Anime: Ghost in the Shell

Story:

The story centers around section 9 as they are deployed to solve criminal cases in this cases dealing with ghost hackers, a ghost being this anime's term for the human consciousness. The case in this film deals with a cyber terrorist known as the puppet master and the name alone should already be able to suggest what it is that he or she does.

Plot:
If there is one thing I could say about Ghost in the shell's plot is that it is tight, it never strays of point and every event leads up to one finale. This film doesn't waste time on anything unnecessary and because off this it manages to fit a lot of information into its short run length. The film manages to bring up a lot of themes whether it be during a short conversation between Batou and the Major or merely through its events having you question whether this cyberization is right by merely seeing what things happen to common people because of it. It does this all while weaving an intriguing mystery throughout the plot in the form of who or what is the puppet master something which both is and isn't answered. There are indeed many questions asked such as what defines sentience? what if your memories are fake, does that make them meaningless? what part of us is human, is it just the brain or is it more than that?

Exposition and structure:
The exposition in Ghost in the shell is handled beautifully and in a manner that I can really admire as it doesn't go out of its way like other pieces of fiction to explain details of the world within character interactions while trying to make it seem believable that one character is informing the other usually by having it be something that the other character had no prior knowledge of. Ghost in the shell instead opts to play out under the notion that everyone already knows all the basics of the world and you just have to figure out what it means in other words "show don't tell", when done wrong it makes the plot hard to follow but in this instance it allows it to flow nicely, you can figure out what ghost and shell means and by presenting information in this way no time is wasted in this film's short time span of 86 minutes. There is still of course some exposition given through dialogue but it is always kept short and to the point, for example when Togusa asks the Major why he, a regular cop was chosen to work for section 9 which leads the Major on to explain how he has near to no cyborg implementation on his body and she claims that they need someone like him. this tells the viewer that everyone else in section 9 does have some sort of cyborg implementation and the short scene near the beginning of the major's body being built already told is that she is the only one who is fully a cyborg and since she mentioned implementation with the body and not replacement of the body we assume that the rest of the members of section 9 are only partially cybernetik.

I feel that the only significant flaw in the story was the Film's length and that it could have been even more had it been longer which in it's own right would also be a compliment.

Characters:

I would like to start out by saying that I felt that this was the area where the length of the film hit the overall outcome the hardest as due to time constraint there wasn't much room to develop the secondary characters but the Major made up for this by having an extreme amount of depth with doubt about her own existence and having her say "it's that time of the month" showing that even though she is a cyborg she still perceives herself as a human being, she also undergoes significant change due to an event that happens later in the story but I shall not go into detail on that as that would be a spoiler. The secondary characters however do have great charisma and both their actions and personalities help add to the story through finding new information to opening you up to new ideas, one secondary character however which is well developed is the puppet master as they through questioning their own existence and communicating with the major bring more even more themes related to the setting. in the end all the characters manage to feel human (as ironic as that may be) and they are generally quite memorable which is important as what they say and do is what is important in the plot of Ghost in the shell.

Art & Animation

Art:
The designs of the characters are on the more realistic end of the spectrum which helps add to the serious tone that this film creates and the technology on display while somewhat dated in aesthetic, they do look like they could really exist especially taking in account that this was made in 1995 but I feel the design is the strongest with the characters that are ghost hacked as they are specifically drawn to look uncanny, close to human but not close enough as if to show that their humanity had been taken away. The detail also adds to the atmosphere as it makes it is very gritty and helps add to the immersion of the show, the art blends in perfectly with the setting and it somehow reaches a level of detail that is hard to reach even by today's standards and when you take into account that this was hand drawn you can't help but be in awe at this film's splendor.

