 |
 |
Ghost
in the Shell
Genre: Drama
KalaxDG's Overall Score:
8.0
|
Reviewer: KalaxDG
Type of Review: General
| Entertainment |
Plot
|
Characters
|
Animation
|
Overall
|
|
7.0
|
8.0
|
7.0
|
10
|
8.0
|
Masamune
Shirow's blockbuster cyberpunk film Ghost in the Shell
is right up there in the hall of fame with Akira as
being the 'eye-opener' of North America to the anime
world. Together, although they have violence and nudity,
they proved to the West that anime was not simply violence,
sex, or childishness. Ghost in the Shell is obviously
very well made, with a great plot, themes, touching
conflicts (especially internal human conflicts), and
superb artwork.
Ghost in
the Shell is set in the future - 2029 to be exact -
when technology has advanced far enough that most humans
are part-machine part-human cyborgs. This is the type
of body Mokoto Kusanagi has, a special police agent,
who now has a specific mission to accomplish for her
job: track down the superhacker known only as "the
Pupper Master", who has managed to break into pretty
much the entire internet world mysteriously. But unbeknownst
to Mokoto and her partner Bateau, this hacker is a life
form like none they've ever seen before.
Character
development is key to Ghost in the Shell. Probably the
most-used aspect of this story is Mokoto's inner conflict
between her need to be strong (robotic) and her need
to be natural (human). This gives off the large blaring
lights as to the main theme of this film. Other than
her, the characters are all fairly normal; nothing else
is notable.
Now the artwork of Ghost in the Shell is something that
really stands out; the extremely detailed drawings of
the city are more 'advanced' than almost any other anime
of this style. It really did set cornerstone in animation
design.
Ghost
in the Shell, renowned as one of the most popular, visually
stunning, and historic anime, is a great film, but really
nothing more than that. Many people go on about it for
the same lengths as Akira, the other historic anime
that doesn't really deserve all the attention it receives.
But Ghost in the Shell is considered a classic of the
medium, and essential in proving anime to be an adult
culture as well as a young culture. Wortha view, but
not worth a cult.
|
