutually destructive war with a human-like species that happens to be made up entirely of women. Its hinted that they use artificial means of reproduction in case you were wondering, but for the most part this is just an excuse for fan service and to play up the cutesy "moe" aspect as much as possible. The fun part is when they all have dreams about a male version of one of themselves and act all embarrassed to wake up hugging and nearly making out with each other. After all, with no males and all...
The point of the first three movies, in between mood swings of killing people in horrible ways and trying to make us laugh, is to establish that humans are the product of a genetically engineered union between this race of women and the goo monsters. They do this by having one of the goo monsters rape two of the women. One dies and the other gets preggers. Conveniently they are able to just beam the embryo out and it rapidly grows up into an adult male version of the chick that was knocked up. One of the moe characters escapes to the eventually to be Earth with the dude in order to be Adam and Eve while everyone else dies. The war kills everyone and humanity is supposed to be like the future legacy of the two alien races. Part of this includes leaving a computer record of all their technology for when humans are finally advanced enough for space travel.
Then, much like Battlestar Galactica, all of what happened before happened again, only now the unwinnable war was between humans and their machine creations, which just happened to resemble the goo aliens when they were wearing their mecha suits. There is much proselytizing about how there should be a way for humans and the machines to peacefully co-exist, but the machines (led ironically by a computer called "Gorn") seems pretty intent on killing all humans no matter what, so suggesting to the humans to seek a peaceful solution is just as pointless as begging both sides in the first three movies to stop fighting each other. Naturally the war ends, with the reincarnations of the seven main characters showing up again to win the war.
Then it happens all over again in the last two OVA episodes. Gorn and the seven main characters are once again reincarnated out of nothing and Gorn does a pretty good job of killing all humans, who have once again decided to trust computers a lot more than they should have if they'd been genre-savvy. Basically the who point is to have the main characters on the run once more, constantly under attack. Then the OVA just ends, with them managing to escape but to an unknown fate. Obviously whoever worked on this franchise meant for it to continue in some way, but it looks like it never did, seeing as it was made in the late '80s and the only other things to be done with it were a reboot and some video games.
Probably the most fun to be had out of all these movies and OVAs involves the many shower breaks the female characters take. Even in post-apocalyptic Earth during the war with the machines appears to have a plentiful supply of showers in its ruins, specifically so the women can take shower breaks. So basically this is all just a cheesy space opera with plenty of fan service, which means that it's only worth it to watch if you can have fun with that. 1/10.
(4 films and 5 episodes of OVA)
I'm combining everything that made up the "canon" Gall Force series into one review, because frankly, it's going to be a short enough review as it is. The thing is, everything about this series can be summed up as one part space opera and one part fan service. The entire franchise revolves around the same seven female characters, and let's just say that the action tends to be broken up by frequent shower breaks, and that one character in particular tends to wander around naked or at least mostly naked on at least two occasions. Actually, the first three movies are all about a war between a really weird alien that is actually some kind of living goo, and its mutually destructive war with a human-like species that happens to be made up entirely of women. Its hinted that they use artificial means of reproduction in case you were wondering, but for the most part this is just an excuse for fan service and to play up the cutesy "moe" aspect as much as possible. The fun part is when they all have dreams about a male version of one of themselves and act all embarrassed to wake up hugging and nearly making out with each other. After all, with no males and all...
The point of the first three movies, in between mood swings of killing people in horrible ways and trying to make us laugh, is to establish that humans are the product of a genetically engineered union between this race of women and the goo monsters. They do this by having one of the goo monsters rape two of the women. One dies and the other gets preggers. Conveniently they are able to just beam the embryo out and it rapidly grows up into an adult male version of the chick that was knocked up. One of the moe characters escapes to the eventually to be Earth with the dude in order to be Adam and Eve while everyone else dies. The war kills everyone and humanity is supposed to be like the future legacy of the two alien races. Part of this includes leaving a computer record of all their technology for when humans are finally advanced enough for space travel.
Then, much like Battlestar Galactica, all of what happened before happened again, only now the unwinnable war was between humans and their machine creations, which just happened to resemble the goo aliens when they were wearing their mecha suits. There is much proselytizing about how there should be a way for humans and the machines to peacefully co-exist, but the machines (led ironically by a computer called "Gorn") seems pretty intent on killing all humans no matter what, so suggesting to the humans to seek a peaceful solution is just as pointless as begging both sides in the first three movies to stop fighting each other. Naturally the war ends, with the reincarnations of the seven main characters showing up again to win the war.
Then it happens all over again in the last two OVA episodes. Gorn and the seven main characters are once again reincarnated out of nothing and Gorn does a pretty good job of killing all humans, who have once again decided to trust computers a lot more than they should have if they'd been genre-savvy. Basically the who point is to have the main characters on the run once more, constantly under attack. Then the OVA just ends, with them managing to escape but to an unknown fate. Obviously whoever worked on this franchise meant for it to continue in some way, but it looks like it never did, seeing as it was made in the late '80s and the only other things to be done with it were a reboot and some video games.
Probably the most fun to be had out of all these movies and OVAs involves the many shower breaks the female characters take. Even in post-apocalyptic Earth during the war with the machines appears to have a plentiful supply of showers in its ruins, specifically so the women can take shower breaks. So basically this is all just a cheesy space opera with plenty of fan service, which means that it's only worth it to watch if you can have fun with that. 1/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Just a question because I'd really like to know: do either of the following images offend anyone here?
ADMINISTRATOR (justTripn): Yes. I am also offended that you are not heeding the guidelines of other administrators. This is an actionable offense.
Here is what we are going to do: Please tell me right now and here (below this post) that you can accept the guidelines posted at this site AND the specific instructions of administrators as they interpret those guidelines.
Re: CX anime reviews
ADMINISTRATOR (justTripn): Yes. I am also offended that you are not heeding the guidelines of other administrators. This is an actionable offense.
Here is what we are going to do: Please tell me right now and here (below this post) that you can accept the guidelines posted at this site AND the specific instructions of administrators as they interpret those guidelines.
Then I'm done posting these here. I already post these at many other boards and this is the only one I've had any issues with my images, which I know are tame enough to air on any network channel. This on a site that hosts fan fic that's much racier, and which is dedicated to a show that could get pretty racy itself.
While I kinda wanted to share these with some of the posters here because I thought they might be interested, and because I just thought it'd be nice to share, if it's going to be an issue, frak it. I don't want to have to worry about some random image I post as part of one of my reviews offending someone's delicate sensibilities, sorry.
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Distracted
- Site Donor
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Re: CX anime reviews
CX, although it's your right to pick up your toys and go home, I'd like to point out that because anime has a significant pre-teen audience, this particular thread might be of interest to pre-teens. Not only that, but the board is PG territory. Always has been. I have no control over what the "networks" will put on TV, but you certainly won't see nudity of any sort on the Disney channel or Nickelodeon.
I enjoy reading your reviews. Please don't deprive us of them just because you and I occasionally disagree about what is appropriate and what is not. This is an issue of respect. As a poster here, you need to respect my decisions. Please tell me that you'll do so, and I promise that I will continue to let you know in a respectful manner when a post needs editing. Now that you know that my goal is staying PG, I'm hoping that it won't happen very often.