Animation:
The movements are fluid and the motions seem once again realistic giving an even greater sense of immersion but where the animation truly shines in this film is the direction. The overall story is well paced, not going by to fast and leaving you confused but also not going to slow causing boredom in the viewer and even though this film is so tight for time it even at one points devotes a minute or two to just showing the scenery, from the grimy buildings and rivers to the run down market place which helps you take in the setting and contextualize everything that happens on a subconscious level. It also allows for the viewer to have a break and take everything in before the dense plot to progress and get more complex without causing confusion, I must say that I really did appreciate this scene especially since there was such a restriction on time. Not to mention that when the scene changed to another one there was a short pause during the new scene so that you had time to realize a new scene had started, this seems simple but in reality when you don't do this the film shall fell cluttered, too fast paced and becomes hard to follow especially in a dialogue heavy film.

Sound:

Music:
The soundtrack suits this film very well and helps set the mood for every scene, it may not be powerful like a Kajiura track but it is beautifully composed and manages to create a very entrancing yet distant atmosphere with slow build ups throughout the tracks adding more sounds as it progresses but never getting too fast, clouded or heavy until it slowly fades out at the end having sounds be removed from the piece and leaving you in awe. However when there is a more intense soundtrack required the composer Kenji Kawaii delivers. The entire soundtrack feels almost supernatural in a sense, it is hard to explain but at the same time it is mesmerizing with my favorite track being Nightstalker.

Voice acting:
Both the Japanese and English dubs were solid and while their are some voices which could be better in the English dub it was truly amazing for its time as the voices of the ghost hacked people felt distant and emotionless while when a character did need to show emotion the voice actors were able to pull it off nicely. The puppet master also had a very monotone voice which in the context of the story suited them nicely.

Sound effects:
There were no major problems with the sound effects, gun shots sounded like gunshots and footsteps sounded like footsteps, there are rarely times where the sound effects wowed me but they all felt real which I feel is a much more important aspect for this film as in the end while it portrays a world more advanced than ours it portrays it in a way that makes it feel like it is possible, a world that we could reach some day.

Value:

With the influence this has had on the genre both inside and outside the medium to a the point where it inspired the matrix and the themes that this film explored which could be ones which we may face in the future I would say that this is definitely a must watch film regardless of whether or not you are an anime fan.

“If you don’t know where you’re from, then you don’t know where you are, and you don’t know where you’re going.” It’s a clichéd if truthful saying, especially for this film. Well, sort of. This film knows where it’s going, but it doesn’t know how to get there, it doesn’t know where it is, and it doesn’t know where it’s from. This film is a voice pining to speak, but it studders at every word.

So where does this leave Ghost in the Shell? Read on to find out.

In the year 2029, cybernetic technology has strengthened the human body and connected the human mind. Barriers have been broken as people can access the Internet with just their body alone. But with this new tech, comes cyber criminals looking to exploit it, and Section 9, a group tasked with stopping cyber criminals. One criminal, the Puppet Master, is skilled enough to hack the human mind. As Section 9 works to track him down, his very existence will challenge the idea of what it means to be human.

This is because almost every member of Section 9 is cybernetically enhanced. They’re basically super soldiers, with abilities far beyond even what most civilians can do. But at the same time, they’re just as vulnerable as anyone else. If a cybernetically enhanced person is hacked, their memories can be deleted or they can be fooled into believing a false life. Even then, their bodies need maintenance, and a system failure on that end would mean going back to their old shells or returning to dust. The story is basically used to explore what it means to be human.

But Ghost in the Shell explores these themes with as much discipline as an undisciplined soldier. Sometimes the themes are used believably, like with Motoko or Togusa’s dialog with the captured criminals after the garbage truck chase scene. Or Section 9’s dialog in Daisuke’s office about something they discovered. These scenes are believable because it raises the questions the film wants to ask, without letting them become heavy, so the plot still moves forward.

At other times, the theme use is cringeworthy. The last dialog from the Puppet Master shows an evolutionary tree several times, with the most roundabout way of saying “I want to evolve.” Or the boatside dialog between Motoko and Batou, where the former switches from soldier to philosopher at the drop of a hat, with deep water metaphors abound. There is actually a point where the second scene takes Batou’s point of view, giving the effect of Motoko talking to the viewer. Seriously.

