Movie/Anime Reviews
Nov. 23rd, 2005 11:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caraigPlease excuse any typos. It's a bit chilly here and the house is a little on the cold side. I turned up the heat but it takes a bit to get going.
First off: Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Gig Two No, I have no idea how I'm going to shorten it. Maybe just use SAC2. Okay! On with the review.
Without giving away too many spoilers, those of you who watched the first season of GITS:SAC shouldn't be surprised to see Section 9 back in action, and treading relatively thin ice. The first episode sets the stage for what's to happen in the second season. The main titles are a lot more hard-hitting. The character designs are a bit different, though they seem to be at least dressing the Major in more sensible clothing. (Relatively.) And the Tachikomas are back! <3
Of the four episodes on Disk 1, two are purely standard GITS action fare. They're basically assemblages of GITS cliches, actually. Entertaining enough, and different enough from the usual action of what we saw that it's somewhat satisfying. Coming out of the Laughing Man catharsis at the end of the first season, it's refreshing in that it shows S9 hasn't changed too much. They're also balanced by the two other episodes: one of which is disturbing and the other is really very well-done.
The first involves a government official who is expecting his vault to be robbed while he's holding a very elite, exotic party. QX, without mincing too many words, it's a party catering to very rich and powerful individuals with a taste for androids, or I guess the more proper term would be 'gynoids' or perhaps even more properly 'dolls' since that's all these robots really are, as disturbing as it is. It raises some interesting peripheral questions, but other and more developed stories have gone there before directly and it's all window dressing compared to the main caper.
The other episode is the mind-bending one, even if it's incredibly confusing in places and a little too incoherent. There is an assassination plot against a major corporate president, and at first blush the major beat seems to be how this humble ex-military, corporate executive helicopter pilot gets to the point where he undertakes this assassination. But this episiode gets back to the roots of Ghost In The Shell: What is reality? What is the self? How does the self deal with reality? A bit of a downbeat episode but still fascinating in it's exploration.
In short: I'm looking forward to this series somewhat, though admittedly with the way the first season went, I'm not launching myself into this totally eagerly. If you're a fan of Shirow's imaginings or just plain liked the first season, give the first disc a whirl. If you're a forgiving viewer you'll likely like Gig 2; I'm going to give it a chance, at least. If on the other hand you loathed GITS:SAC then this is just going to be more of the same, so you should move on to, say... Crest of the Stars or Genshiken. (Both I highly recommend, by the way, without reservation.)
Second up, Gojira, Mothra, and Kaiser Ghidora: Monsters All-Out Attack. (No offense to Toho, but with titles like these, are we someday going to see Kaiju Gone Wild: Spring Break Monster Island?) Though second in the 'last trilogy' which Toho announced will end the Godzilla franchise, it has absolutely nothing to do with the continuity established in Godzilla, Mothra, Godzilla Agains Mechagodzilla, and Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S. One usually doesn't use the term "Toho" and "continuity" in the same sentence. That being said, they seem to have -- finally -- established some kind of rough continuity which carries through into Godzilla Final Wars. Oh, yeah... in true Toho fashion they threw out that continuity for Monsters All-Out Attack. Maybe purposefully, actually. Gojira looks a lot meaner and nastier in this one, much less a force of nature in other recent films and a lot more like something supernaturally evil, or at least with Lovecraftian disdain for humanity. Mothra, of course, is Here To Help You. (And there's a nice little homage to the Mothra continuity with a pair of, alas non-identical and normal-height, twins.) But the real surprise is Kaiser Ghidora, who is also Here To Help You and in fact seems to be made somewhat akin to Seiryu or Kirin. (Next up: Fushigi Gojira. "Mothra!" "Baragonhome!" "Mothra!" "Baragonhome!" Oh, I'm so going straight to otaku hell for that, aren't I?)
Keeping in mind that this was made somewhat after the US version of Godzilla in 1999, the following interchange was just priceless:
Also worth watching for:
So, final verdict: ... It's a freakin' GODZILLA FLICK. You either like them or you don't! Good enough fare until Final Wars comes out on DVD in December. ^_^
And yes, I is babbling. Just focussing on work, mostly, and trying not to worry what may or may not happen soon with it. We'll see. Pax.
First off: Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Gig Two No, I have no idea how I'm going to shorten it. Maybe just use SAC2. Okay! On with the review.
Without giving away too many spoilers, those of you who watched the first season of GITS:SAC shouldn't be surprised to see Section 9 back in action, and treading relatively thin ice. The first episode sets the stage for what's to happen in the second season. The main titles are a lot more hard-hitting. The character designs are a bit different, though they seem to be at least dressing the Major in more sensible clothing. (Relatively.) And the Tachikomas are back! <3
Of the four episodes on Disk 1, two are purely standard GITS action fare. They're basically assemblages of GITS cliches, actually. Entertaining enough, and different enough from the usual action of what we saw that it's somewhat satisfying. Coming out of the Laughing Man catharsis at the end of the first season, it's refreshing in that it shows S9 hasn't changed too much. They're also balanced by the two other episodes: one of which is disturbing and the other is really very well-done.
The first involves a government official who is expecting his vault to be robbed while he's holding a very elite, exotic party. QX, without mincing too many words, it's a party catering to very rich and powerful individuals with a taste for androids, or I guess the more proper term would be 'gynoids' or perhaps even more properly 'dolls' since that's all these robots really are, as disturbing as it is. It raises some interesting peripheral questions, but other and more developed stories have gone there before directly and it's all window dressing compared to the main caper.