I enjoy reading your reviews. Please don't deprive us of them just because you and I occasionally disagree about what is appropriate and what is not. This is an issue of respect. As a poster here, you need to respect my decisions. Please tell me that you'll do so, and I promise that I will continue to let you know in a respectful manner when a post needs editing. Now that you know that my goal is staying PG, I'm hoping that it won't happen very often.
sig by chrisis1033Re: CX anime reviews
Distracted wrote:I'd like to point out that because anime has a significant pre-teen audience, this particular thread might be of interest to pre-teens.
There's your problem right there. The majority of the stuff I watch is not for pre-teens, at least not on this side of the Pacific.
Not only that, but the board is PG territory. Always has been. I have no control over what the "networks" will put on TV, but you certainly won't see nudity of any sort on the Disney channel or Nickelodeon.
I enjoy reading your reviews. Please don't deprive us of them just because you and I occasionally disagree about what is appropriate and what is not. This is an issue of respect. As a poster here, you need to respect my decisions. Please tell me that you'll do so, and I promise that I will continue to let you know in a respectful manner when a post needs editing. Now that you know that my goal is staying PG, I'm hoping that it won't happen very often.
I respect that it's not my board and that you're an admin. That's why I didn't make a fuss the last time even though I thought it was pretty silly that time, too. And while demanding I remove something from one of my reviews in private is more respectful to me as a veteran member than doing it in public, I still feel somewhat slighted, because like I said, this is the only board where this has been an issue. But just to be sure I thought I'd actually see if there was an issue here with more than one person, which is why I asked and posted links.
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Distracted
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Re: CX anime reviews
CX wrote:I respect that it's not my board and that you're an admin.
Thank you.
I'm sorry you felt slighted.
My standards apply to everyone. I promise that I'm not singling you out. I understand now why you reposted the links, but when you did that I felt slighted as well. I felt like you were trying to circumvent my authority, and that concerned me. If moderators aren't respected then we can't do our jobs.
I hope this issue is settled now. I appreciate your contributions to this site. Thank you for your understanding.
Okay, everybody. The disagreement's over. Back to anime reviews (I hope).
sig by chrisis1033Re: CX anime reviews
Tell you what; I'll make a deal with you. If you ask me to take down an image, I'll totally do that, but I'd want to replace that image with this one:
Deal?
Deal?
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Distracted
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Re: CX anime reviews
LOL. I think I might have an outfit just like that in my closet somewhere. 
sig by chrisis1033Re: CX anime reviews
Gantz
(26 episode series)
This is honestly one of the worst series I've actually bothered to muddy my way all the way through. Basically it's just otaku porn – filled to the brim with the kind of crap that the stereotypical otaku fanboy is supposed to just love the hell out of. On top of that, the series takes every possible opportunity to hit its audience over the head with as much clichéd bullshit as possible when it comes to denouncing how horrible society has become, militaries, the second Iraq War, the United States (you know, 'cuz it's evil), and ironically violence in general, despite being pretty much all about violence. And if that wasn't bad enough, the characters are all either unsympathetic assholes, too stupid to live, or both.
So what's it about? Well basically there's this mysterious, magical black ball with a bald guy on life support inside of it that apparently clones various people at their moments of death in order to have them compete in a sadistic game it likes to play. Basically it gives them these skintight powered armor suits and some sci-fi guns to go out and kill random creatures it claims are aliens, giving them a limited amount of time and a limited area in which to complete these missions. It rewards points based on the outcome of the missions, with the goal being to gain 100 points total.
The series follows "typical high school student" Kei Kurono, who apparently the average otaku is supposed to identify with. He apparently has a hard time (heh) paying attention in class, undressing his attractive teacher and all the girls in his class with his eyes and popping a boner on a regular enough basis that some of the girls in his class can tell when he's hiding one. They then go on to point out this fact to the teacher, who has some fun embarrassing him about it along with the rest of the class. He's the quintessential pervert, thinking about and doing things that frankly make even me think he's a freak. And if that wasn't enough to make me not like him, he's also a rather selfish asshole. Unfortunately for him, he crosses paths with a creepy old lady who apparently is a recruiter for Gantz. This is as he runs into an old friend of his from elementary school at a subway station, Masaru Kato. Masaru is the kind of noble guy I'm guessing all the otaku want to be like, because he always seems to be doing selfless, sacrificing things for anyone and everyone to the point that he's frankly quite annoying. He also tends to do way to much analyzing about things like the implications of using deadly force to defend himself and others that he's basically useless and indecisive during the various "games" Gantz sends the characters on. I say all this up front, because it's pretty much all Masaru's fault that both he and Kei end up dead with their clones fighting random aliens for Gantz's amusement. In the first episode a drunken bum wanders down into the subway station and manages to collapse onto the tracks. And since society is horrible according to this show, no one but Masaru wants to bother actually doing anything to prevent this guy from getting run over by the incoming train. He also happens to recognize Kei and calls out to him, so Kei apparently feels obligated to help out his old friend. They save the bum, but naturally they both end up getting run over by a train. Despite this happening in front of a crowd, no one believes anyone about what happened because not only are their bodies and all the blood mysteriously gone, but all photographic evidence is also gone.
Kei and Masaru find themselves in an unfurnished Tokyo apartment along with several other people, apparently having appeared out of thin air. Not long afterwards, we get to see how this looks when a wet, naked Kei Kishimoto also appears out of thin air, looking somewhat like a 3-D printer has constructed her. She'd apparently tried to commit suicide by slitting her wrists. She's also the reason why it's really obvious that all of the characters who appear in that room are actually clones of the dead originals, because as it turns out, her original was saved (just remember kids, it's down the road, not across the street ). Anyway, Kei Titty McBoobs is basically the main source of fan service for the series, at least until she buys it. She's also our allotment of moé-blob for the series. Actually it's kind of funny because while the opening titles make her look like a hot action girl, really the only function she serves aside from providing about 75% of the massive amount of fan service is to shriek, need rescuing, and ask plaintively for someone to do something. Oh, and there's a dog that likes to lick her crotch pretty much every time it sees her, leading me to believe that the people behind this show are even bigger perverts than I am.
Fortunately for everyone in that apartment, the stereotypical psycho kid was something of a veteran and smugly explained basically everything to everyone else, and by extension the audience, because Gantz never bothered to explain any of the rules of its twisted little game. Simple rules like not wandering more than a kilometer away from where it beamed them outside to fight whatever random enemies it had sent them after, the importance of the power suits, how to operate the weapons it provided, or to not try talking about anything related to Gantz or its games to anyone. The punishment of breaking the "don’t leave the area" or the "don’t talk about Gantz" rules was for Gantz to set off a little bomb it'd implanted into the clones' heads. Everything else was just a matter of making survivability of the characters and success of their missions more likely, or for that matter even explaining why earning 100 points was a good thing, or that they could leave the room after they'd completed a mission until Gantz transported them back for another "game".
