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What A Cartoon Movie! - Ghost in the Shell (Patreon)

Published:
2020-08-31 03:53:00
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

This month we're doing our first film by globally respected director Mamoru Oshii, as we discuss his challenging and iconic adaptation of Ghost in the Shell. With some standout animation and a major marketing push, GitS made a massive impact in the English-speaking world, so learn how Oshii's career brought him the cyberpunk feature. Then listen along as we critique the film with modern eyes and try to unlock this enigmatic movie.

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Comments

Dan Vincent

Stand Alone Complex is the definitive Ghost in the Shell to me. The movie has a lot of good visuals, but the issues it wants to touch (AI, ethics of technology, etc) needs the time a television series can provide, and it both looks great and tells a great story. By trying to cut down on the big ideas and narrow the focus the film loses a lot of the charm, and then what it does save winds up being poorly paced. SAC gives all the characters a lot more to work with.

Richard Mccarthy

I attempted to watch this twice, once after work and then on Saturday morning, and my general malaise and tiredness led to the movie defeating me again. I might try again one day, but I'm happy to know the film is kinda impenetrable, and I'm not just a dummy.

Jonathan

The Oshii secret is that Patlabor 2 is.his best film by far. GITS is just kinda boring, especially compared to Shiros comics.

nina matsumoto

Until I met Bob, I thought I was the only person who didn't like this film. Re: the theme song (which I LOVE and is one of the only things I like about this film), you got some info scrambled there. There is no "Nue dialect" -- the nue is a type of bird the song references in the lyrics. It's also the name of a mythical creature which the song might also be referring to. It also isn't in an indigenous dialect; it's just old archaic Japanese.

CitizenMeh

I always thought I was the only one who disliked GITS- the first 15 minutes are great, but then it loses me every time. In contrast, think this was one of the best episodes of WaC yet.

Jonathon

As an unapologetic fan of this film, I can definitely understand why people don't care for it. It is an anti-action film filled with vague conversations that don't give you a great idea of what's happening, which obfuscates a very straightforward plot. What I like about it, though, is it's the most tonally consistent version and is laser-focused on Kusanagi struggling with an existential crisis. The whole movie she tries to find ways to discuss things like her resentment of being a tool for extrajudicial assassinations and just isn't really able to do so successfully since everyone is isolated emotionally. This gives her a good reason to follow up on the Puppet Master's proposal, where the manga really undermines this with how much of a social life she has. It was really fun learning a lot more about the creators behind this and hearing your take on it, so thanks for yet another great episode!

is marcy still burning

I absolutely love this movie, I understand and respect your critiques but its still by far my favorite installment in the GitS franchise but not my favorite Oshii film, that honor has to go to the first Patlabor film. I think it would satisfy you more than Ghost because it does have time to show the characters relaxing during their down time and has them go on a regular pericardial case before the big conspiracy mystery plot kicks in. I'd also be remiss to not recommend the second Patlabor film which takes a similar extremely slow, contemplative approach to tell a story of detectives investigating a hacker that will be humanized by the end. Except instead of philosophy 101 discussions the main conflict Oshii wants you to think about is how and when military force should be implemented or if it should at all and how the decisions or indecision of government leaders greatly effects regular people. Sorry if this message was all over the place but I guess what I'm trying to say is check out Patlabor

Nick Rothe

The strongest memories I had of this was being excited to watch this when it was on cable. Late night there was ad's for Ghost in the Shell as well saying" This is not your Fathers cartoon!"

Joe Kafchinski

I wouldn't let your disillusionment with the movie scare you off Stand Alone Complex. I seem to remember that you guys liked Psycho-Pass, and that's pretty much just S.A.C. remixed, so I think you'll like the series as well. I love Ghost in the Shell in pretty much all its formats, but if I'm being honest, these films are probably the worst jumping-on point for a new fan. The manga is great but has some major tonal whiplash, with bawdy sex jokes on one page and kids suffering existential psychological horrors on the next. The Arise films dive into the Major's backstory more than other incarnations, but in more of a mystery sense than the movie's "what does it all MEAN?!?!" sense. I'll even defend the ScarJo movie. It borrowed Oshii's excruciating pace and added a stupid, redundant corporate villain, but it's a visual masterpiece and it's got Beat Takeshi in it. But there's no question that Stand Alone Complex is the crowning jewel here. It asks questions about technological society without making everything about the Major's identity, leading to a series that (if I may be a bit cliche) is seemingly more relevant every day. It's definitely my recommended starting point, and they've even re-edited a few of the Complex arcs into films that give a nice, meaty, bite without the need to commit to a 50+ episode series. (The whole series is divided into Stand Alone episodes and Complex arcs, so you'd probably want to make sure to pick a Stand Alone episode if you decide to cover the show.)

Dylan (batmanboy11) Freitag

I enjoyed watching it a lot (with a couple of exceptions), but I didn’t love the movie. I definitely agree with you guys that it’s very Freshman Philosophy in a lot of ways, though I do think broaching the idea of self-aware AI or android life and the idea that it should be treated as sacred as we say human life is, is something that’s often ignored in favour of the Terminator or Matrix situation, where inevitably it comes to destroy humanity. So, since Ghost in the Shell was leaning more towards the former, I wish it had actually done MORE with those ideas, partially through defining the Major better (as you said) and making us understand her own longing to find her authentic self. For me though, the way the film plays with gender, with the relatively sterile ways it presents her (essentially) naked body, her vagina-lessness, and Puppet Master having no gender while appearing in a “female” body with a “male” voice, was enough to keep my attention on things throughout the film. Definitely though, there is still an element of an uncomfortable male gaze even if the horniness is toned down, and outside of that, sequences like the extended travel through Hong Kong streets did get my mind to wander a bit. Likewise, there were some bits in it that I did have to rewind and focus hard on to really get the point, so I’m glad to hear it wasn’t just me. I think ultimately, the visuals and the way it plays with some things were enough for me to have fun with the movie, but it’s not something I would revisit or contemplate as much as other mid-to-late 90s sci-fi anime fair. -- I'm definitely pretty interested to check out Stand Alone Complex some time, so that's worth something.

Guy Incognito

Great episode as usual. I love how thorough you guys are. One correction: you're right that the city is visually based on Hong Kong, but the movie (and all iterations of the franchise) are set in the fictional Japanese city of Niihama-shi, translated as New Port City. They mention this in the very first spoken line ("To all patrolling air units, a 208 is in progress...in the C-13 district of New Port City"), but it's only mentioned again once so it's easy to miss. Especially since, as Henry said, the signs are all in Chinese. I'd be interested to know why they chose to do that. Maybe they wanted to evoke a more globalized future, similar to the very multicultural future LA of Blade Runner? Anyway, that's only in the movies; in all other versions, like Stand Alone Complex, it's a more typical Japanese city. Speaking of which: please, please, please check out Stand Alone Complex. The other commenters are right, it's by far the best version of Ghost in the Shell. Every time you guys said "I like this part" or "I wish they had gone more into this" about the movie, I wanted to shout, "That's what Stand Alone Complex is about!"

Kurono

An interest thing I have to add as an non english speaker. In Germany first glimpse of GitS came with a Musik Video.Wamdue Project with King of my castle. This has to be pretty much the og AMV. Mentioned Music Video had to be around 1999, while I bought the DVD in the 2000s.