Ghost In The Shell (1996) Full Reaction!
Added 2023-07-26 01:50:18 +0000 UTCThis movie was NOT what we expected but thank you for picking this as the July Patron Pick of the Month!!! It's truly one of a kind!
Comments
This is one of my go to comfort movies. It has SUCH a vibe. In the 80s and 90s there was a series of tone poem movies like Baraka. Movies where the director just went to a place and filmed it’s beautiful and put together a narrative based on the emotions the images can draw out rather than any dialog. That was hugely influential on the still scenes in this film. Also much of the complaints leveled against the live action movie is that a white woman stole an asian woman’s role… but the plot of the movie quite literally deals with an asian woman having her identity stolen from her and covered up with a new fake identity of a white woman. It’s a commentary on itself which actually elevates it and makes it kinda based. I’d also recommend doing a rewatch of this in English some time if you wanna dive more into what it’s saying. The translation isn’t exact but it gets the point across much easier. The sequel is fantastic and is a true cyberpunk noir/detective mystery where Batou and Togosa try to solve a murder. The Ghost in the Shell live action borrows a lot of imagery and ideas from that film and the two stories don’t exactly mesh as a cohesive narrative.
djKENTO
2024-01-11 06:00:45 +0000 UTCAhhh, the first, original GITS. The cyberpunk icon, the legend with outstanding animation, music and brilliant, heady content and even some body horror when Major's body is breaking apart. Mamoru Oshi made some interesting movies after that, but nothing as good. Even if retro-cyberpunk "Avalon" made in Poland in 2001 was weirdly interesting. I remember how funny it was to watch it, see subtitles in Japanese and suddenly realise that it is all infact in Polish, but somehow different because dialogues were spoken for Japanese audience. I've watched all Ghost in the Shell anime movies and tv series, so when the live action movie hit big screens I was very hesitant to watch it. In the end it was...a bit enjoyable, but certainly the most primitive of all GITS movies and anime series. Race swaps for the Major was just one of less annoying decisions, but was still bad. You might want to try the first season of GITS: SAC - it is different because was more based on the manga. Or at least listen to Origa's songs for the intro of the show. Take care!
Tom M
2023-07-29 15:35:15 +0000 UTCi love seeing yalls reactions to just how deep the movie can get, would love to see you guys watch the original animation some time, it is really great, and has a pretty good dub as well.
Michael Sciortino
2023-07-28 12:36:02 +0000 UTCI had only ever watched the dubbed version before watching this reaction, and I was surprised how different the mood was.
Rune
2023-07-27 13:50:26 +0000 UTCThis one has a good dub actually. I almost prefer the dubbed version (sacrilege!).
Esy Vihree
2023-07-27 12:19:50 +0000 UTCYeah, I had a lot of expectations for the live action version, but as it had almost nothing to do with this movie expect some scenes, and characters, I was disappointed to say the least. This is is such an important piece in cyberpunk history, that stands proudly alongside Blade Runner and Gibson's Neuromancer. And yeah, this was not a popcorn movie, the live action version put you in a wrong mindset for this one.
Esy Vihree
2023-07-27 12:08:53 +0000 UTCNot just setting the mood, even though it's important part of it, I think, but it also gives the audience the time to think the implications and meanings of the more exposition heavy sequences.
Esy Vihree
2023-07-27 12:06:11 +0000 UTCStand Alone Complex is great ya'll should watch it
Justin Broadbent
2023-07-26 23:08:16 +0000 UTCThis movie requires rewatching and the english dub is not terrible if it helps you. All the slow parts are about setting the mood, I think, and the accompanying soundtrack is glorious. I've watched that opening sequence several dozen times with audio cranked up to 11. If you're up for it, GitS: Stand Alone Complex series is worth watching, as others have commented already. Yes, the Wachowskis drew a lot of inspiration for Matrix from this movie.
Miroslav Hundak
2023-07-26 22:34:40 +0000 UTCI think the first time I saw this movie I also was absolutely like wtf just happened, kind of like when I saw the Matrix, I had no idea what to expect, so for me the first watch was very confusing. Repeat watching after and you start to get veeeeery philosophical. Anyway, cool reaction.