Seriously. The film wants to be thought provoking, but doesn’t know how to express itself. At some points it expresses itself quietly, letting scarce dialog and a lot of plot progress imply questions for its viewers. At other times, the questions are loudly overplayed, hitting viewers over the head and grinding the plot to a halt. The story itself, for all the international conspiracy it involves, is underplayed. But that’s not a problem, since it’s just a vehicle for the themes the film tries to convey.

Too bad then, that said vehicle breaks down several times throughout the film. For minutes on end, the plot is road blocked by scenes of Motoko being cybernetically enhanced, random scenes of the city, and scenes of the military getting ready. But only the military scenes resemble story progress. The city scenes don’t progress the story, and Motoko’s scene would have worked as part of her background, but becomes pointless when later scenes explain it anyway. Time spent on these montages should have been used smoothing out character progress.

Most of the characters themselves have the same personality (military badass), making them hard to tell apart. Some background can help to tell them apart, but most of them are undeveloped on that end too, or share the same background anyway (“we’re all cybernetically enhanced”). This only leaves character progress to save its cast, but the result is like a failed military mission. And the one who takes the most casualties from this is Motoko.

Motoko has the most progress in the film, but it comes in chunks and lacks sincerity. Spending most of the film being a military badass, peppered with scenes FILLED with philosophical rambling, or worry over Section 9’s discovery, simply doesn’t compute. It lacks a middle ground to bridge the opposite sides of her personality, so it’s hard to believe her as the same person. Character progress should be steady, not sudden. The only one with steady progress is Batou.

Batou starts as a military badass, whose humanity slowly shows itself as the film goes on. During the boatside dialog, the viewer can get a sense of why Batou tagged along with Motoko when she’s changing out of her swimwear. During the dialog in Daisuke’s office, Batou casually tells Togusa why a recent discovery is a sore spot for Section 9. And during the last scenes, Batou’s emotions finally boil over in the end confrontation with the Puppet Master.

And speaking of confrontation, there’s the actions scenes in the film, and by extension, the film’s aesthetics. The animation is fluid, but the art design itself is grimy and imperfect. There’s a sense that every street in the city has been lived in, that characters have worn out their outfits, that colors lack any life to them. It’s not pretty, but then again, a crime that can invade the mind itself wouldn’t be pretty. The visuals have an organic look despite the high-tech setting and being computer generated, making them more impressive.

The action scenes themselves are quiet, forgoing actual music in favor of bone-crunching sound effects. The ground crunches when Motoko drops from a large height, and gun shots are the only melody during action-packed symphonies. Some of the scenes, like a criminal’s leg being twisted, or the snapping of Motoko’s arms when she’s trying to open an army tank, can be hard to watch. But that just goes with the gritty feel the film tries—and succeeds—to give.

There IS actual music, a haunting, choir-like piece. But it’s used in the montages that do almost nothing for the story, making for a nice but pointless soundtrack. Time spent on those montages should have been used to smooth out character progress. Even then, the story’s themes are believably used one moment, then without subtlety the next moment. Some viewers may wish the Puppet Master would delete their memories of wasting 82 minutes gawking at aesthetic wonders.

Now, to say Ghost in the Shell is enjoyable with the viewer’s brain turned off, watching it for the underplayed story, and being wowed by the aesthetics is a reasonable stance. But that would be ignoring everything else the film tries to do, and for something trying to be thought provoking, it’s inexcusable. This film may be a smart Ghost, but the voice it leaves behind is only a Shell of what it could be.

Mild spoilers ahead.

A droning future has been with us since 1995. A scary future, where angel-winged helicopters monitor a restless city that looks like a Hongkong-Venice-Tokyo mashup. Everywhere, stupidly translucent screens shimmer greenly, with random source code snippets on display, controlled somewhere in dimly lit bunkers, where cyborg overlords hack into conscious 'puters at rapid fire speeds.

Good thing then, that section 9, a Japanese Sci-fi NSA-FBI is at the ready. A naked Major Kusanagi, in equal parts existential philosopher and highly skilled military femme fatal is looking for answers. Her brains are real or so it seems, but her body is manufactured in an oddly descriptive opening sequence, where cold and tasteful lady parts dance to Kenji Kawaii's ungodly ethereal chanted wedding tune. After two minutes you are either in love or switched the channel.