There are so many other characters that show up and don’t even last through more than one of these "game" sessions that it would be pretty pointless to describe them all. I'll just say that they're all pathetically stupid to the point that they pretty much all deserved their fate. Don't get me wrong, some of them actually managed to be sympathetic, but they were still stupid. This is actually the thing that frustrated me the most about this series, because when they should've been gunning down the targets Gantz pitted them against before they killed them, most of the time they just stood around and talked, whether to argue about what was going on or what to do, or to agonize about making the really obvious choice to kill something or someone that represented a deadly threat to their own lives. But even when the characters actually started to do that, they tended to do really stupid things, like running right up to the creatures they were fighting to shoot them instead of doing it from a distance and out of range of the vast majority of these things' attacks, because guns can do that. For that matter, even these alleged aliens tended to just stand there for long periods to let all this discussion and/or argument take place. This also tended to stretch out the series and really slow down the pacing, so while there is action, it tends to be spread pretty thin.
And then there's all the beating over the head we get about how horrible society is and ironically about how horrible violence is, despite how much the series actually glorifies violence in order to attract its audience. It does this by showing us examples of humanity at its worst. For instance, in the subway scene at the beginning of the series, we're given a taste of just how horrible everyone is by being given a window into their inner dialog and pretty much everyone is messed up in some way. And when the bum falls onto the tracks, the reactions range from thinking that someone should do something while being unwilling to actually do anything themselves to looking forward to the hobo's impending death so they can see someone die. One of the valley girl types even snaps a picture of Kei's decapitated head as it flies toward her. Later, when we're introduced to Masaru's home life, we learn that his parents are dead and that he's staying with his aunt, who is extremely physically and psychologically abusive toward Masaru and his little brother. A bit later on, we're introduced to two characters who like to go around and kill homeless people, including the bum Kei and Masaru gave their lives to save. The fun part is that at the end of the series, one of these psycho killers excuses his actions by going on an anti-military rant, which includes some shots at the United States just for good measure.
As for why this series is otaku porn, well, I have a list for that, too. Remember fan service girl Kei McBoobs? She's a virgin. This is only worth mentioning because apparently a lot of otakus consider this to be important, because they want their fan service girls to be "pure" or something like that. They also had her cling to Masaru, who was supposed to represent the kind of nobility that otaku are supposed to aspire for, even while Kei, the character they were supposed to identify with, lusted over her and had some very detailed fantasies involving her. Then there's basically everything Kei has going on in his head, between thinking about sex and women, and going around killing things. He also finally ends up having sex with a busty 30s-something woman who just happens to have a thing for otakus, being sure to explain how when she was younger, all the girls were totally all over the cosplaying anime nerds. And then there's Kei's teacher, who aside from carrying on an affair with another teacher, apparently got off on the idea that Kei was getting hard-ons in class because of her.
So if this show was so horrible, why did I watch all of it? Well, it managed to keep things just interesting enough for me to want to see what happened next. I admit I was somewhat curious to see who was going to die and how things would turn out. It also didn't hurt that all the clichés, fan service, and perverted content gave me something to laugh at. To be frank, the biggest problems I had with this show were the clichéd and moronic commentaries it offered, the extremely slow pacing, and all the characters acting so stupidly. Even if something isn't really what I'd consider good, if I can laugh at it I don't really mind it that much, but if I'm bored or finding myself rolling my eyes quite a bit, that really drags a series down. So really, despite the reputation this anime has for being nasty and messed up, that isn't what bothered me, it was just pretty much everything else. Actually, being messed up is the only reason I'd even tell anyone to watch this series, just so they can see it for themselves. If you could handle Elfen Lied, then you'd probably be able to handle this one, too, you just might not enjoy it nearly as much. 4/10.
(26 episode series)
This is honestly one of the worst series I've actually bothered to muddy my way all the way through. Basically it's just otaku porn – filled to the brim with the kind of crap that the stereotypical otaku fanboy is supposed to just love the hell out of. On top of that, the series takes every possible opportunity to hit its audience over the head with as much clichéd bullshit as possible when it comes to denouncing how horrible society has become, militaries, the second Iraq War, the United States (you know, 'cuz it's evil), and ironically violence in general, despite being pretty much all about violence. And if that wasn't bad enough, the characters are all either unsympathetic assholes, too stupid to live, or both.
So what's it about? Well basically there's this mysterious, magical black ball with a bald guy on life support inside of it that apparently clones various people at their moments of death in order to have them compete in a sadistic game it likes to play. Basically it gives them these skintight powered armor suits and some sci-fi guns to go out and kill random creatures it claims are aliens, giving them a limited amount of time and a limited area in which to complete these missions. It rewards points based on the outcome of the missions, with the goal being to gain 100 points total.
The series follows "typical high school student" Kei Kurono, who apparently the average otaku is supposed to identify with. He apparently has a hard time (heh) paying attention in class, undressing his attractive teacher and all the girls in his class with his eyes and popping a boner on a regular enough basis that some of the girls in his class can tell when he's hiding one. They then go on to point out this fact to the teacher, who has some fun embarrassing him about it along with the rest of the class. He's the quintessential pervert, thinking about and doing things that frankly make even me think he's a freak. And if that wasn't enough to make me not like him, he's also a rather selfish asshole. Unfortunately for him, he crosses paths with a creepy old lady who apparently is a recruiter for Gantz. This is as he runs into an old friend of his from elementary school at a subway station, Masaru Kato. Masaru is the kind of noble guy I'm guessing all the otaku want to be like, because he always seems to be doing selfless, sacrificing things for anyone and everyone to the point that he's frankly quite annoying. He also tends to do way to much analyzing about things like the implications of using deadly force to defend himself and others that he's basically useless and indecisive during the various "games" Gantz sends the characters on. I say all this up front, because it's pretty much all Masaru's fault that both he and Kei end up dead with their clones fighting random aliens for Gantz's amusement. In the first episode a drunken bum wanders down into the subway station and manages to collapse onto the tracks. And since society is horrible according to this show, no one but Masaru wants to bother actually doing anything to prevent this guy from getting run over by the incoming train. He also happens to recognize Kei and calls out to him, so Kei apparently feels obligated to help out his old friend. They save the bum, but naturally they both end up getting run over by a train. Despite this happening in front of a crowd, no one believes anyone about what happened because not only are their bodies and all the blood mysteriously gone, but all photographic evidence is also gone.
Kei and Masaru find themselves in an unfurnished Tokyo apartment along with several other people, apparently having appeared out of thin air. Not long afterwards, we get to see how this looks when a wet, naked Kei Kishimoto also appears out of thin air, looking somewhat like a 3-D printer has constructed her. She'd apparently tried to commit suicide by slitting her wrists. She's also the reason why it's really obvious that all of the characters who appear in that room are actually clones of the dead originals, because as it turns out, her original was saved (just remember kids, it's down the road, not across the street
). Anyway, Kei Titty McBoobs is basically the main source of fan service for the series, at least until she buys it. She's also our allotment of moé-blob for the series. Actually it's kind of funny because while the opening titles make her look like a hot action girl, really the only function she serves aside from providing about 75% of the massive amount of fan service is to shriek, need rescuing, and ask plaintively for someone to do something. Oh, and there's a dog that likes to lick her crotch pretty much every time it sees her, leading me to believe that the people behind this show are even bigger perverts than I am.Fortunately for everyone in that apartment, the stereotypical psycho kid was something of a veteran and smugly explained basically everything to everyone else, and by extension the audience, because Gantz never bothered to explain any of the rules of its twisted little game. Simple rules like not wandering more than a kilometer away from where it beamed them outside to fight whatever random enemies it had sent them after, the importance of the power suits, how to operate the weapons it provided, or to not try talking about anything related to Gantz or its games to anyone. The punishment of breaking the "don’t leave the area" or the "don’t talk about Gantz" rules was for Gantz to set off a little bomb it'd implanted into the clones' heads. Everything else was just a matter of making survivability of the characters and success of their missions more likely, or for that matter even explaining why earning 100 points was a good thing, or that they could leave the room after they'd completed a mission until Gantz transported them back for another "game".