Daniel Cabrera
2023-07-26 15:17:58 +0000 UTC"This does give Cyberpunk 2077 vibes" No Cyberpunk gives ghost in th shell vibes
Dario Schiller
2023-07-26 14:44:11 +0000 UTCOne quick note on the tank scene at the end. What the Major was doing was trying to rip open the hatch to get to the computer inside. She actually was successful and that is what Battu was using to do the dive into the puppet master’s body. The live action did take a lot of scenes from the anime but the plot is very different. I do think you would enjoy Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex since it is not quite as dense. It still is fairly deep but it can spread out the message over several episodes. That and the Tachikomas (“think tanks”) are quite entertaining and have little micro shows after each episode.
Wild_Lee_Coyote
2023-07-26 06:25:46 +0000 UTCI enjoyed Arise. But it definitely is not as good as SAC.
Kero-chan
2023-07-26 04:48:50 +0000 UTCCouple of things - You were both looking down during a kind of interesting shot - Kusanagi was on a boat going down a canal when she saw another cyborg in a cafe who had her face. I believe this was to drive home that the Major's body, despite it's enhancements, was essentially mass produced and called into question her individuality and humanity. Something that is an important part of her story arc. About the somewhat confusing plot - Some Japanese film creators often seem to focus on mood or feeling to get across elements of the plot. Shirow Masamune (the creator of the original manga) in particular likes to drop plot points that make less sense if you analyze them too closely. There's a certain indirect and implied quality to his storytelling sometimes that, IMO, works best if you let it wash over you and instill a general feeling for what he's trying to get across. Momoru Oshii also directed a movie called Patlabor: The Movie which is a lot of fun. The storytelling is a bit more direct but also shares some of the cool scene setting that is one of the more interesting features of GitS.
Justin Kim
2023-07-26 04:32:48 +0000 UTCI'm sure someone probably mentioned this already, but this is what the Wachowski sisters showed the producers at WB to get The Matrix made. The Matrix was heavily inspired by this, not only aesthetically (like the lobby scene and the Matrix rain code), but also philosophies, like what it means to be human and perception. The sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence has a lot more digital animation and CG. It's not as beloved as the 1995 movie, made by the same director Mamoru Oshii. There's a couple of series. I mentioned one up above. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. It's a mouthful and people just shorthand it to Stand Alone Complex. That has two 26-episode seasons (first season called 1st Gig and second season called 2nd Gig), with an OVA called the Solid State Society (so it's full name would be Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society lmao). Each season has an overall storyline, but there are one-off episodes that help expand on the world or give backstory for some of the other members of Section 9. Batou's episode is particularly heavy and earned itself a trigger warning when it aired on Adult Swim. There's a season on Netflix that is CG and, uh, I never watched it and never plan on it because I heard it wasn't good. There's also compilation movies for each of the first two seasons: The Laughing Man and the Individual Eleven and they just retell the seasons without the one-off episodes. Stand Alone Complex has more social commentary and deals with the ramifications of an increasingly connected world. The first season basically predicted/explained Anonymous. There's also another series called Ghost in the Shell: Arise that has a younger Major Kusanagi and deals with the formation of Section 9. It's not as well beloved as Stand Alone Complex, however.
Legion
2023-07-26 04:21:22 +0000 UTCSame
Legion
2023-07-26 03:52:31 +0000 UTCBTW Motoko's body doesn't have thermoptic camouflage built in, she wears a skin tight thermoptic suit under her clothes for when she needs it. (It is VERY skin tight though from the obvious nippleage)
Threk
2023-07-26 03:45:56 +0000 UTCStand Alone Complex is soo so good, im not a fan of the newer Arise series
Samuel Eng
2023-07-26 03:41:43 +0000 UTCShould watch the Stand Alone Complex series as well Hearing the Major's line about the net being vast and infinite makes me realize how fucking small the internet is nowadays since most people go to the same handful of websites
Legion
2023-07-26 03:24:43 +0000 UTCI used to listen to it on repeat
Anna Kyruin
2023-07-26 02:34:41 +0000 UTCThe music is what stuck with me since Childhood.
Samuel Eng
2023-07-26 02:07:48 +0000 UTC