Then, a dense story starts to unfold, tangled and bleak, always flirting with incomprehensibility. Too much information comes in too quickly, we need a break or two to write down who said what and why, to follow the conspiracy of sinister forces and their intelligent machines. We get those breaks surprisingly enough, even though there's no time. At barely over an hour long, Ghost in the Shell is compressed story telling that needs all the minutes it got.

But alas, in between a somber and complex cyberpunk world, the viewer is invited to urban scenery porn, swimming in the open sea, drinking cheap beer on a rented boat. The museum scene finally, pulls out all the stops, for some intense moments of exploitation cinema, an explosion of undercurrents in a mostly quiet and cerebral film. The marriage of complex themes and simple things of manly appreciation (tits, guns, car chases) never worked better and to more effect.

And so, Mr. Oshii's biggest achievement to date is to transform a childish, largely dim-witted comic, full of badly drawn gun fetishism and lesbian robo-love into one of the best Sci-fi movies of the 1990s. A dystopian future that many years later, still inspires rambling essays on a vision of tomorrow, that looks still possible and relevant today.

(Join me next time, where I explain all the things wrong with movie number two.)

GiTS, the story of an anti-terrorist group of men and cyborgs, as they prevent cyber crimes and try to apprehend a criminal who manipulates the memories of his victims. And this is not even the tip of the iceberg.

1995 was a major turning point in anime and stands as the point where the gold era of Japanese animation began. The industry started taking risks and making a lot of interesting titles thereafter for over a decade. A reason is the great effect Neon Genesis had on its mainland audience, which inspired the companies to fund affiliated works, things that before that anime would pass as risky and not profitable. Another reason is the coming of a new form or data recording. I am referring to the DVD which offered much higher analysis and resolution than the CD and thus allowing for anime to look better.

Also, the third generation of anime fans came to be around this point for me.
- The first is the one in the mid 60’s who grew up with Tetsuwan Atom and Tetsoujin 28. That generation was given works of producers who grew up in WW2 and thus all famous works of that time have to do with technology and sadness around a vastly changed world which seems to have lost its innocence, yet strives on with hope.
- The second is the one in the early 80’s who grew up with Urusei Yatsura and Macross. That generations was given less depressing works and a world now recovered from war and enjoying unparallel technological achievements.
- The third generation is the one I am referring to this point. Their country was going through economic depression and the end of the world speculation fuss had created this feeling of unrest and doubt to the problems technology can solve. So once again the feeling returned to a more depressing one around technology and the change of the world, just like before.

All that contributed to the creation and even to the success of Ghost in the Shell, a movie phenomenon for its time and era in general. If it was made a few years back, chances are it would flop badly because the audience was not mentally ready to accept such a concept yet. Even Akira, which was also an instant hit, was far simpler in its ideas and based half its appeal on action and mass destruction, something this movie does not have. Although it itself probably inspired by even older sci-fi classics such as Blade Runner or Neuromancer, it still succeeded in further progressing the main theme of man-machine interface to far deeper regions.

The story is basically the loose adaptation of the homonymous manga, which was a phenomenon on its own. And since I love lists, here are the reasons of why this film, and by extension the manga, is so great.

1) Great production values. Even better than Akira, which also counts as great. Cinematography is masterful as everything is drawn and animated in a way it feels alive, There is an amazing detail given to machinery and various parts explain brand new technologies and applications. It gives you the feeling that it is all possible and probable, making you believe them as viable and not as mumbo jumbo magic technology like in other sci-fi works. The smart camera angles, the right use of BGM, and several scenes which are used only as mute depiction of a feeling or a mood. All that make viewing a pleasure unlike anything else ever made up until then.

2) Great story and concepts. The blur between reality and virtual reality may feel commonplace today but this movie is from the oldest examples and still holds today as amongst the most mature and well-thought-of takes on the subject. In fact, more than half of all following movies were heavily influenced by this work and any similarities may as well be considered as tribute to this one. Also, unlike most other variants on augmented or virtual reality which focus on a small concept or part of the world, here the idea covers all aspects of life, from society, to religion, to philosophy, to one’s personal search for identity and happiness.