There are so many other characters that show up and don’t even last through more than one of these "game" sessions that it would be pretty pointless to describe them all. I'll just say that they're all pathetically stupid to the point that they pretty much all deserved their fate. Don't get me wrong, some of them actually managed to be sympathetic, but they were still stupid. This is actually the thing that frustrated me the most about this series, because when they should've been gunning down the targets Gantz pitted them against before they killed them, most of the time they just stood around and talked, whether to argue about what was going on or what to do, or to agonize about making the really obvious choice to kill something or someone that represented a deadly threat to their own lives. But even when the characters actually started to do that, they tended to do really stupid things, like running right up to the creatures they were fighting to shoot them instead of doing it from a distance and out of range of the vast majority of these things' attacks, because guns can do that. For that matter, even these alleged aliens tended to just stand there for long periods to let all this discussion and/or argument take place. This also tended to stretch out the series and really slow down the pacing, so while there is action, it tends to be spread pretty thin.
And then there's all the beating over the head we get about how horrible society is and ironically about how horrible violence is, despite how much the series actually glorifies violence in order to attract its audience. It does this by showing us examples of humanity at its worst. For instance, in the subway scene at the beginning of the series, we're given a taste of just how horrible everyone is by being given a window into their inner dialog and pretty much everyone is messed up in some way. And when the bum falls onto the tracks, the reactions range from thinking that someone should do something while being unwilling to actually do anything themselves to looking forward to the hobo's impending death so they can see someone die. One of the valley girl types even snaps a picture of Kei's decapitated head as it flies toward her. Later, when we're introduced to Masaru's home life, we learn that his parents are dead and that he's staying with his aunt, who is extremely physically and psychologically abusive toward Masaru and his little brother. A bit later on, we're introduced to two characters who like to go around and kill homeless people, including the bum Kei and Masaru gave their lives to save. The fun part is that at the end of the series, one of these psycho killers excuses his actions by going on an anti-military rant, which includes some shots at the United States just for good measure.
As for why this series is otaku porn, well, I have a list for that, too. Remember fan service girl Kei McBoobs? She's a virgin. This is only worth mentioning because apparently a lot of otakus consider this to be important, because they want their fan service girls to be "pure" or something like that. They also had her cling to Masaru, who was supposed to represent the kind of nobility that otaku are supposed to aspire for, even while Kei, the character they were supposed to identify with, lusted over her and had some very detailed fantasies involving her. Then there's basically everything Kei has going on in his head, between thinking about sex and women, and going around killing things. He also finally ends up having sex with a busty 30s-something woman who just happens to have a thing for otakus, being sure to explain how when she was younger, all the girls were totally all over the cosplaying anime nerds. And then there's Kei's teacher, who aside from carrying on an affair with another teacher, apparently got off on the idea that Kei was getting hard-ons in class because of her.
So if this show was so horrible, why did I watch all of it? Well, it managed to keep things just interesting enough for me to want to see what happened next. I admit I was somewhat curious to see who was going to die and how things would turn out. It also didn't hurt that all the clichés, fan service, and perverted content gave me something to laugh at. To be frank, the biggest problems I had with this show were the clichéd and moronic commentaries it offered, the extremely slow pacing, and all the characters acting so stupidly. Even if something isn't really what I'd consider good, if I can laugh at it I don't really mind it that much, but if I'm bored or finding myself rolling my eyes quite a bit, that really drags a series down. So really, despite the reputation this anime has for being nasty and messed up, that isn't what bothered me, it was just pretty much everything else. Actually, being messed up is the only reason I'd even tell anyone to watch this series, just so they can see it for themselves. If you could handle Elfen Lied, then you'd probably be able to handle this one, too, you just might not enjoy it nearly as much. 4/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Ghost in the Shell
(1995 movie)
When I'd first seen this movie, I didn't understand yet that it was actually unrelated to the series, which is what I'd seen first. So I was a bit understandably confused at the differences, not yet realizing that there are a lot of anime movies, series, and OVAs which are only related in that they are all different adaptations of the same source material. I'm told that this movie is closer to the source material than the series, though it's a bit slower paced than the original manga. I still can't hide the fact that I prefer the series, but that really doesn't mean that I don't like this movie.
Having watched it a few times since I first rented it, I can definitely say that this movie takes a more patient sci-fi fan to be really enjoyed. There is action at different points in the series, not to mention fan service in the form of the main protagonist Major Motoko Kusanagi stripping down for her invisibility camouflage to work, but the pacing is fairly slow. In fact, I'd say that this movie is more in the spirit of older sci-fi, from the late '60s and the '70s than more modern ones, excepting Blade Runner of course. Actually comparisons to Blade Runner wouldn't be all that far off.
The story follows Kusanagi and her fellow Section 9 officers, who deal specifically with technological threats and crimes. Even still, the focus of the story is more on the philosophy of what it really means to be human, and if a machine can actually develop a soul, though here they refer to it as a "ghost." This movie is also an old school sci-fi in that it actually does focus on what effect(s) new technology might have on humanity. In this case, not only are their androids, but people have become cybernetic to carrying degrees, some actually having their entire bodies replaced, like the Major and her friend/subordinate, Bateau (as it is spelled in this movie). So from there the movie deals with ideas like, can a person who's had their entire body replaced still be considered the same person, and themes of losing one's identity because those cybernetic bodies are produced in assembly lines. At points the Major sees what seem to be copies of herself, though we can never be sure if that's in her mind or not.
Actually, that brings me to another comparison to Blade Runner, namely that in exactly the same way there was some ambiguity as to whether Decker was a human or a replicant, Major Kusanagi is paranoid by the idea that the military has somehow secretly replaced her brain with a computer, and that she's actually just an android programmed to think she is human. So she tends to do some things that are very dangerous in order to feel human, much to Bateau's chagrin.
Then, of course, there's the idea that a person who has been cybernetically enhanced might lose their free will and even their own identity thanks to actually being hacked by someone else. Of course while I actually feel plenty of sympathy for someone like that, even in the face that person may have gone on to commit crimes because of that hacking, other characters in the movie seem to not really be all that sympathetic. Kind of another commentary of the effects such technology might have on humanity, I guess.
The nice thing about all this is that it all leads back into the plot. A mysterious hacker known as the "Puppetmaster" has been hacking a lot of people. That plot leads to more as Section 9 investigates the matter and makes them run afoul of certain military interests. This is where the idea of artificial life comes in, as it turns out their quarry is actually a military AI that wants to escape and to actually bond with a human being. Naturally those certain military interests I mentioned earlier want to both destroy the escaped AI, and kill anyone who knows about it in order to keep them from revealing the truth about the Puppetmaster and their connection to it.