The other episode is the mind-bending one, even if it's incredibly confusing in places and a little too incoherent. There is an assassination plot against a major corporate president, and at first blush the major beat seems to be how this humble ex-military, corporate executive helicopter pilot gets to the point where he undertakes this assassination. But this episiode gets back to the roots of Ghost In The Shell: What is reality? What is the self? How does the self deal with reality? A bit of a downbeat episode but still fascinating in it's exploration.
In short: I'm looking forward to this series somewhat, though admittedly with the way the first season went, I'm not launching myself into this totally eagerly. If you're a fan of Shirow's imaginings or just plain liked the first season, give the first disc a whirl. If you're a forgiving viewer you'll likely like Gig 2; I'm going to give it a chance, at least. If on the other hand you loathed GITS:SAC then this is just going to be more of the same, so you should move on to, say... Crest of the Stars or Genshiken. (Both I highly recommend, by the way, without reservation.)
Second up, Gojira, Mothra, and Kaiser Ghidora: Monsters All-Out Attack. (No offense to Toho, but with titles like these, are we someday going to see Kaiju Gone Wild: Spring Break Monster Island?) Though second in the 'last trilogy' which Toho announced will end the Godzilla franchise, it has absolutely nothing to do with the continuity established in Godzilla, Mothra, Godzilla Agains Mechagodzilla, and Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S. One usually doesn't use the term "Toho" and "continuity" in the same sentence. That being said, they seem to have -- finally -- established some kind of rough continuity which carries through into Godzilla Final Wars. Oh, yeah... in true Toho fashion they threw out that continuity for Monsters All-Out Attack. Maybe purposefully, actually. Gojira looks a lot meaner and nastier in this one, much less a force of nature in other recent films and a lot more like something supernaturally evil, or at least with Lovecraftian disdain for humanity. Mothra, of course, is Here To Help You. (And there's a nice little homage to the Mothra continuity with a pair of, alas non-identical and normal-height, twins.) But the real surprise is Kaiser Ghidora, who is also Here To Help You and in fact seems to be made somewhat akin to Seiryu or Kirin. (Next up: Fushigi Gojira. "Mothra!" "Baragonhome!" "Mothra!" "Baragonhome!" Oh, I'm so going straight to otaku hell for that, aren't I?)
Keeping in mind that this was made somewhat after the US version of Godzilla in 1999, the following interchange was just priceless:
"Didn't New York City get attacked by Godzilla last year?"
"Yeah, that's what the Americans are saying. But our people have their doubts."
Also worth watching for:
"There's no doubt about it. Godzilla is heading straight for Tokyo."This particular Godzilla movie is a little more cynical than, say, Megaguirus or Tokyo S.O.S. Godzilla is not a personification of some sort of cosmic principle, he's not out to save the Earth, and he's not going to bring about indiscriminate justice. He's out to hurt people and break things -- in mass quantities of both. He looks different, too, from both the Godzilla 2000 and Tokyo S.O.S. versions -- meaner, eviller... kind of vaguely undead, actually, with very pale eyes. Lots of otherwise innocent people get smashed, trampled, crushed, and killed for no particular reason. The battle between the monsters causes a heck of a lot of collateral damage and casualties. The JSDF is singularly unprepared for Big G this time around; no mysterious super-weapons waiting in the wings, no Dimension Tides, and no maser artillery units. That any of the main characters survive is astonishing; they must have nothing less than nuclear-grade Plot Armor(tm) (+2 vs. Daikaiju-Related Collateral Damage.)
"Why Tokyo? Why is he always coming here?
So, final verdict: ... It's a freakin' GODZILLA FLICK. You either like them or you don't! Good enough fare until Final Wars comes out on DVD in December. ^_^
And yes, I is babbling. Just focussing on work, mostly, and trying not to worry what may or may not happen soon with it. We'll see. Pax.
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Date: 2005-11-24 06:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-24 06:21 am (UTC)I Rejoice!
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Date: 2005-11-24 06:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-24 06:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-24 09:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-25 04:29 pm (UTC)GITS is my thing, dude. BUT I LACK THE FINAL EPISODES...
I'm in love with Shirow's mind: the depth he gives his (our) world in the metapsychology that really doesn't need it. This overthinking, overcomplexifying fantasy of our future is like brain-candy to me. And, his women are drawn to die for.
He even throws in a tentacle or two sometimes. Yay! He's an artist aware of the need for fanservice, AND the need to tickle the psyche of all adolescent boys everywhere.
Honestly, I'm pretty sure this is going to end up a series more for the "cowgirls" and gents out there: people who like "The Three Stooges" for what they are, instead of merely labelling them "useless and stupid" without understanding that's what makes them great. Shirow re-created that same feeling, "useless and stupid" but covered it in such awesome art and technical detail that it's an epiphany for me all over again.
Really, who needs more metapsychology in the future of how bad humans can be? All we ever needed was in "Blade Runner". But Shirow puts such a nice package on it, it has its own place in my heart.
Re: GITS is my thing, dude. BUT I LACK THE FINAL EPISODES...
Date: 2005-11-25 04:34 pm (UTC)Beyond that... I dont know, Shirow does very good SF cheesecake, but with the Major it just gives a kind of odd feeling! (^_^)