3) Great characters. Motoko, Batou and Togusa are three very easy to understand yet complicating personalities, all a product of their era, affected by the ever-present technology yet still making their own personal choices. The movie is more about them having existentialism dialogues than fighting criminals and more about separating reality from illusion to completing their mission and go home for beers. There were many shows about people turning to robots or robots trying to be people before, but most were quite simple and all ended up by having to beat a bad guy or something. Here, the main bad guy of sorts is the Puppet Master who, as corny as his name sounds, is actually a very interesting character by himself; not really evil or with hatred towards the world. In fact, nobody is really evil as is selfish and profit-centered. Mercenaries and company presidents and politicians, all of them just try to make the best of what they can in a world run by information and the power of stealth ends up being more effective than the power of guns.

I have heard lots of things from people who didn’t like the movie and almost all of them are about how the film doesn’t have great action or how they keep talking and acting all emo instead of, I don’t know, shot at stuff and laugh like they enjoy what they are doing. To those people I can only say that this is not a brain-dead action story like the Transformers or Black Lagoon. It is dialogue-heavy and full of talking around philosophy and politics and the meaning of life. It may feel like it’s preachy or overblown with emoness at times but, hey, that was what it aimed for in the first place. I too would prefer longer action scenes and longer duration to get to see more about the world that is why Story and Enjoyment don’t stand as perfect for me; but I’m not going to disregard all the rest just because of that minor issue.

A thing to take notice is that the manga version has a far different feeling, as the characters there are more comical and act more like humans. If you prefer less depressing stuff, you can just read the manga version. Also, a decade later they made two tv seasons based on the same story, and again the feeling is different as here the characters think and act more like amoral professionals rather than people who seek a reason for being. You can also check that one. And if you still find the concept simplistic after all these years and how today all that are mainstream stuff, you can also “try” to read the second GiTS manga or the watch the second GiTS movie, where things are even harder to understand. Good luck to you; I lost track at some point and my organic hard drive crashed so I left it for another time.

Bottom line, GiTS stands as most likely the best in overall and most influential cyberpunk work to hit the screens and tv screens and it is still a concept that was never surpassed in detail and attention by any other producer or filmmaker. Seriously, the Matrix trilogy looks like elementary school before it.

In a world turned by technology into an electronic prison, a woman tries to free herself for her cybernetic body's limitations to rise toward a higher level of existence and leave behind the residues of her humanity.

Animation
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While more then 10 years old, *Ghost in the Shell* still looks brand new. I have no idea how much money they spent and how much time it took, but because of the sheer amount of detail and effects like reflections, waves and explosions*Ghost in the Shell* is comparable to what the peak of technology had to offer five years **after** it was made. It's still better than most modern, normal-budgeted anime.

GITS feels realistic thanks to the movements and facial expressions of the characters. The character design is different from what can be seen in Masamune Shirow's manga, the modifications aimed at making the characters more credible.

Mamoru Oshii's direction is, as always, pure genius. He gives value to every character, every action scene, every cityscape down to the single blocks and makes sequences that efficiently and beautifully visualize the main themes the anime explores. A mannequin is a reference to the limitations of a physical body -- "I feel free to grow only within a limited space", the protagonist says -- while reflective surfaces drive home an important quote: "we see things as if in a mirror, darkly". There are many examples of this throughout the movie. Seldom seen in anime, this technique always works admirably for those who look beyond the appearance, pushing the viewer in the right direction as he tries to understand the most difficult parts of the message this anime sends.

Sound
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The soundtrack is very strange; it doesn't work at all by itself, but coupled with the anime it creates an aura of mysticism. In the same way most soundtracks warn the viewer that something's going to happen when they change from a slow to a fast rhythm, Ghost in the Shell's soundtrack seems to try to warn us that there's something more than what we're seeing, that something spiritual is hiding just behind the image. The best example is the sequence commonly referred to as *the making of the android*, which is also the title of the track that comes with it. The assembly of a mechanical body from its basic parts is depicted like an industrial process, but the music makes it feel like something sacred, like the birth of a new life.