That being said, the end of the movie is somewhat sad, mostly because the implication is that the human the Puppetmaster chooses to bond with effectively ceases to exist in the process and becomes a new life form entirely, and I was rather fond of that character. The new life form then escapes to an unknown fate. There is a bit of a sequel hook there, but really the story could have just ended there.
I honestly can't make any comparison to the original manga because I haven't read it yet, and probably won't anytime soon. All I can say is that this is an overall a good movie, and well worth a watch. The only caveat with that is that you are definitely going to need some patience to get through it. I, personally, don't see the slow pace as a bad thing, especially because the movie is just taking the time to explain the characters and set things up for the story rather than rushing right into the action, but at times I have to admit that the pacing would pick up just a little bit. I'd say the one that suffers more from that is the sequel, which is the review I'll be writing next. As for this one, it's a little tough to rate, actually. In some ways, I'm not entirely sure if I want to rate it at an 8 or a 9, but I think I'm going to go ahead and rate it as an 8/10. It just doesn't quite make a 9 in my opinion, and I don't really split ratings.
(1995 movie)
When I'd first seen this movie, I didn't understand yet that it was actually unrelated to the series, which is what I'd seen first. So I was a bit understandably confused at the differences, not yet realizing that there are a lot of anime movies, series, and OVAs which are only related in that they are all different adaptations of the same source material. I'm told that this movie is closer to the source material than the series, though it's a bit slower paced than the original manga. I still can't hide the fact that I prefer the series, but that really doesn't mean that I don't like this movie.
Having watched it a few times since I first rented it, I can definitely say that this movie takes a more patient sci-fi fan to be really enjoyed. There is action at different points in the series, not to mention fan service in the form of the main protagonist Major Motoko Kusanagi stripping down for her invisibility camouflage to work, but the pacing is fairly slow. In fact, I'd say that this movie is more in the spirit of older sci-fi, from the late '60s and the '70s than more modern ones, excepting Blade Runner of course. Actually comparisons to Blade Runner wouldn't be all that far off.
The story follows Kusanagi and her fellow Section 9 officers, who deal specifically with technological threats and crimes. Even still, the focus of the story is more on the philosophy of what it really means to be human, and if a machine can actually develop a soul, though here they refer to it as a "ghost." This movie is also an old school sci-fi in that it actually does focus on what effect(s) new technology might have on humanity. In this case, not only are their androids, but people have become cybernetic to carrying degrees, some actually having their entire bodies replaced, like the Major and her friend/subordinate, Bateau (as it is spelled in this movie). So from there the movie deals with ideas like, can a person who's had their entire body replaced still be considered the same person, and themes of losing one's identity because those cybernetic bodies are produced in assembly lines. At points the Major sees what seem to be copies of herself, though we can never be sure if that's in her mind or not.
Actually, that brings me to another comparison to Blade Runner, namely that in exactly the same way there was some ambiguity as to whether Decker was a human or a replicant, Major Kusanagi is paranoid by the idea that the military has somehow secretly replaced her brain with a computer, and that she's actually just an android programmed to think she is human. So she tends to do some things that are very dangerous in order to feel human, much to Bateau's chagrin.
Then, of course, there's the idea that a person who has been cybernetically enhanced might lose their free will and even their own identity thanks to actually being hacked by someone else. Of course while I actually feel plenty of sympathy for someone like that, even in the face that person may have gone on to commit crimes because of that hacking, other characters in the movie seem to not really be all that sympathetic. Kind of another commentary of the effects such technology might have on humanity, I guess.
The nice thing about all this is that it all leads back into the plot. A mysterious hacker known as the "Puppetmaster" has been hacking a lot of people. That plot leads to more as Section 9 investigates the matter and makes them run afoul of certain military interests. This is where the idea of artificial life comes in, as it turns out their quarry is actually a military AI that wants to escape and to actually bond with a human being. Naturally those certain military interests I mentioned earlier want to both destroy the escaped AI, and kill anyone who knows about it in order to keep them from revealing the truth about the Puppetmaster and their connection to it.
That being said, the end of the movie is somewhat sad, mostly because the implication is that the human the Puppetmaster chooses to bond with effectively ceases to exist in the process and becomes a new life form entirely, and I was rather fond of that character. The new life form then escapes to an unknown fate. There is a bit of a sequel hook there, but really the story could have just ended there.
I honestly can't make any comparison to the original manga because I haven't read it yet, and probably won't anytime soon. All I can say is that this is an overall a good movie, and well worth a watch. The only caveat with that is that you are definitely going to need some patience to get through it. I, personally, don't see the slow pace as a bad thing, especially because the movie is just taking the time to explain the characters and set things up for the story rather than rushing right into the action, but at times I have to admit that the pacing would pick up just a little bit. I'd say the one that suffers more from that is the sequel, which is the review I'll be writing next. As for this one, it's a little tough to rate, actually. In some ways, I'm not entirely sure if I want to rate it at an 8 or a 9, but I think I'm going to go ahead and rate it as an 8/10. It just doesn't quite make a 9 in my opinion, and I don't really split ratings.
Re: CX anime reviews
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
(2004 movie)
With this sequel to the 1995 movie, pacing is definitely a bit of a problem. It tries to capture the same feel as the first movie, and to be fair, it does to a certain extent. I can completely understand wanting to take time to give viewers more clues and to try to mess with their heads a little while they try to figure things out, but in some cases this movie wastes this time where it probably shouldn't have.
With Major Kusanagi gone, Batou (the spelling now changed to something more familiar) is now partnered with the mostly human Togusa and leading an investigation into some strange sex-bot gynoids (the technically correct term for female androids) that have killed their owners and anyone else unfortunate enough to be nearby. Of course Batou is also dealing with the loss of the Major, whom he obviously had feelings for. That being said, this movie has a somewhat more depressing tone than the last one, and Botou is pretty much exclusively the focus of this movie.
Batou and Togusa's investigation eventually leads them to a cyborg company called LOCUS SOLUS, which makes the malfunctioning gynoids, which themselves seem to have actually been tampered with in order to draw this investigation. There seem to be some ties with organized crime and a rich eccentric hacker who apparently lives in a somewhat dangerous and lawless part of the world. This is where the movie drags a bit, because for all the time it takes to give the audience some clues while it messes with our heads, there isn't a whole lot of pay off. Not to mention scenes that seem to be more about showing off eye candy more than anything else.
The idea of having one's mind hacked naturally returns, and it seems that Batou becomes a victim in the course of his investigation. Actually he ends up shooting up a store and shooting off one of his own arms, thinking that someone is trying to kill him. Then there's the scene were they go to visit the rich eccentric hacker I mentioned earlier, as both Batou and Togasa almost get trapped in a computer-generated repeating hell. It's only thanks to a brief return by the Major in her new, entirely computerized form that Batou is able to beat this illusion. I have to admit, though, that the repeating kind of got on my nerves. I understand what the movie was trying to do, but after the second time I was ready for the movie to just get on with it already.
