Customer Reviews

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Vol. 2 (Special Edition)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The issues concerning the internet these days may well be considered as precursors to GITS:SAC. Privacy, access, surveillance, information, internet morality, and humanity are all problems dealt with in "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex", except that the implications and legal ramifications are well established and things of the past. You will be compelled to outgrow the technological adolescence of the present very quickly to deal with the maturity and depth of the world of GITS.

I've seen the entire series, and it is by far one of the best anime series I've seen. The original movie was quite revolutionary by itself, but I have to say that the creators, producers, and studio have outdone themselves by a long shot with this series. The original characters are all there, Major Kusanagi, Batou, etc., with the addition of several others who provide support and round out Section 9, a futuristic FBI/CIA organization, as a unit. The series is very much like NYPD Blue, in that you get to know the characters and their cases quite well.

What's astonishing about the series is that the creators have provided an amazingly detailed premise: the world has gone COMPLETELY digital, and the world's population is now linked to the future version of the internet with implants to the point where the line between personality/self and this alternate space has blurred considerably. They then ask the mind-boggling question: what could possibly happen in this kind of world? They answer, of course, with half-hour case studies of cyber-crime, political intrigue, digital culture, and philosophical soul-searching.

Each episode is self-consistent and follows very stringently the physics upon which the series is based. By this I mean that this world has been constructed with a basic set of rules, and each episode tells a story based on these rules, but without bogging him/her down with details about the rules. Instead, the episodes tell their stories and the viewer is thus thrown in the proverbial deep end, inadvertently learning to read the fine print in between the storylines. The extrapolations, implications, and possibilities of such a world are explored to an incredible depth and detail that only anime can provide.

Of course, given the opportunity to explore, there are some episodes where the script becomes a bit too self-analytical, and that might detract the viewer from the storylines, but I think when you create such a world, you are somewhat obliged to ask them.

Can a machine ever have a personality? If your ghost (read personality) can be hacked, how can you tell what is real and what isn't? When your personality can be digitized and you can live immortal in cyberspace, what meaning is there to having a body? What kind of crimes will criminals commit and how will they commit them given such unlimited access? What will be the shape of politics in a wired world? Can computer viruses infect human beings? How do you define love/emotions in cyberspace? If you could choose to be a cyborg, would you?

If you've ever asked yourself these questions, find the answers in this technically brilliant series.

I would rate the show as 5 stars, this is a review of the extras and features of the Special Edition issue.
I recently bought all the Special Edition releases of "Stand Alone Complex" after trying to research what I was going to get as extras not included in the regular edition. I found the listings on Amazon's product details to be a little confusing and incomplete on some of the volumes so I decided to write this guide for others trying to decide. I'm not going to review the "Ghost in the Shell" episodes or the series in general because there are so many excellent reviews already on this site, and most of you probably know about this great anime TV series already. There are various other reviews that say that some of the DVD's and CD's have errors on them and Bandai will replace them with corrected discs if you send them in for exchange. I have not ran into problems yet, although I haven't gone through the whole series either. And I will also state that I love the TV series as well as both movies, but I would recommend the Imported Region 2 version of GITS2:Innocence if you have a region free DVD player. Dreamworks really messed up that release omiting the English dub and putting Hard of Hearing subtitles instead of regular ones on the early issues of that movie. Most people find them very distracting and annoying.

First off the discs themselves, you get two DVD discs in each volume with the same episodes on both discs. Volumes 1-5 have 4 episodes each, 6 and 7 have 3 episodes each making 26 episodes total in the series. Both discs are Anamorphic wide screen encoded directly from the High-Definition Masters. Both Discs also have English subtitles. Each set also has two interviews with voice cast or someone associated with the production of the anime, and a printed DVD insert pamphlet or booklet with different interviews and such for each volume. All discs are Region 1.

Disc one has Dolby Digital 5.1 in Japanese and English, and Dolby Digital 2.0 in English and Japanese.

Disc two has DTS 5.1 in English and Japanese and a Dolby Digital 2.0 English track.

Volumes 1 and 2 include soundtrack CD's of the music of Yoko Kanno, the most excellent and versatile composer of the music in the TV series. Anime lovers know her work from the many fine soundtracks that she's done for countless other anime movies and TV series.

Volume 3 has a Black XL Fruit of the Loom Tee-Shirt with the section 9 logo on the front and a Major Kusanagi graphic on the back. Nice shirt!

Volumes 4 and 5 have a collectable I.D. cards for a section 9 member.

Volume 6 has a Black XL Fruit of the Loom Tee-Shirt with the section 9 logo on the front and a Batou graphic on the back, and another I.D. card. Nice shirt again!