While the Japanese and Italian dubbing are great, the English one simply sucks and I invite native English speakers to use the original Japanese audio with English subtitles.

Story
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The setting is a futuristic city where electronics pervade everything, even the bodies of its inhabitants. It is made clear that the same is true for most of the developed world. Getting a cyberbrain -- i. e. having one's brain enclosed in a titanium shell and connected to an array of devices that make it more powerful -- is almost necessary to be part of society and people without a ciberbrain working in politics, in the police or in big corporations are simply unheard of. With or without a cyberbrain, most inhabitants of that city appear as a crowd in which it's difficult to distinguish one individual from another. It's the crowd of the powerless, easily exploited and deceived by the powerful through information control. Almost everything that counts is in the hands of either the police, the military or the corporations. The Internet, or whatever has taken its place in that future, is the opium of the masses, the channel through which the powerful can actually wield their power.

Control of the government is contended between several political or military factions with conflicting interests. If one could draw the relations between all those factions, the resulting pattern would be a jaggy mess. It's a very confusing game where nobody waits for his turn, where knowing the other player's hand is a basic requirement for playing and where the winner is always the biggest cheater.

Against this complicated background, lifted straight out of Masamune Shirow's excellent manga, Motoko Kusanagi's story unfolds. The movie covers the last days of her service in the anti-terrorism section of the state police, the period during which she grows more and more detached from her own life and tries to break free from the limits of the physical world. Her brain is all that's left of her natural body, everything else having been replaced when she was very young. The loss of a natural body sets the starting point of the story: Motoko has forgotten what it's like to be human and the separation between her self and her body allows for the feeling that her soul -- or *ghost* -- is something that could exist outside of her body and is currently trapped within a metallic *shell*. After several important events that will aggravate her feelings, an opportunity to escape will be provided in a surprising twist.

Ghost in the Shell is complex only in the sense that it avoids to give a clear picture of the forces moving the story onwards during most of its length; however, it does become quite simple during the last minutes and the viewer does get all the answers he needs (unlike several other annoying anime I won't talk about just now). What's most important, **there are no characters who suddenly jump in and explain the story in a long and boring tirade**, an incredibly annoying element typical of movies with an exceedingly complex plot. While at times *Ghost in the Shell* may be a little difficult to follow, the viewer doesn't feel overly confused nor, worse, led by his hand like a child.

Characters
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Rather than character development, what we have here is character **exploration**. The characters are very interesting and the movie lets you look inside them.

Section 9 is an anti-terrorism team acting under the direction of Aramaki, a middle-aged man who uses the agents' military force and his own political influence to carry out his own agenda. Aramaki is the typical *old fox*, a wise and cautious strategist and tactician. His role in the movie is to expose the complex games of power of the politicians to the viewer.

The most interesting character is probably Motoko, the protagonist, anguished and suffering inside but at the same time cold and detached, sometimes merciless, outside. The parts of the movie where her deepest part surfaces are among the most beautiful of the movie. Oshii chose to show Motoko emerging from the depth of the sea as a metaphor of her most hidden part showing itself for the first time; a short time after that scene, Motoko will expose her thoughts in an interesting monologue that utterly shatters the idea that *Ghost in the Shell* is just an entertaining movie with naked cyborgs.

Personal enjoyment
--------------------------
I'll never grow tired of this movie; it is, in my mind, the nearest thing to my idea of the "perfect" movie, both highly entertaining and thought provoking.

Overall
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GITS is, objectively, one of the great masterpieces anime has produced. It isn't something unreachable, indeed I think it has been reached and even surpassed more than once and this is proof that Japanese animation has been and, in my opinion, still is a very healthy environment where beautiful things can grow.