While at times this movie tends to drag on, there are some points that it is actually pretty good. Leading up to the climax, there's a scene where Batou boards an off-shore factory ship and wages a one-man battle against essentially an army. Togasa helps out by having into the ship's security system to open the doors for him, and the scene where Batou charges through them is pretty cool by itself, especially with the addition of the soundtrack. And just when it seems like Batou might lose this fight, the Major shows up to help him out, and there's a nice scene between them where she tries to comfort him a little. There's also a call-back to the first movie, because Batou has a thing for putting his coat on the Major when she ends up naked, and he ends up doing that with the gyroid she hacks into to help him out.
Now as it turns out, the cause of those gyroid malfunctions and the reason this LOCUS SOLUS company has been trying its damnedest to kill Batou and Togusa is that they've been having the mafia kidnap little girls to use I some kind of weird soul copying machine. Apparently whatever standard software might normally be used in these live sex dolls wasn't quite "real" enough to the sick frakkers that bought them, never mind that the bots didn't even look quite human to begin with, so LUCUS SOLUS decided that adding bits of the souls of little girls in order to effectively make their products into pedo-bots. Apparently, one of the people working there actually had a conscience and conspired with a couple of the girls to cause these killer malfunctions in order to draw official attention to what was going on to them so they might be rescued. On finding this out, Batou is a lot harder on them then I would be. Sure, it sucks that some innocent people ended up getting killed as a result, but most of the victims were the sick pedophilic owners of these sex-bots, and there is the whole matter of how these girls were kidnapped and were having bits of their soul taken away piece by piece from them until they died, and all so some pedophiles can get their jollies with a robotic sex doll. Of course Batou also feels sorry for the sex-bots that now effectively have human souls who ended up dead, too, but you can guess I'm not with him on that either.
The movie does try to get a bit philosophical, mostly dealing with how robots are becoming more human with things like this soul-ripping machine adding bits of should to robots, and how humans are becoming more like robots as with the Major. Unfortunately it also tries to do this by having Batou, Togusa, and the Major constantly quoting philosophers during the slow parts of their investigation. And this is where I feel the movie is really lacking. Probably the best it gets at being philosophical is when it comes to dolls and the comparison to humans to dolls, and vice versa. Actually the movie has something of an obsession with dolls and how creepy they can be with the right mentality. I wasn't really into that, so for me this aspect of the movie also became something of a bore for me.
As an aside, I also have to say that it just isn't the same without the Major, and the movie never really quite manages to move on from that fact myself. Batou is a pretty cool character, but he's no Kusanagi, and he doesn't really take her place very well as the lead character. Of course, who knows, maybe that was the point.
As for other things about the movie I never really got over, there was the very intrusive nature of the CGI used in the movie. While it was blended fairly well with the animation, it just tended to stand out to the point that one almost wonders why they didn't simply make everything, including the characters, CGI. I also didn't care for the visual design, as it seemed way too abstract to me. Plus, what can I say? I prefer my machines to look like machines, so having a tilt-rotor with wings that split up into feather-looking sections and flap made me cringe, among other such examples.
Anyway, I suppose this movie is still worth a watch, but be aware that it does tend to drag in some parts and actually feel a bit longer than it is. 7/10.
(2004 movie)
With this sequel to the 1995 movie, pacing is definitely a bit of a problem. It tries to capture the same feel as the first movie, and to be fair, it does to a certain extent. I can completely understand wanting to take time to give viewers more clues and to try to mess with their heads a little while they try to figure things out, but in some cases this movie wastes this time where it probably shouldn't have.
With Major Kusanagi gone, Batou (the spelling now changed to something more familiar) is now partnered with the mostly human Togusa and leading an investigation into some strange sex-bot gynoids (the technically correct term for female androids) that have killed their owners and anyone else unfortunate enough to be nearby. Of course Batou is also dealing with the loss of the Major, whom he obviously had feelings for. That being said, this movie has a somewhat more depressing tone than the last one, and Botou is pretty much exclusively the focus of this movie.
Batou and Togusa's investigation eventually leads them to a cyborg company called LOCUS SOLUS, which makes the malfunctioning gynoids, which themselves seem to have actually been tampered with in order to draw this investigation. There seem to be some ties with organized crime and a rich eccentric hacker who apparently lives in a somewhat dangerous and lawless part of the world. This is where the movie drags a bit, because for all the time it takes to give the audience some clues while it messes with our heads, there isn't a whole lot of pay off. Not to mention scenes that seem to be more about showing off eye candy more than anything else.
The idea of having one's mind hacked naturally returns, and it seems that Batou becomes a victim in the course of his investigation. Actually he ends up shooting up a store and shooting off one of his own arms, thinking that someone is trying to kill him. Then there's the scene were they go to visit the rich eccentric hacker I mentioned earlier, as both Batou and Togasa almost get trapped in a computer-generated repeating hell. It's only thanks to a brief return by the Major in her new, entirely computerized form that Batou is able to beat this illusion. I have to admit, though, that the repeating kind of got on my nerves. I understand what the movie was trying to do, but after the second time I was ready for the movie to just get on with it already.
While at times this movie tends to drag on, there are some points that it is actually pretty good. Leading up to the climax, there's a scene where Batou boards an off-shore factory ship and wages a one-man battle against essentially an army. Togasa helps out by having into the ship's security system to open the doors for him, and the scene where Batou charges through them is pretty cool by itself, especially with the addition of the soundtrack. And just when it seems like Batou might lose this fight, the Major shows up to help him out, and there's a nice scene between them where she tries to comfort him a little. There's also a call-back to the first movie, because Batou has a thing for putting his coat on the Major when she ends up naked, and he ends up doing that with the gyroid she hacks into to help him out.
Now as it turns out, the cause of those gyroid malfunctions and the reason this LOCUS SOLUS company has been trying its damnedest to kill Batou and Togusa is that they've been having the mafia kidnap little girls to use I some kind of weird soul copying machine. Apparently whatever standard software might normally be used in these live sex dolls wasn't quite "real" enough to the sick frakkers that bought them, never mind that the bots didn't even look quite human to begin with, so LUCUS SOLUS decided that adding bits of the souls of little girls in order to effectively make their products into pedo-bots. Apparently, one of the people working there actually had a conscience and conspired with a couple of the girls to cause these killer malfunctions in order to draw official attention to what was going on to them so they might be rescued. On finding this out, Batou is a lot harder on them then I would be. Sure, it sucks that some innocent people ended up getting killed as a result, but most of the victims were the sick pedophilic owners of these sex-bots, and there is the whole matter of how these girls were kidnapped and were having bits of their soul taken away piece by piece from them until they died, and all so some pedophiles can get their jollies with a robotic sex doll. Of course Batou also feels sorry for the sex-bots that now effectively have human souls who ended up dead, too, but you can guess I'm not with him on that either.
The movie does try to get a bit philosophical, mostly dealing with how robots are becoming more human with things like this soul-ripping machine adding bits of should to robots, and how humans are becoming more like robots as with the Major. Unfortunately it also tries to do this by having Batou, Togusa, and the Major constantly quoting philosophers during the slow parts of their investigation. And this is where I feel the movie is really lacking. Probably the best it gets at being philosophical is when it comes to dolls and the comparison to humans to dolls, and vice versa. Actually the movie has something of an obsession with dolls and how creepy they can be with the right mentality. I wasn't really into that, so for me this aspect of the movie also became something of a bore for me.