Volume 7 has another Tee-Shirt! This time it's a White XL with the section 9 logo on the front, and the Laughing Man logo on the back! Once again nice shirt! It also comes with a tin box that's supposed to hold all 7 volumes of the DVD set. I was excited about getting the box but when it arrived I was disappointed with the design. It's kind of like the rectangular lunch box that you used to take to school as a kid, without the handle and latch. Its also of a thinner metal that dents easily. It has marketing type of printing on the backside that pertains to vol. 7 only, and the DVD cases stack inside one on top of the other. The spines of the cases are not visible when you open the box, only the front of the last case you put in. So you have to take all the cases out of the tin to get to a specific volume. There's also not room for the cardboard sleves that the DVD's were in when you got the individual volumes, and no room for the soundtrack CD's either. All said, I was disappointed with the box. Because of it's odd dimensions it doesn't stack in well with my DVD library. I would have much preferred the normal five sided box that usually comes with DVD sets.

Overall I'd say it's worth it to buy volumes 3, 6 and 7 new to get the shirts if they interest you and pick up the others used if you can to save some money on the series. That is if you're interested in the DTS soundtrack options. I much prefer the DTS mixes to Dolby Digital and wanted the soundtrack CD's as well. Also the cardboard boxes that come with volumes 3 and 6 are better than the tin box to store your set in when you complete the series, if you stack them on shelves one row of DVD's on top of another row, and you can fit the movies into those boxes as well to fill them the rest of the way.

This is the second DVD in the new Ghost in the Shell series. Again the story uses the premise of a heavily cyberneticized world to create a setting where what reality is often what someone has made of it. Technologiy is so embedded in day-to-day life that a full human seems to be the exception, not the rule. Whether this vast interconnection is a good thing or not is a question that is constantly asked the viewer - and rarely answered.

The first two episodes (Decoy and Meme) on this DVD pick up a story introduced on the previous issue (Interceptor) - that of the Laughing Man. He (?) is the modern version of a cyber-terrorist. Sending pinpoint viruses and mind control as a means to accomplish what so far seems to be revenge on corporate and government corruption. This time Major Kusanagi fights to prevent an assassination and tries to pick up the pieces before the evidence disappears. Expect this story to recur throughout the series. This is also the second time the phrase 'stand alone complex' is used, again to describe seeming related aberrant behavior which actually is an independent event. Again the real question is whether this is a true coincidence or 'enemy action.'

Idolator pits Kusanagi and Section 9 against a foreign war hero and drug dealer (Marcelo Jarti) who has far too many lives. This time the ethical question (and there is usually an ethical question at the core of Ghost in th Shell is whether or not a man should be condemned for doing evil to accomplish something desirable.

Missing Hearts gives us a peek into Kusanagi's own story. A six-year-old girl receives a suspicious heart transplant that has Kusanagi chasing after organ-leggers. Again, the illegal action has a positive effect - it saves the child from undergoing a full body cyborg replacement. Kusanagi is more than usually intent on this chase as we learn that it was at the same age that the Major became a ghost in her own shell.

If I haven't mentioned that Yoko Kanno has done the music for this series let my do so now. The DVD includes an excellent interview with her on how she approached the work in this series. Her comments are eye opening, and, of course, her efforts in the series really are exemplary. In fact, if anything, the overall production quality seems to have improved as we are presented with a vision of the world that is as finely detailed as it is well-written.

Initial batches of the Ghost In The Shell:Stand Alone Complex Vol. 2 Special Edition have the content of Disc 1 and Disc 2 switched. There is no defect in the disc content but merely a switch in the disc artwork.

Bandai Entertainment has set up an exchange program in which you can exchange both discs for a pair with the correct artwork. Contact customer service at bandai-ent.com for details.

Engaging Characters, Interesting Plots, Decent Writing/Translating, Fabulous Animation, Great Music (opening song is in russian, english, and latin). And Tachikomas!

There! 20 Words! You don't have to be a fanatic (or "otaku" as we otaku like to say) about this stuff to like it.

A word about the Tachikomas: they are tank robots the size of a VW bug and designed like spiders, and they are definately with the "Good Guys". They can even shoot "silk" and cling to the sides of buildings. And they sound (and frequently act) like children. You would never think of saying a robot that looks like a spider was *cute*, but the Tachis'll win you over.

This set contains episodes five through eight of the first series/season from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Here the focal point of the series really comes to focus in earnest, the first two episodes in the set continuing the story from "Interceptor" and the Laughing Man storyline. The last two are "stand alone" episodes (the first two are called "complex," a nice take from the series title), featuring a little bit of character motivation for Major Kusanagi in the last episode and a peek into her private life - one she's seemingly too busy to dwell on.

