Ghost in the Shell (1995) User Reviews

Ghost in the Shell is one of the most heavy philosophically themed films ever.

[TheMovieDiorama · 8/10 · 29 November 2019]

There are many many many MANY themes to take away from this cinematic experience, perhaps it is abit too heavy for its own good. The story includes a cyborg agent investigating "The Puppet Master" which is a virus capable of infiltrating human hosts. So already we are presented with questions such as: What is reality? Could everything be a simulation? Do memories define us or do we define memories? We have creationism, ideology, afterlife...this is not for your average moviegoer. In fact films like The Matrix took inspiration from this, bear in mind this wasn't entirely accessible to western audiences at the time of its release. It's very heavy going and the script doesn't help. It feels mechanical, which makes sense considering it's a techno thriller and that our protagonist is an emotionless cyborg, but it's so mechanical that it just doesn't flow.

The lead characters are memorable, from the no nonsense cyborg Major Motoko Kusanagi to her fellow agent Batou. I loved the fact that many of the humans have cybernetic enhancements and is something that could easily be real in many years to come. I adored the computer systems, it was very green and rather cyberpunk-ish...perfect for a film from 1995. The animation was fluid, although not Studio Ghibli, and still has aged well. There are some scenes with just background music and images of the cityscape, this really drives the technological style at its core. The English dub was good apart from Major's voice actress...didn't really work for me. This is a good hard sci-fi anime, although hard to follow it's themes and style pushes this above your average animation.

Still one of the best examples of the genre

[tomgillespie2002 · 8/10 · 19 February 2014]

Upon Ghost in the Shell's release in 1995, the Western world was still largely unfamiliar with manga, but had already had its head turned by Katsuhiro Ohtomo's Akira (1988). Blending philosophical musings with blistering action, Ghost in the Shell captured the imagination of it's new audience, helping kick-start the Japanophilia that runs so blatantly through most modern Western cartoons and lines the bookcases of many a teenager. While it certainly has its flaws, this was the first time that casual Western audiences who were new to manga had seen a cartoon be as meditative as is explosive. And for those that didn't catch it, no doubt they would have watched The Matrix (1999) four years later, a film that arguably 'borrows' a lot more from Ghost in the Shell that it lets on.

In the future, technology has become so far advanced that all aspects of life are interconnected through an electronic network. Major Motoko Kusanagi (Atsuko Tanaka), a soldier working for government agency Section 9, is a cyborg, and is able to access this network through plugs in the back of her head. She and her team are assigned to catch an elusive 'ghost-hacker' known as the Puppet Master (Iemasa Kayumi), an intelligent entity created by the government, who they lost control of when it became self-aware. When the Puppet Master surfaces in the mangled body of an artificial human shell, Kusanagi faces a crisis of identity.

Disappointingly, the film begins with gratuitous nudity, showing off the fine female form (with giant breasts, of course) of Major Kusanagi just before she takes a plunge off a building to nail some bad guys. Manga caters heavily for its audience, be it sexually-frustrated, highly- stressed businessmen or horny teenagers who have no doubt been bombarded with images of giggling, short-skirted school girls throughout their young life. Thankfully, these moments are brief, and prove to be not much more than a mild distraction from the stunning animation on show. Things are grim in the future, but they're certainly beautiful to look at.

The sexism aside, Kusanagi is an interesting character. When a man realises his wife and daughter are nothing more than an implanted memory, he fails to comprehend it. Kusanagi, with her mixture of organic and mechanical body parts and uploaded memories, struggled to define what it is to be human. Her hunt for the Puppet Master, who is seemingly a new kind of being, becomes a hunt for identity. Is it enough to be aware of what and who you are? The philosophy, although provocative, is heavy-handed. Conversations about humanity between Kusanagi and her second-in-command Bateau (Akio Otsuka) are delivered with a monotony worthy of a whiny emo teen, and I found the film's first half quite a head-scratcher. But things thankfully do become clearer, and the film is still, almost twenty years later, one of the best examples of the genre.

www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Don't Listen to koryanpiora

[Noir_Blues · 9/10 · 13 March 2005]

This is single handedly one of the best animated films I've ever seen. You can definitely tell how far the animation genre has gotten in the last half-century. It's pretty much flawless in my opinion. The story, audio, and especially visuals are excellent. This is definitely one of the most pretty films i've ever seen. The philosophy really made me think too, the matrix tried this idea and failed horribly with it's sequels. This one isn't just for hipsters, if you're a sci-fi fan I couldn't recommend this more. If you liked this, I also recommend Akira, The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series, and the upcoming Steamboy

Important science fiction

[Hopper-2 · 10/10 · 30 March 2001]

Ghost in the Shell is a visually stunning animated masterpiece. Japanese animation has always been in a class of its own, so I won't even attempt to describe the incredible attention to detail and beautiful imagery in this movie. In this case the animation is merely icing for what is one of the most important works of science fiction in recent years.