As an aside, I also have to say that it just isn't the same without the Major, and the movie never really quite manages to move on from that fact myself. Batou is a pretty cool character, but he's no Kusanagi, and he doesn't really take her place very well as the lead character. Of course, who knows, maybe that was the point.
As for other things about the movie I never really got over, there was the very intrusive nature of the CGI used in the movie. While it was blended fairly well with the animation, it just tended to stand out to the point that one almost wonders why they didn't simply make everything, including the characters, CGI. I also didn't care for the visual design, as it seemed way too abstract to me. Plus, what can I say? I prefer my machines to look like machines, so having a tilt-rotor with wings that split up into feather-looking sections and flap made me cringe, among other such examples.
Anyway, I suppose this movie is still worth a watch, but be aware that it does tend to drag in some parts and actually feel a bit longer than it is. 7/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(26 episode series)
I'm going to say right up front that this is an excellent series and that you should definitely see it if you're a sci-fi fan and/or a cyberpunk fan. Based on the same manga that the movies are based on, the series takes place in the near future and is set primarily in Japan. Technology is very pervasive, with nearly everyone having accepted some form of "cyberization" that links them to an even more advanced version of the internet.
So why do I prefer the series over the movie? Well, as much as I hate to say it, there's just a lot more going on in the series and the movie tends to drag on a bit. That's not to say that I don't mind some cerebral stimulation and some philosophy, but there just has to be more there for me to be interested in, like some good characters. The movies really only ever focus on two of the many characters who make up Section 9. The series, being a series, is able to explore more of the other characters.
I tend to like series with a large ensemble casts and multi-episode story arcs, and wouldn't you know it, but this series happens to fit the bill. Actually one of the nice things about this series is that it manages to introduce you to everyone and the setting everything is taking place in without really slowing the pace down. A lot of anime tends to do that, the thing is while it’s nice to be introduced to characters before we jump into the story, it tends to make the first few episodes kind of drag. This is also why the "three episode rule" exists, because that's usually about the time introductions are over and the plot starts.
GitS;SAC's solution to this is to actually live up to its name and have plenty of stand alone episodes which are unrelated to the main plot, which we catch up to later on. This way, we get to learn about each of the different members of Section 9 by watching them as they go about their jobs, defending Japan against cyber-terrorism. We even follow the antics of the new Tachikomas, robotic "think tanks" where are controlled by Artificial Intelligence. Each of these stand alone episodes is usually pretty good in its own right, exploring different themes which touch on the philosophies that tend to go hand in hand with the type of technologies presented in this series. There are times this gets a little tiring, such as with the Tachikomas, and just insulting, as with the episode featuring "Imperial" Americans.
As an aside, I have to note, yet again, that it seems like someone at Production I.G has an anti-American axe to grind. Yes, I know there is supposed to be some kind of backstory which explains the how the American Empire came into being, but that should've been in the show, and it still could've done without presenting the actual Americans who showed up like they were buffoons. If anything, they should have been creepy since they were from the CIA, but I digress.
In any case, another nice thing these little stand alone episodes did was to give us an occasional break when the main plotline started, and actually helped to set the pacing a little better. Movies have something of a disadvantage when it comes to this, because they have a much more limited amount of time to do everything in. So whereas in a movie, things which take place over the course of weeks or months can seem to be happening in a much more rapid-fire pacing, and diversions away from it can negatively affect the story. In a series, we only get a finite amount of time in each installment, and especially in the case of longer series, there are plenty of episodes to stretch things out over. Plus, the main Laughing Man plotline started out essentially as any other story covered in the series up to that point, and it got the same kind of attention as everything else, and other things were still going on. In a way, this adds a kind of realism, because in real life we don’t have a preset plot that takes over everything and we focus all out attention on.
This approach also allows the series to slowly delve into the plot, until we realize just how much there is to the story it's telling. In this case, it involves an expert hacker, the Laughing Man, who has a beef with a micro-machine pharmaceutical company. It isn't until later why this is, or how far this shady deal to give this company an unfair leg-up over a competitor goes. That's actually another aspect I like about this series, which is that while it still goes over more abstract ideas like just what makes us human, what exactly a "ghost" is, why people might choose to isolate themselves in such an interconnected society, and other things like that with much more real things, like parts of the government working against each other in a struggle for power, corrupt politicians and police, government interference in the marketplace, and smaller idea men getting crushed by large corporations.
As it turns out, this is all about a possible cure to a debilitating disease that has emerged thanks to the push to implant the human body with technology. A lesser known scientist seems to have discovered a possible cure using some other kind of naturally derived, biological treatment, but this information is suppressed by a collaboration between government officials and a large technology corporation which is developing a micro-machine based "cure" which actually doesn’t work all that well. This was all done in the name of money, naturally, and this really pissed the Laughing Man off, and he tried to do something about it. What makes this interesting, aside from learning who the Laughing Man is and what he's about, is just how deep this conspiracy goes. It apparently leads to confrontations with the narc squad and even the military. Things actually look pretty bad for Section 9 there for a while.
Unfortunately, that last part is one of where the series lacks. Why? Well, it's just very anti-climactic. Everything has gone to hell and has fallen apart, characters are captured and maybe worse, leaving only one who has no clue as to what is going on. Everything gets real tense, the character decides to take action, and then nothing. It was all a part of a bigger plan, and move along now, nothing to see.
That being said, this is one of the series few weaknesses, the others being the anti-American episode, and some of the cutesy stuff with the Tachikomas that went on a bit longer than it really should have.
When it comes to the characters, Batou and Major Motoko Kusanagi are easily my favorites. They are both complex characters with interesting backgrounds (or in the case of the Major, a mysterious background). They have a sense of humor (especially Batou), and both are easy to empathize and sympathize with. It's also obvious that Batou has romantic feelings for the Major, even if she doesn't really share them. I really normally don’t go for the whole leader/subordinate romance thing, but here my only real problem was that it got milked way too much toward the end of the series, and came off as somewhat forced for the sake of drama.
Togusa is also an interesting character. He's the least cyberized member of Section 9, and the only one with a law enforcement rather than a military background. He's also a family man, and we actually get to meet his family a few times, so anything that happens to him tends to generate a bit more sympathy for him. He really gets a chance to shine in the series, even more so than in the second movie where he was partnered with Batou. About the only thing there is a plotline that seems to go no where, as at the end of one episode his computer turns itself on, does something, and then shuts back down. This seems like it should lead to something, but it never really seems to.
A lot also tends to get made about the fan service from the Major. All I can say is that while, yes, her outfit is definitely more about that, in this case I can't help but take it in stride. While I really don’t mind fan service at all in most cases, when it comes to a series or movie that's trying to take itself seriously, I usually do start to mind, because I prefer my professionals to appear professional rather than to simply serve as eye candy. This is actually one of my complaints when it comes to other sci-fis, like Star Trek. In this case, though, I guess it just fits her character the same way the rest of Section 9 chooses to present itself. Togusa and Chief Aramaki are really the only ones to dress professionally, with all the others dressing very casually. Plus when it comes down to business, she actually does don a combat outfit that's more or less the same as the rest of them wear, albeit a bit more skin-tight. Plus, as an added bonus, it gave me something to laugh about when the Chief teased her about trying to grab his attention by wearing revealing clothing, when she's actually wearing something that's less revealing than what she normally wears.
