Ghost in the Shell

[charliepanayi]

Here's the first trailer for the live-action film. Will it get over the casting controversy and the fact it's got a crap director? Decide for yourself! Alternatively, discuss the original anime, which is great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4VmJcZR0Yg

[Bubba]

That actually looks pretty good! I'm sure it'll end up being terrible though. It's one of my favourite animes of all time. Reminds me of watching it late night on Channel 4 as a kid!

[Yubel-Lover]

I watched it yesterday and honestly it was surprisingly good. As a great fan of the franchise, my expectations aren't that high, but maybe this way I'll be able to enjoy the movie better when it gets released.
To be fair though, the only things I really appreciated from GitS are the two movies by Oshii. SAC felt very meh, it had potential but it was handled very poorly (admittedly the second season was way better than the first one though). Arise was just terribad, mostly because of its characters.

[Fox]

Trailer was pretty cool. Apparently this is from the new film as well, although my only source for that is the person who posted the video. Sounds familiar though huh?

aXGPERcDvio

No idea what to expect here so... I'm keeping an open mind. I'd be stunned if it's as good as the original, but a decent, faithful adaptation will be worth my time as well.

Stand Alone Complex was better anyway :D

[Yubel-Lover]

Oh, man the memories are real. It always gives me goosebumps! :p
What I didn't like about SAC was the sheer amount of filler episodes (especially in the first season) that really suffocated the main storyline (I almost dropped it after finding out that the first three episodes were fillers). And the finale was also a bit rushed, they should've explained things a bit more imo. 2nd Gig is a lot better though, they fixed most of the issues that were present in the first season. But hey, great if you like it :D

[Tavrobel]

☑ Tower dive
☑ Body repair sequence
☑ Fighting someone with cloaking in the water
☑ Puppet Master

... this might actually work.

EDIT: After re-watching it, it could be Kuze. ☑ Still works.

[Fox]

So I just watched the 1995 film again, and then the trailer.

It's pretty clear that a few visual homages aside, this is a very different story. I'm getting more of a Stand Alone Complex vibe from it (hello android geisha from episode 1!). Which isn't a criticism, it's just good to know not to go in expecting a shot for shot remake.

[Tavrobel]

It'll probably wind up like the first episode of ARISE. Re-introduce the Major and Batou as though they were new characters. How old Section 9 is won't really be that important, but if it's the Puppet Master for the antagonist, I'm assuming Section 9 has been established for some time.

[Fox]

It'll probably wind up like the first episode of ARISE. Re-introduce the Major and Batou as though they were new characters. How old Section 9 is won't really be that important, but if it's the Puppet Master for the antagonist, I'm assuming Section 9 has been established for some time.

I never did get around to watching ARISE. How was it?

[Mirage]

Loved the original movie, have the manga, didn't like SAC, haven't watched anything else.

I'm cautiously looking forwards to this, i guess?

It seems like it might be able to capture the visual feel of the movie, and that's always a good thing. The reference scenes look decent.

[Yubel-Lover]

I never did get around to watching ARISE. How was it?

Don't do it. just... don't. I mean, the story wasn't that bad, but the Mayor was really unbereable to me.

[Cell]

Thought Johansson was a poor choice for the Major, but seeing as her recent stuff has shown a marked improvement in acting skills since she began in Eight Legged Freaks, I'm cautiously optimistic. The trailer looks as if Luc Besson had a go at Blade Runner, so that's something to like as well.

[Tavrobel]

I never did get around to watching ARISE. How was it?

It's difficult to recommend.

When the OVAs were originally released, they were out of chronological order in order to create an illusion of mystery, but it actually works better when told in chronological order. They were trying to pull a Haruhi, where it doesn't make any sense no matter what order you watch it in, but they kind of failed.

In comparison to SAC or the first movie, it's considerably less philosophical. The Major spends less time contemplating her own existence as a fully automatized person. As such, the other characters spend less time considering their relationships with the Major, in turn, which is kind of bad, because she ties everyone together. As a result, the people who liked the cyber-punk-philosophical aspect of SAC or the first movie will find ARISE lacking.

Where ARISE does succeed is the considerably higher screentime for action sequences. Despite the plot being a mess when told out of sequence, there is slightly more suspense to accompany the action. I can say it'll at least keep you engaged while you're watching it, even if at the end of the experience you wind up not being a fan. That also means zero filler (even though all of the "filler" SAC episodes wound up tying back to the final three episodes of each season anyway).

Also, the original OVA releases came without the final episodes (9 and 10), which tied the series together. If you watch the TV re-release, Alternative Architecture, it has everything in proper order, which is how this should be watched anyway, in my opinion. The movie that goes with this universe is the 2015 movie, which was a little more well received.

I expect the live-action movie to resemble the 2015 movie the most, now that I think about it.