Every generation has had books and movies that have contributed to our collective understanding of reality. Prior to World War II this included books like Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We" and Huxley's "Brave New World", and later Orwell's "1984". Today most warnings about the future fall into the category of science fiction. Science fiction began to fill this role when Arthur C. Clarke's "2001" warned us of the potential for humanity to create intelligent, even sentient computers that could murder their human creators. "2001" envisioned computer intelligence imprisoned in the physical body of a computer. Where "2001" left off, Ghost in the Shell begins.

Ghost in the Shell tells the story of a future in which a computer program, Project 2501, becomes self-aware and begins a quest to fill basic needs it feels are qualifiers of being alive by controlling computers and people to achieve its ultimate goals. Whereas the HAL-9000 computer was relatively harmless, owing to its confinement in the Odyssey space ship, Project 2501 is a recognition that the global internet could have dire consequences for all of us. By comparison, this new villain is virtually invincible. But is Project 2501 a villain?

Most people who have told me that they didn't like this move said that they didn't understand it. Indeed, the story and concepts are very complicated. I have watched it several times and still get new things out of it every time. Roger Ebert called Ghost in the Shell, "Unusually intelligent and challenging science fiction, aimed at smart audiences".

Ghost in the Shell is full of fascinating dialog, such as this diatribe about the cycle of life and death by Project 2501. "A copy is just an identical image. There is the possibility that a single virus could destroy an entire set of systems, and copies do not give rise to variety and originality. Life perpetuates itself through diversity, and this includes the ability to sacrifice itself when necessary. Cells repeat the process of degeneration and regeneration until one day they die, obliterating an entire set of memory and information. Only genes remain. Why continually repeat this cycle? Simply to survive by avoiding the weaknesses of an unchanging system."

Thus Ghost in the Shell goes beyond simply a prediction or warning for the future: it attempts to contribute to our understanding of reality by breaking existence down into biological terms and making us question, along with the characters in the movie, whether or not any of us has a soul. The characters in Ghost in the Shell are unusually deep and are a refreshing change from the one-dimensional stereotypes we've become numbed by in modern media. Ghost in the Shell would be required reading in many high school and university courses if it weren't for the fortuitous fact that it can be enjoyed in this beautifully animated feature film. This is one of the few movies ever made that everyone should watch at least once.

It found a voice... and a following

[dee.reid · 10/10 · 5 August 2004]

"Ghost in the Shell" is an intricate masterpiece of cyber-punk fiction and storytelling, successfully melding intriguing philosophical ideas with a coherent, well thought-out (albeit) confusing plot.

Even more, it's a nightmarish vision of a society that's dominated by cyberspace and looking back now, is eerily prescient of today's computerized times. Many of the characters in the film are enhanced, someway or another by machines, to help them get the advantage in a vastly changing society.

I'll avoid going real deep into the plot simply because there's a whole lot to grasp and even I got more than a little confused trying to follow it. The story is that a team of high-level government operatives are hot on the trail of a notorious computer hacker called the "Puppet Master," who is wanted for various crimes in cyberspace and has taken a particularly fond interest in the team's tough, female cyborg leader.

Not surprisingly, as with the stigmas surrounding Anime', "Ghost in the Shell" is not short of nudity and graphic violence. But it's far from being gratuitous, and does not slow down the movie at all.

"Ghost in the Shell" was one of the first Anime' films to skillfully blend traditional drawn animation with computerized imagery. This helps to give the film a surreal, yet beautiful look. And the dialogue helps sometimes too, with helping to sort out the confusing plot and many of its mythical ideas about personal identity and human evolution.

This film is also even more revered today, in 2004, since some of this film's core themes helped to develop the plot basis of the insanely popular "Matrix" films, and some scenes from "Ghost in the Shell" were even homaged to in the first "Matrix" movie. The Wachowski Brothers certainly do owe a lot to this movie for the success of their work in America.

I think that to understand "Ghost in the Shell," it would help to accept that Anime' is much more complex and daring than traditional American animation. Most Japanese animation films, like this one, "Akira," or Mayazaki's "Spirited Away," are on a level of sophistication that will never be matched in America.