Anyway, this is an excellent series, with great artwork, and a wonderful soundtrack to go with an interesting story and characters. I highly recommend that you see this series, even if anime isn't normally your thing. This is a really good sci-fi which just happens to be animated. 9/10.
(26 episode series)
I'm going to say right up front that this is an excellent series and that you should definitely see it if you're a sci-fi fan and/or a cyberpunk fan. Based on the same manga that the movies are based on, the series takes place in the near future and is set primarily in Japan. Technology is very pervasive, with nearly everyone having accepted some form of "cyberization" that links them to an even more advanced version of the internet.
So why do I prefer the series over the movie? Well, as much as I hate to say it, there's just a lot more going on in the series and the movie tends to drag on a bit. That's not to say that I don't mind some cerebral stimulation and some philosophy, but there just has to be more there for me to be interested in, like some good characters. The movies really only ever focus on two of the many characters who make up Section 9. The series, being a series, is able to explore more of the other characters.
I tend to like series with a large ensemble casts and multi-episode story arcs, and wouldn't you know it, but this series happens to fit the bill. Actually one of the nice things about this series is that it manages to introduce you to everyone and the setting everything is taking place in without really slowing the pace down. A lot of anime tends to do that, the thing is while it’s nice to be introduced to characters before we jump into the story, it tends to make the first few episodes kind of drag. This is also why the "three episode rule" exists, because that's usually about the time introductions are over and the plot starts.
GitS;SAC's solution to this is to actually live up to its name and have plenty of stand alone episodes which are unrelated to the main plot, which we catch up to later on. This way, we get to learn about each of the different members of Section 9 by watching them as they go about their jobs, defending Japan against cyber-terrorism. We even follow the antics of the new Tachikomas, robotic "think tanks" where are controlled by Artificial Intelligence. Each of these stand alone episodes is usually pretty good in its own right, exploring different themes which touch on the philosophies that tend to go hand in hand with the type of technologies presented in this series. There are times this gets a little tiring, such as with the Tachikomas, and just insulting, as with the episode featuring "Imperial" Americans.
As an aside, I have to note, yet again, that it seems like someone at Production I.G has an anti-American axe to grind. Yes, I know there is supposed to be some kind of backstory which explains the how the American Empire came into being, but that should've been in the show, and it still could've done without presenting the actual Americans who showed up like they were buffoons. If anything, they should have been creepy since they were from the CIA, but I digress.
In any case, another nice thing these little stand alone episodes did was to give us an occasional break when the main plotline started, and actually helped to set the pacing a little better. Movies have something of a disadvantage when it comes to this, because they have a much more limited amount of time to do everything in. So whereas in a movie, things which take place over the course of weeks or months can seem to be happening in a much more rapid-fire pacing, and diversions away from it can negatively affect the story. In a series, we only get a finite amount of time in each installment, and especially in the case of longer series, there are plenty of episodes to stretch things out over. Plus, the main Laughing Man plotline started out essentially as any other story covered in the series up to that point, and it got the same kind of attention as everything else, and other things were still going on. In a way, this adds a kind of realism, because in real life we don’t have a preset plot that takes over everything and we focus all out attention on.
This approach also allows the series to slowly delve into the plot, until we realize just how much there is to the story it's telling. In this case, it involves an expert hacker, the Laughing Man, who has a beef with a micro-machine pharmaceutical company. It isn't until later why this is, or how far this shady deal to give this company an unfair leg-up over a competitor goes. That's actually another aspect I like about this series, which is that while it still goes over more abstract ideas like just what makes us human, what exactly a "ghost" is, why people might choose to isolate themselves in such an interconnected society, and other things like that with much more real things, like parts of the government working against each other in a struggle for power, corrupt politicians and police, government interference in the marketplace, and smaller idea men getting crushed by large corporations.
As it turns out, this is all about a possible cure to a debilitating disease that has emerged thanks to the push to implant the human body with technology. A lesser known scientist seems to have discovered a possible cure using some other kind of naturally derived, biological treatment, but this information is suppressed by a collaboration between government officials and a large technology corporation which is developing a micro-machine based "cure" which actually doesn’t work all that well. This was all done in the name of money, naturally, and this really pissed the Laughing Man off, and he tried to do something about it. What makes this interesting, aside from learning who the Laughing Man is and what he's about, is just how deep this conspiracy goes. It apparently leads to confrontations with the narc squad and even the military. Things actually look pretty bad for Section 9 there for a while.
Unfortunately, that last part is one of where the series lacks. Why? Well, it's just very anti-climactic. Everything has gone to hell and has fallen apart, characters are captured and maybe worse, leaving only one who has no clue as to what is going on. Everything gets real tense, the character decides to take action, and then nothing. It was all a part of a bigger plan, and move along now, nothing to see.
That being said, this is one of the series few weaknesses, the others being the anti-American episode, and some of the cutesy stuff with the Tachikomas that went on a bit longer than it really should have.
When it comes to the characters, Batou and Major Motoko Kusanagi are easily my favorites. They are both complex characters with interesting backgrounds (or in the case of the Major, a mysterious background). They have a sense of humor (especially Batou), and both are easy to empathize and sympathize with. It's also obvious that Batou has romantic feelings for the Major, even if she doesn't really share them. I really normally don’t go for the whole leader/subordinate romance thing, but here my only real problem was that it got milked way too much toward the end of the series, and came off as somewhat forced for the sake of drama.
Togusa is also an interesting character. He's the least cyberized member of Section 9, and the only one with a law enforcement rather than a military background. He's also a family man, and we actually get to meet his family a few times, so anything that happens to him tends to generate a bit more sympathy for him. He really gets a chance to shine in the series, even more so than in the second movie where he was partnered with Batou. About the only thing there is a plotline that seems to go no where, as at the end of one episode his computer turns itself on, does something, and then shuts back down. This seems like it should lead to something, but it never really seems to.
A lot also tends to get made about the fan service from the Major. All I can say is that while, yes, her outfit is definitely more about that, in this case I can't help but take it in stride. While I really don’t mind fan service at all in most cases, when it comes to a series or movie that's trying to take itself seriously, I usually do start to mind, because I prefer my professionals to appear professional rather than to simply serve as eye candy. This is actually one of my complaints when it comes to other sci-fis, like Star Trek. In this case, though, I guess it just fits her character the same way the rest of Section 9 chooses to present itself. Togusa and Chief Aramaki are really the only ones to dress professionally, with all the others dressing very casually. Plus when it comes down to business, she actually does don a combat outfit that's more or less the same as the rest of them wear, albeit a bit more skin-tight. Plus, as an added bonus, it gave me something to laugh about when the Chief teased her about trying to grab his attention by wearing revealing clothing, when she's actually wearing something that's less revealing than what she normally wears.
Anyway, this is an excellent series, with great artwork, and a wonderful soundtrack to go with an interesting story and characters. I highly recommend that you see this series, even if anime isn't normally your thing. This is a really good sci-fi which just happens to be animated. 9/10.
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