Mankind has surpassed itself through technological advances. Cybernetic bodies have enabled our muscles to become many times more powerful. Our ability to process large amounts of data is easily taken care of by our cyberbrains. The net has become so interactive and vast that it's a world of its own. Human memories can be written and read easily as data. In a world like this, are there any humans left or is it just a world populated with humanoid computers?[br][br]In this setting, "Ghost in the Shell" (GitS) makes you ponder questions similar to that one. It's an existentialistic anime.[br][br]Animation / Art [br]Overall the quality of the drawn animation is kept high throughout the entire movie. There are also some scenes that are just amazingly done, like when the cyborg is being built in the opening scenes. But the 3d scenes that we sometimes see through the movie, are not that great. To me, this is not a huge minus, since i know that this is such an old movie that 3d was not all that advanced at the time.[br][br]They have also managed to render such a realistic vision of the future that it's hard not to believe in it. This, in spite of all the science-fiction technology we get to see. They achieved this using near photo realistic backgrounds and by not falling into the vicious trap of creating a utopia future. GitS is ugly when it has to be, it's cold and mechanic, but most important of all, it's realistic. It's the kind of future that might seem likely when you look the world today.[br][br]Animation rated 9/10, so good that even though it's ten years old, it's still kickass in comparison to current anime. Would have been 10 points if the 3d scenes were up to par.[br][br]Sound[br] "Less is more" seems to be the principle they followed when creating the sound for Gits. Music is ambient which is a very original choice for an anime. It enhances the grim and cold future in GitS. The voice actors' do a good job. I can't imagine anyone else in the role for Motoko, for instance. Her voice voice is dark and cynical in comparison to other female voice actors'. Sound effects deserve a mention too. Not great, but good enough. The sound never dominates. It's always working in the background with the other elements of the anime. Personally, i believe this is a good thing for a Sci-Fi movie with ambitious goals.[br][br]Story[br]What defines me as an individual? When does a cyborg cease being human? [br][br]If you have never asked yourself these questions, then you will now (even if you're not a cyborg). These are the main elements of the story in GitS. This is also why it's called an existentialistic anime. GitS is not the only anime that's like that, but it's the only one that goes deeper than merely scratching the surface. The downside to this is, that if you don't appreciate philosophizing, then Gits won't offer you anything else story wise. The plot could be interpreted as straight forward or ambiguous. The first time i watched it, i didn't really understand. Now the plot development seems logical and straight forward to me, yet i can't really fully understand what this movie is trying to convey. Perhaps that was their intention though, to just ask questions and not answer them?[br][br]Character [br]This is one place where GitS falls short of other animes and movies. There is almost no character development. Sounds awful, doesn't it? But hold your horses because GitS does things a bit differently. Where regular anime mostly focuses on character development and plot, GitS focuses mostly on the plot. This actually works, as the resulting plot is that much more interesting. The little development there is is happens to Motoko, the lead character. The other characters are pretty much on a standstill.[br][br]Value[br]Thanks to the plot, this movie will never get old. You may get tired of watching the action scenes (although they are also well done) but you will not get tired of philosophizing about the questions asked in GitS. The animation also helps, because it's so realistic it's not something you'll grow tired of fast. Maybe not very noteworthy, but the scenes we see of the city while it's raining are some of the most beautiful i have ever seen in any animation.[br][br]Of course, if you like neither the animation nor the plot then this movie will have very little rewatchability for you. In that case, the action scenes should at least keep you entertained the first watch.[br][br]Enjoyment[br]High. The animation, the sound, the story and the characters are all working together enhancing each other and the result is a very good movie. Note that some scenes i would not recommend watching for people under 16. Unless you're under 13 and like to see cybernetic arms disintegrate.[br][br]I enjoyed watching this movie a lot. It's difficult to put my finger on it, but there are a lot of possible reasons.[br][br]1. Realistic vision of the future?[br]2. Philosophizing over existentialistic questions?[br]3. Beautiful animation and art?[br][br]Or something else entirely. I don't know.[br][br]And that's it for my review, rounding it of i would just like to say that all of this are just my opinions. They should be taken as such[br](and not as absolute truths). I hope i succeeded in describing this movie for you, and that i helped you in your decision on whether or[br]not you're going to watch this. Thank you so much for reading my first review.[br]