Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

[caraig]

I've been watching some of GITS:SAC lately, and thought I would throw out some thoughts about it.

• First off, the main titles are rather intriguing. Anime theme songs usually have nothing whatsoever to do with the show anyway, but the main titles sounds pretty good.
  
• Batou is great. He just has some great moments, and some nice touches to his character that make him warmer than in the first movie. More than makes up for his angsty soulfulness in the second movie.
  
• I don't know who was in charge of Major Kusanagi's character design, but I don't really like it. Yes, a shocking thing coming from me, but still... I like character designs that makesense. Motoko Kusanagi is supposed to be this professional cyborg commando/investigator, but the outfit just isn't saying that to me.
  
• In my talking about the GITS:SAC game for the PS2, I mentioned about how Kusanagi came off as really not terribly warm. Same with the anime. Though there are a few character-defining sequences, she just comes off as kind of detached.
  
• If it's warmth I'm looking for, though, I don't have to look much farther than the Tachikomas. ^^ They're great, I think they're hilarious and it's never a dull moment with them on the screen. They seem to have some kind of Physics Distortion Field, though. They look pretty heavy, and yet jump around quite nimbly and land with nary a scratch or dent on whatever they're landing on. I think the most extreme example is when one of them swung down out of a VTOL and landed against the side of a glass-windowed building and didn't make a crack. Still, they're very cool, and fun to watch.
  
• Like the first movie, the series seems to be trying to explore the ramifications of information and cybernetic technology, generally from a law enforcement point of view -- which kind of reminds me of the old Bubblegum Crisis spinoff series, AD Police.

So, all in all, so far a pretty good series, and recommended watching, but a bit of a letdown in some places. Except the Tachikomas.

Pax!

Comments

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected, by the way, you were totally right. The second-generation armor is in fact Tachikoma. My bad.

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

Hey, I just remembered, do you read Planetary? There's a guy in that series who has an actual Physics Distorion Field.

[caraig.livejournal.com]

I've heard of it, but I've never seen or read it. For some reason it reminds me of Triplanetary by "Doc" Smith?

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

It's by Warren Ellis. The characters are part of an organization that documents the secret history of the world, the way things actually went down, not just what the people in charge see fit to tell you. It's also a sort of secret history of comics, where all the vast available backstory of comic books is made use of in a single context; you see alternate versions of characters as diverse as Wonder Woman, the Green Lantern, Superman, Doc Savage, Batman, The Shadow, Tarzan, Fu Manchu, and even as far afield as Spider Jerusalem and John Constantine. The kicker? The Fantastic Four are the villains.