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Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex


spiffytee

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the shirow fans have been itching to see something else about ghost in the shell. so i hear that the movie was not true to the manga.... then again, if you're a shirow fan, you'll know he's really technical and we missed all that fancy stuff whenever his titles go animation.

 

well here's something technical. sometimes too technical. Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex. I hear there's 26 episodes of it and just as the name implies, each episode can be considered a stand alone episode. Reminicent of a lain and cowboy bebop fusion, this pulls in different directions. Even so, it does build up, showing a method to its madness.

 

Each episode starts off with an introduction of eye candy and enyaesque russian/english song. After creaming in your pants, you are treated to fluid smooth animation and sequences reminicent the shell shaded animation you see in the new video games.

 

i haven't seen the whole series yet, but am on something like episode 12. will keep yall updated.

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  • 5 months later...

alrigty... it's been awhile and i guess that the whole series is out now. very technical almost thriller-like style. there's always something lurking within the connected - not fully understood. basically the same type of thing going on in the movie. Someone's hacking into computers, editing and changing things... there's more interaction among the section 6 team, including the tachimoa thingys (sp?) and the characters seem more human than in the movie... major k is even given a spice of feminity. mabye it's just me, but it's really confusing (i'm about halfway through it.) slowly, things are making more sense, one layer at a time. if i were to compare the story to something, i would say lain with all that philosophy taken out and technology put in. It varies from miniplots to straight out main plots.

 

the animation is superb. Reminicent of lilo and stitch animation style; kinda like a fluid, computer generated movement in certain scenes.

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  • 11 months later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 1 year later...

B000GI3RHE.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V62663171_.jpg

 

man, this show is awesome.

top notch animation, and its crazy-techno-future shit with the cybernetic technology and such, but in a cool, approachable way, not as much the rushed, confusing way the original movie came off as (which, to be fair, was condensing Shirow's wordy epic down a lot).

Its like a crime drama in the future or something, and really clever at that. Im all of 8 episdoes in, and its clearly leading the plot down to this "laughing man" guy...anyway, im glad i watched this one first, im really enjoying it.

I dont know if im gonna be in the mood to finish Lain after it, tho.

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  • 2 months later...

So, i finally finished it, or at least season 1 of 2. This was one of the best animes ive seen in a long time.

 

The idea of haiving "stand alone" and "complex" episodes labeled was fun, and god knows i love the Tachikomas...i cant wait to get into their specials soon. I never knew id have such a penchant for adorable, childish, philosophical sentient-tanks.

 

But the overall plot ("The Laughing Man") was all well done, with all the fun techno-philosophy and future tech they could squeeze in, while still maintaining great characterization for the main cast, and a background plot that really built & delivered by its ending. For me, this was way better than the movies or manga.

 

2nd gig should be done in a few days, i very mcuh look forward to seeing more of this series, and of course the tachikomas. After that, i just got the new OAV "Solid State Society" so im set.

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  • 4 weeks later...

You can seriously enjoy the crap out of the series and never have seen the movie.

 

I cant even say how faithful the movie was to the manga....in relation to the series, there's only a few characters who carry over, and their roles are a bit different, tho its still Section 9 and the Major still kicks tremendous ass...but yeah, i never watched the 2nd movie and im loving this series, it works independently of the movies.

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You can seriously enjoy the crap out of the series and never have seen the movie.

 

I cant even say how faithful the movie was to the manga....in relation to the series, there's only a few characters who carry over, and their roles are a bit different, tho its still Section 9 and the Major still kicks tremendous ass...but yeah, i never watched the 2nd movie and im loving this series, it works independently of the movies.

Pffff... I haven't even read the manga. I tend to watch anime more than read manga (I need to eqaul them out a bit), but its been a really long time since I watched the first movie.

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sorry, missed this - honestly, reading a bit of the orignal manga again? Yeah, its Section 9, but there's more characters (i recall the original movie focusing on the Major and Batou mostly...i didnt remember who anybody at all was, jumped right into the series, and havent once felt like im missing out on anything or anyone, its good about the charcater of the main people.

 

Halfway through the 2nd gig...ive got to see how/if they make it out of this one, theyve got a helluva opponent this time...you know the series is gonna be good when there's an assasination attempt on the prime minister in the first episode or so. Shit's crazy right now, and this is sstill the best anime ive seen in quite some time.

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  • 2 years later...

so, after years of me pushing this as one of my favoritest animes of all time (and bish leaving season 1 for at least a year over here), sen followed Bakano with this one, and thoroughly enjoyed it...she just blazed through 2nd gig as well, and like most, agreed it was a finer season overall. The standalone episodes (sniper, several others) really did stand out on a 2nd viewing.

 

Totally wanna own this one one day. she's down to just Solid State Society...

"aw, poor tachikomas! they cant do this agian!!" << it really is so mean.

 

 

also, i didnt know 2nd gig got Tatchikomatic Days as well at the end of most episodes...so great.

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  • 10 years later...

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