Product Details

• Actors: Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Ôtsuka, Kôichi Yamadera, Tesshô Genda, Masato Yamanouchi
• Directors: Mamoru Oshii
• Writers: Kazunori Itô, Masamune Shirow
• Producers: Andy Frain, Ken Matsumoto, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Shigeru Watanabe, Teruo Miyahara
• Format: Animated, Color, Widescreen
• Language: English, Japanese
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Manga Video
• DVD Release Date: November 24, 2009
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002NUULNG
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,157 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #1 in	Movies & TV > Animation > Characters & Series > Ghost in the Shell
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• For more information about "Ghost in the Shell 2.0 [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A film that has spawned a thousand imitations but never been bettered – Mamoru Oshii’s legendary anime film GHOST IN THE SHELL returns in a stunning new edition remastered by Oshii himself. For this definitive Version 2.0 release, all the original animations are re-produced with latest digital film and animation technologies, including 3D-CGI. Set in a re-imagined Hong Kong at a time when cyberspace is expanding into human reality, the story follows top cyberwarrior Major Motoko Kusanagi as she hovers on the border of total immersion in the digital world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

116 of 122 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A few problems here..., October 25, 2009

By	Patrick Robertson "4u2c" (Groves, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm going to break this review down into two parts.

The movie itself:
This is Ghost In The Shell in HD. It's beautiful, but for a smoother translation into the look of Innocence the greenish colors of the original film have been touched up and made to be more of an amber color like that seen in second film. This isn't really a change that I mind, and it's pulled off fairly well. I assume that several scenes were cleaned up digitally because the line art looks amazingly clean.

Sadly, someone felt it would be appropriate to replace some of the most iconic and stunning animation from the original with CG. A few scenes are done well like those where the CG is only helicopters or buildings, but whenever it replaces characters with crappy looking CG models it becomes stunningly bad. If you watch the making of the original movie you can see that their limited use of computer assisted animation was carefully planned and fit in with the other artwork and improved the film. The CG in 2.0 sticks out like a sore thumb in most cases. The only CG part that I liked was the pan over the cityscape at the end of the film.

If you have a bluray player and haven't seen GitS yet 2.0 isn't a bad way to see it, but fans of the original will probably be disappointed with the lack of any significant changes and the quality of what was changed.

The bluray by Manga:

Somehow Manga Entertainment never ceases to screw something pretty major up on their releases. The box lists a commentary with Oshii, an interview with Oshii and a making of GitS 2.0. None of these features are present on the bluray. You get throw away character profiles, glossary, and the old english trailer. The original making of GitS is here in VHS quality along with the unlisted bonus feature of the original cut of the movie. When I heard that I was pretty excited because in all honesty it's the only version I truly care about, but it looks to be taken from non-HD masters and only includes 2.0 audio tracks. If memory serves me correctly I believe that my GitS DVD looks better upscaled than this version does.

It would have been nice to do a re-dub of the film with the SAC cast, but I guess most of them were in the original anyway and it's a nice dub in it's own right.

This whole release just makes me want the original film untouched in HD. I can't give this less than three stars if only because seeing this movie this way is better than not seeing it at all because it's a one of my favorite films ever, but be aware of the problems with this release before deciding to buy it.

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There are a couple of issues but it is still worth buying for the Ghost in the Shell Fan.., November 8, 2009

By	Jose Argumedo (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ahh...Ghost in the Shell. The 1995 movie based on the manga that was called by some the second coming of Akira. I can't help but agree with that. So here we are almost 15 years later and we now have a sequel, a spin-off TV show, with a TV movie and it's influence is seen in movies such as "The Matrix." Now we have GitS 2.0, which is not a sequel (though I can see why people could be misled into thinking that.) but a redone version of the first movie. The colors has been changed and some CG has been brought in to replace the old animation. Its supposed to look more like the sequel, "Innocence," but honestly it looks weird since the original movie was made 9 years before the sequel. But I'm not going to review the movie itself, I'm just going to tell you why you should buy this on Blu-Ray.

