"Sorry to knock your ass on the ground, but we said NO PHOTOS."
I don't know why I never really got into the GITS movies. I mean, I watched the 2nd one all the way through, and was kinda "meh" about the whole affair. Too much talking, and of the worst kind- incessant quoting of philosophers. But the first one...well, let's just say it's never a good time coming in on the scene where Motoko's trying to pop the hatch on a tank and she rips her own arms out of her own goddamn sockets. This is especially haunting to somebody who was 12 at the time, and whose idea of hyper-violence was Robocop and the scene where Alex Murphy gets mutilated by gunfire. Still, that was the baddies jacking up the good guy. Seeing somebody do that to themselves without knowing that it's perfectly okay for them to do so was a mindjob.
Fast forward to this year. I'm at a friend's house, mixing a few drinks. No longer a lightweight in anime and never a lightweight in the alcohol department, I could probably handle GITS if I watched it again. After all, Paranoia Agent makes sense to me now, and if that didn't turn my brain into tapioca then I could hang, right?
So, a few friends decide they want to show me Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. I had been meaning to check it out, as it seemed like it was a little more action and might be easier on the palate. I had seen the PS2 game, which looked awesome, and brief shots of the anime at various other events.
We watched a few episodes, and I finally got to understand a logo I had seen all over the internet: that of the "Laughing Man" (Warai Otoko, for my fellow sub watchers).
That's one happy logo, which of course means CREEPY.
It was over. I was hooked. Upon returning to my lair, I have since watched and processed the whole thing.
To begin, a warning to all those watching this after watching the movies: This is a whole 'nother universe. The characters are the same in look, but it's a completely different storyline. Also, while there's some philosophical meandering, it's sparse and spread out over the length of 26 episodes, so it's not nearly as thick as the absolute miasma of tripe spat out in GITS 2.
Characters: A nice, diverse cast that honestly doesn't require you to know much about them. Sure, we delve into Batou's past a bit now and then, but this isn't a series that you watch because of the amazingly deep backstory- the characters actually play themselves out well enough as you go along that you can still get interested in them. You know what you need to know: They're Public Security Sector 9. They're elite. And the individual agents have their story told as it goes along, in a way that's subtle enough to keep interest yet deep enough to not asking for more, with the possible exception of the Major herself.
The Major can also faithfully recreate the opening to .hack//sign.Downsides are minimal, though I will say that I hope you like the Major and Batou, since they are the focus. Also, the Tachikomas - spider-like mecha with childlike A.I. programs and voices to match - can either be an awesome addition to the series or serious kawaii overkill. I mean, they get their own episode and an Omake series? All this for what basically amounts to an overgrown Haro?
Music: Like Yoko Kanno? Of course you do. This is a very, very well done soundtrack; as good as Yuki Kajiura's works, and maybe even a bit better coordinated. Highly recommended.
Art: Sure, it's a little dated now since the advent of HD anime, but it's still very, very good and extremely well animated. The CGI isn't as intrusive as it is in some other works (glares at Appleseed) and the world of the future looks pretty good, especially for what could be considered a dystopia.
The cutest spider-like assault walker mech EVER!!Setting: One of the greatest strengths of this anime is that the world of 2032 isn't presented as being a completely different world. A lot of the technology that is present is most certainly not out of the realm of possibilities (the whole "ghost" thing notwithstanding), and it helps to engage the viewer.
Pacing: Flawed in the best way possible. The main storyline (aka Complex) is so well told that it creates a slight intolerance for the side stories (aka Stand Alone) because you want to see what's happening in the main case. Not that the Stand Alone part is boring; it's certainly above most anime filler, and the series does you a huge favor and saves you the trouble of a recap episode. The problem here is that there's quite the variance in how interesting the Stand Alone episodes are, especially when they feature the Tachikomas. It's not bad enough to turn off most viewers (and again, the main story hooks most people), but it can be a bit uneven, as at one point there's a string of 7 or so episodes before you get back to the Complex.
I can't help but recommend this series, because it does so many things very, very well. It's a cyberpunk action police drama with serious philosophical overtones. Smart, but violent. Cute, but brutal. It's equally enriched by what's obvious and what's implied. Even the fanservice is done right- it's blunt enough, but it's also joked about somewhat in the series, making it laughable to those who don't want it and enjoyable to those who do. I could easily see this being that anime- the one that takes the viewer who only knows Naruto, DBZ and maybe a few Miyazaki flicks and gets them involved into something with a bit more involved.
Verdict: HEAVILY recommended. There's few series out there that I consider sitting through more than once, but this is definitely one of them.
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