Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by GePap
Well, the creator of that term did not seem to think that Ghost in the Shell fell in that category.

Uwe Boll thinks his movies aren't crap. You may argue the interest value of the philosophy in the show but how can you say that the plots aren't prime examples of that.

[GePap]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Uwe Boll thinks his movies aren't crap. You may argue the interest value of the philosophy in the show but how can you say that the plots aren't prime examples of that.

In the first series the "bad guy" isn't actually a villain, and his plan is not overtly convoluted. It does not rest on any series of coincidences. He is trying to use media pressure to expose a scandal, and what he is doing is prodding the team forward so they will make the same discoveries he made. You may ask why he didn't just expose the whole thing outright, but then you could have asked deep throat that during Watergate as well.

In the second series you have a villain funding terrorist to create tensions that would then give him a bogey man to help pass a security treaty - that does not seem that convoluted either.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Another series that really impressed me was Cowboy Bebop. Well worth a look - it's got great music accompaniment and the plot does grow on you a lot.

Unlike GitS: SAC, the plot gets gradually stronger towards the end of the series.

The only problem I had was with the characterizations. Like the plot, they grow on you as the series progresses, but to begin with I found Spike to be a cliche moody boy and Faye to be a cliche sulky femme fatale. Suffer through their sullenness for a few episodes, and they become much more sympathetic.

The Big Bad Evil Guy, Vicious, however, is a lost case. At no point in the story did I ever think he was believable or particularly interesting. Watching him and his weapon of choice (you'll know what I mean when you see it) brought up all sorts of absurdity questions similar to when I watched "V For Vendetta". As in "WTF! Here's a guy taking out enemies toting Uzis and assault rifles and all he's got is a pair of knives?!"

The subplot with Ed and Faye get especially poignant towards the end. The whole series goes out on a really strong note, unlike GitS: SAC.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia

The Big Bad Evil Guy, Vicious, however, is a lost case. At no point in the story did I ever think he was believable or particularly interesting. Watching him and his weapon of choice (you'll know what I mean when you see it) brought up all sorts of absurdity questions similar to when I watched "V For Vendetta". As in "WTF! Here's a guy taking out enemies toting Uzis and assault rifles and all he's got is a pair of knives?!"

He's a dark jedi.

[Jon Miller]

I liked Cowboy BeBop much better then the bit I saw of Stand Along Complex.

JM

[Tattila the Hun]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia
Another series that really impressed me was Cowboy Bebop. Well worth a look - it's got great music accompaniment and the plot does grow on you a lot.

I do say, that the soundtracks in both SAC and Bebop raise them above the "good, but nothing to tell your folks about" to rather excellent. Not that I'd still tell my folks about them. Yoko Kanno is superb in her vocation.

[Elok]

Saw a few episodes of SAC. Wasn't impressed. Especially not the chatroom episode. I kept waiting for something to actually happen, but no. Damn, that was boring. I saw the original GITS (censored and shortened on some basic-cable channel) and thought it was somewhat daft, but maybe important bits were cut out.

I do like Cowboy Bebop...and Fullmetal Alchemist.

[Q Classic]

I honestly liked the Tachikomas, and thought the Tachikomatic Days were the best part. I don't know how annoying the dubbed version of the voice was, but it wasn't so bad in Japanese.

But yes, 2nd Gig isn't as good.

I'll agree with Cowboy Bebop, and Fullmetal Alchemist were enjoyable, too.

If you liked Cowboy Bebop, Alinestra, look into Samurai Champloo. It's not as strong, but it's still worth it, I think.

[Zoid]

Re: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia

Anybody else have any feedback about GitS: SAC?

I had the entire series on my HD and deleted it without watching most of it. So in retrospect it probably wasn't that good... Much the same as with Cowboy Bebop...

[Riesstiu IV]

Originally posted by GePap
The Japanese rarely draw themselves with "Asiatic" features in Anime. The best thing to do is judge by names.

As for the voices of the Tachikomas, it seems every Anime series needs that kind of obnoxious voice - thought I think the idea is that those robots are childlike, incomplete.

It doesn't make sense to give an autonomous police robot with weapons an experimental AI that includes a childlike behavior and an incomplete persona. It might have made sense for some kind of robot in a research lab.

I think they were trying to make the robots cute or something. That's probably what turns me off the near every anime series: overdoing cuteness and those inner thought monologues that drone on and on in the middle of some important sequence.

[DaShi]

Don't worry. The Tachikomas get theirs in the end.

[Alinestra Covelia]

And the scene where they do is actually fairly well done. I found myself oddly sympathetic to them, after their somewhat irritating behavior earlier in the series.

[Alinestra Covelia]

I've just watched 28 (?) which is about all the Asian refugees in Japan.

This episode is going to be the one that makes me stop watching in disgust. The entire episode clearly reinforces my earlier post - the Japanese culturally see themselves as separate from the Asians. The Asian refugees in this episode are shown to be stocky, swarthy, and fundamentally different from the tall strapping Japanese. The central theme of vengeance is described by Motoko with uncharacteristic venom as the dream of a loser who would never accomplish anything. Basically the message I got from this episode was: if you're Asian, but not Japanese*, don't even bother - you'll never amount to anything much except suckling at the teat of Mother Japan's dole handouts.

* Of course, in the Japanese way of thinking, Asian and Japanese are two mutually exclusive categories. So this was just included for all you culturally ignorant viewers who may have thought they were Asian, when they're clearly Aryan Europeans, as drawn in this animation.

Stick me with a fork - I'm done watching this. The low point of the first series was the "Chat! Chat! Chat!" episode, which was just badly scripted and where nothing of value actually happened. But that took about 10 episodes to arrive. 2nd Gig has outdone its predecessor by making me retire in disgust at an outright racist episode only two sessions in.

[Colon™]

Is more serious than how Hollywood typically typecasts the English or how Brits constantly refer to "Europe"?

[Alinestra Covelia]

Originally posted by Colon™
Is more serious than how Hollywood typically typecasts the English or how Brits constantly refer to "Europe"?

Probably not. I don't approve of those, either.