The first thing all you purists need to know, the original Ghost in the Shell is included on the disc in HD. It doesn't look that great but it looks better than the DVD for sure. Also, the transfer is not the DVD master from the 2005 re-issue simply upconverted (contrary to popular belief), it is the Blu-ray master from Japan. They didn't really clean up the film but this is pretty much the best it's ever going to look unless Bandai, Manga or Production IG want to put up the money for a full re-master.

Which brings us into the new 2.0 version. This puppy has demo worthy video. The animation has been nicely cleaned-up, the new CG pops, and the re-mixed soundtrack (which I'll get back to in a minute) can bring the house down. This is one of the best animated Blu-rays out there, up there with "Cars," "Wall-E," and "Akira." While consistency is off thanks to the new CG, new colors and old animation, but this is not the fault of the transfer.

The soundtrack for the original Japanese version has actually been thrown out the window completely. Not only are there new sound effects, but the original cast has re-recorded all their lines, with one exception: the Puppet Master. The Puppet Master was originally voiced by a man, and has now been replaced by a woman. Also the song that plays in the background during the market chase with Batou has been removed. It is such a small thing that people probably won't notice (but I brought it up for a reason).

Now, I'm going to be honest, I'm a fan of the English dub of GitS in all of its forms. When this was announced I thought for sure they would re-dub the movie with the new GitS: Stand Alone Complex cast. This is not the case. They used the original dub from 1995 for this version (So Mimi Woods is playing Motoko, not Mary Elizabeth McGlynn from the SAC dub.) with the new sound effects thrown in. Which brings us to a inconsistency because in the 2.0 version the Puppet Master is supposed to be played a female, but instead, is still played by a man, since this is literally the same dub. This isn't the only inconsistency, the song from the marketplace is now back in the movie. There some other small gripes but only the hardcore fan would notice.

Now onto the extras. They consider the old version of the movie as a extra, and it is a pretty cool extra, having both versions in HD. Then we come into a couple of weird quirks. On the box, it says there is a commentary with the director, as well as a making of feature for 2.0. What we get is a making of feature....for the original movie and a theatrical trailer...for the original. Along with come bios and glossary. The features on the box are no where to be found, which is quite a big gaff. Maybe future re-prints will correct this but as of now, the features on the box are not there. To me, it isn't a big deal, but it kind of sucks that we don't get what the box promises.

All in all this is a must buy for every GitS fan. Not only do you get the new version of this movie, you get the original in HD. That way, you get the best of both worlds. Everyone else, give this one a rental, because this is really for the fans.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Welcome update to an Anime Classic., February 8, 2010

By	M. Hassan "book worm" (New jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

To someone who have seen the original GiTS and is thinking of buying this movie, just remember that the term 2.0 merely refers to some graphical changes done to some scenes. Otherwise its largely the same movie. The opening scene, where we are introduced to the Major is done completely in CG now and its NOT CHEAP CG as some might like to call. In fact its very well done, the hand drawn animation is left largely in tact, the opening and the creation of Major is completely redone and so is her scuba diving scene and some others. Don't buy this movie, thinking its a complete CG GiTS. It was done mostly to promote Oshii's new movie, The Sky Crawlers. However I personally loved and appreciated the changes. I can see why some people complain that disposition between CG and cel animation is a bit Jarring but to me it didn't mattered. But maybe that's just me. Buy it only if you are a die hard fan otherwise consider it a rental. Since there's anything new. The new CGI scenes look much better on the Blu-Ray as compared to the DVD counterpart. My only complain is the lack of extra features, you get a measly making of GITS 2.0 and some bios, nothing extraordinary. Considering how much people and filmmakers can say about this movie. Though a cool thing about the Blu-Ray is that for those of you who haven't seen the original, the Blu-Ray comes with both the original and the enhanced version. So you basically get two movies for the price of one. Which is not a bad deal, but it would have been a killer deal if Production I.G would have done some kind of enhances to the hand drawn animation. But what's there is pretty good stuff. But i can say with confidence that GITS 2.0 would be a worthy addition to your collection and don't forget to pick up GITS 2: Innocence on Blu-Ray as well.