Product Details

• Actors: Dino Andrade, Kevin Brief, Loy Edge, Barbara Goodson, Michael Gregory
• Directors: Kenji Kamiyama
• Writers: Dai Sato, Mary Claypool, Shotaro Suga, Yoshiki Sakurai, Yutaka Omatsu
• Producers: Charles McCarter, Kaoru Mfaume
• Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Japanese (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Manga Video
• DVD Release Date: March 22, 2005
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00076YP1C
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #43,726 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #29 in	Movies & TV > Animation > Characters & Series > Ghost in the Shell
  #90 in	Movies & TV > Anime & Manga > By Studio > Manga

• This is item 5 in The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The subplot about the Tachikoma robots developing an awareness of their existence falls by the wayside in two episodes focusing on Chief Aramaki's life outside Section 9. He visits an old flame in London and is drawn into a bizarre money-laundering scheme, then outwits a former co-worker's son who's become an assassin. In episode 20, the filmmakers finally return to the central storyline of the Laughing Man, which may be tied to J.D. Salinger's 1949 story of the same name. The cyber-criminal may also be linked to the Sunflower Society, a group that files class action lawsuits against large corporations, including one involving a cure for "cyberbrain sclerosis." The tangled multiple storylines detract from an otherwise engaging series with strong characters. The extras include interviews with the mecha designers, and the directors of photography and 3-D computer graphics. (Rated 13 and older: violence, grotesque imagery, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon

Product Description
Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 03/22/2005 Run time: 110 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "I mustn't act out of personal feelings...", June 28, 2005

By	Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

I've been away from this series for a while, due mostly to the slow release of the DVD's and a sudden interest in Chinese fight films. Since this is one of the best releases in the series, I wish I had been a bit more impatient. Or maybe not. One thing that's good about coming late to a series is that the anguish of cliff hangers (and this DVD sports a doozy) is easier to relieve.

The first three episodes focus on Arimaki, and his peculiar sense of duty that compels hime to announce that he can't misuse his position for friendly reasons. Of course, he goes on to do exactly that - 'accidentally' needing to investigate the exact thing he just refused to look into.

Angel's Share introduces an old lady friend of Arimaki, who is now the manager of a wine investment fund. She realizes that the fund has been used for money laundering by the mafia and promptly becomes a target for both some mafia renegades and the real criminals, who engineer what is supposed to be a 'fatal' rescue

In Lost Heritage A visiting Chinese Vice Minister is the object of a death threat. Arimaki takes a short break to visit the grave of and old war buddy who died of cyberbrain sclerosis and discovers that the son of his friend is somehow involved with his father's ghost. The result is an eerie story of revenge.

Captivated. This time the daughter of former Prime Minister Kanzaki's vanishes in a fashion identical to a series of organ-legging kidnappings attributed to a group called blind Ivan. But the odd thing is that Kanzaki was one of politicians who helped cover up the crime. Batou finds himself facing an old enemy as Kanzaki must decide whether his political life is more important than his daughter.

Re-View returns to the escapades of the Laughing Man. Togusa, still bothered by his failure at the vocational center fixates on the Laughing Man - especially as a reflection of Catcher In The Rye. He finds an unexpected clue and discovers a list of individuals who were treated for cyberbrain sclerosis by an experimental vaccine. This treatment was suppressed in favor of another and a government agency is very anxious to keep everything hush hush.

All of these episodes are tightly written little masterpieces, and this DVD might very well be the best of the series so far. Laughing Man episodes tend to be a bit too philosophical, but this is hardly the case here. Everything moves at a very satisfying pace.

5.0 out of 5 stars What you would expect!, February 8, 2008

By	Tom E. Thompson (California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is what you would expect from the team that makes this awsome film and series! Visuals are as always, Top notch in the anime world, with thought provoking story lines, that make it so you can't wait to watch the next episode in the series. If you like you anime like i do with realistic looking charaters, and just alaround good damn movie. you have to have this in your collection, along with the whole series!

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Episodes, but Lacking Extras, May 1, 2007

By	T. J. Burghardt - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Volume 05 (Special Edition) (DVD)

I got the special edition but to my unpleasant suprise the ID card was missing. At least the show is so good that I could overlook it.