To comment on the US version so far: I don't particularly care for the voice acting. Utilizing some of the same talent (for Kusanagi and Batou at least) as in the Ghost in the Shell movie, the overused voice actors seeming disinterest in whatever project they're involved in carries over into their lines and Stand Alone Complex is no different. That being said, the work is acceptable - a project on this scope really should have gone a different route. A very small pet peeve is the American logo for the show, a horrific cyber/metal theme that needs to be junked as soon as possible. Another note: the Japanese episodes generally have a title and subtitle, the latter of which is occasionally used as the episode title in the US.

Frankly the Laughing Man story is really what propels this show. It's an involved, interwoven and multi-faceted plot, with enough vague threads, diversions, and neo-technological philosophy to satisfy most.

Here is an episode summary (in order, with some spoilers if you hadn't seen the previous episode):

DECOY: With the apparent re-emergence of the Laughing Man, threatening the assassination of Police General Daidoh, Section 9 focuses on the Special Investigation Division's current main suspect, the programmer Nanao A. However, Nanao doesn't fit the profile and Aramaki immediately smells an obvious decoy, but wants to discern why the SID is so intent on pinning the Laughing Man crimes and assassination notice on Nanao. Section 9 begins their own surveillance, while Major Kusanagi does her own probing into the original Laughing Man crimes (and thereby educating the viewer), identifying him as a Class A hacker. She then decides to help protect Daidoh during his retirement celebration rather than investigate Nanao, a wise choice...

MEME: Kusanagi discovers that Nanao's decoy computer has been sending out fragments of a latent virus over the police frequency, apparently intended for one of Daidoh's bodyguards - which one is unknown. While Batou and Togusa track down the real location of Nanao, Kusanagi, Saito, Pazu and the Tachikomas fend off the ever-manifesting group of assassins. The episode ends with more questions and answers, and the realization that Section 9's investigation into the Laughing Man is only beginning.

IDOLATER: The arrival of the popular counter-revolutionary war hero (and drug lord) Marcelo Jarti in Japan spells trouble for Section 9. Marcelo has survived numerous assassination attempts, and his frequent visits to Japan - once every five or six months - has garnered attention from the police and the Foreign Affairs Department, who'd rather see Marcelo leave in peace without any interference. Unfortunately, Marcelo is meeting with Kanekichi Gondo, a central figure in the cyberbrain drug trade - and to make things worse, the Prefecture Police unknowingly attempt a raid and Section 9 suddenly has to protect Marcelo. But something with Marcelo is definitely not what it seems. An interesting episode with some of the more extended hand-to-hand combat sequences in the series, and a small plot link/nod to the Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence movie.

MISSING HEARTS: Kuru, a nurse friend of Kusanagi, asks the Major to inquire into a case in which a young girl received a needed heart transplant from a boy, who was receiving various cybernetic organs - except that the heart wasn't supposed to be donated. Motoko immediately feels empathetic to the little girl, who would have had to undergo a cyborg conversion if a heart couldn't be found - a situation similar to Kusanagi's own past. The investigation leads to the Meditic Corporation, which handled the transaction of the organs (the company grows organs in pigs for profit) and then to three medical students, who apparently want to sell blackmarket organs to the mafia. Motoko's past history is a bit enlightened, and her "fight" with Batou at the end is quite funny.

Overall a nice collection of plot-oriented and stand alone episodes that kicks the series into high gear. Motoko's after-work life, such as it is, has some flesh to it (so to speak), as is her origins as a cyborg (which is detailed much more in perhaps one of the best episodes of the second season so far). Some light is shed in the Laughing Man plot - not much, considering what transpires - and you get to see what a Stand Alone Complex really is.

The deluxe version comes with the original release, a second DVD with a DTS 5.1 sound version of the show, and a third disc, a soundtrack CD of the Tachikoma-themed release "Be Human".

I am a big fan of both the movies. I was one of the few who was lucky enough to catch the new movie (GITS 2:Innocence) when it came to only one theater in the Atlanta area. I was excited when I heard about this series coming to both DVD and TV (Cartoon network starting 11-6-04). However, after seeing some of the "Stand Alone Complex" series, I have to say I was a little diappointed. It just didn't have the same darkness to it that the movie versions had. Seeing it on the small screen might of been the culprit here, but it felt like it was meant to be a series for TV. Just another cartoon in the ever growing library of Anime series being put out on cable. I didn't feel like there was a lot of mystique to the characters that the movies offered. The story line is intriguing, but it couldn't overcome the production quality for me. I think its definitely worth checking out for any fan of the series. Or even if you're just into Anime, it's still worth a look as well. However, I don't think it stands up to the quality of the original movies.