It has been said that the majority of American audiences would be afraid of Anime' because of the many stereotypes surrounding it, but that's why it's boundless - it's been given free reign to use those stigmas to its advantage in developing truly remarkable pieces of art that have gone largely ignored here in the U.S. "Ghost in the Shell" could very well be a mere reflection or a parable of a doomed society that's probably already accepted its dark fate. Most American animation would never touch up on this sort of subject matter.

"Ghost in the Shell" is my #3 choice Anime' film (behind "Spirited Away" and "Akira") because it's so full of ideas and is masterful in telling a dark story about our times.

10/10

A stunning and complex cinematic warning

[Speechless · 10/10 · 12 November 2000]

Ghost in the Shell is a masterpiece. I would go so far as to say that it's the second best science fiction film I've ever seen (behind 2001, of course), but no one knows about it. I find it terribly unfortunate that the only American viewers familiar with Ghost in the Shell are anime fans, many of whom overlook the film's complexity and see only its nudity and violence. The movie kind of gets in its own way-- within the first five minutes we see the heroine's nude body as well as a very messy head-exploding scene, and many of the viewers who would otherwise end up enthralled by the film's abundant style and intelligence immediately dismiss it as exploitative anime trash. Every time I show this movie to non-anime fans I have to explain beforehand that Ghost in the Shell is a serious work of science fiction and that everything in it, including the adult content, is part of the point the movie makes about where our society is headed.

The film is stylish, artistic, and beautiful. Masamune Shirow's stunningly believable vision of the future makes the jump from manga to anime remarkably well. As brilliant as the comics are, I really prefer the film version, which eliminates the nearly pornographic T&A (the film has nudity but it's clearly not meant to be titillating) and all of the exaggerated comic relief which only detracted from the manga in my opinion. The film's action sequences are strikingly different from the overly stylized symphonies of destruction seen in most action films. Gunfire, martial arts combat, and car chases are depicted exactly as they would occur in the real world-- without fast music or Armageddon-style hyper-editing or any of the needless cinematic baggage we've come to expect. But it's the movie's ideas that make it great, particularly in the last half hour, when thoughtful viewers learn what this story is all about-- the emergence of a new kind of life form, an intelligent and self-aware intelligence that can live indefinitely without ever inhabiting a physical body. The film argues that this will occur within the next thirty years, and the superbly ambiguous ending inspires us to come up with our own ideas of what will happen to humanity once this new life form begins to reproduce. This is filmmaking that should be seen and discussed.

And now the disclaimer. All of the above comments refer to the subtitled Japanese version of the film, NOT the English dub. Simply put, the dub ruins everything. A good example is Kusanagi's wry comment at the very beginning of the film. An officer who is communicating with Kusanagi through a kind of electronic telepathy tells her there's a lot of static in her brain. In the original Japanese version (as well as in the manga) she replies that "It's that time of the month," but in the dub her comment is inexplicably changed to "Must be a loose wire." It's completely insane-- do they think that, in a film with considerable nudity and graphic violence, people are going to be offended by a PMS innuendo? The whole movie is filled with such intelligence-insulting changes; please do yourself a favor and watch the subtitled version.

Excellent.

[Quag7 · 10/10 · 25 October 2001]

I liked everything about this film. Much has been made of the artwork, and with good reason. Voltron, this isn't. I am not an anime fan and haven't seen a lot of anime films. Most plot descriptions of anime films sound boring to me. I'm not into monsters and tentacles or cute wide eyed little girls fighting evil. (Not that cute wide eyed little girls shouldn't fight evil, I mean, I'm all about fighting evil, aren't we all?) Ghost in the Shell, on the other hand, represents the best of its genre and the best of any genre is worth a watch. This movie ought to appeal to anyone who enjoys cerebral films. It addresses interesting philosophical questions about identity, some of which we will no doubt be pondering in the not too distant future. (I'm perhaps foolishly optimistic when it comes to AI).

I should add as well that this is definitively in the cyberpunk genre. If you liked the old Max Headroom television series or movies like Wargames, this will no doubt appeal to you. Even the English dubbing isn't bad, even if it is a little bit fast (to keep up with Japanese).

Darken the room, sink low in your chair, turn the volume up (the soundtrack is spectacular), and fall into this movie. I wish there were more like it. The artwork is incredible (if you don't consider animation art, you should take a look at Ghost) and the plot and dialogue are three dimensional and thought provoking. Two thumbs up. As I say, best of genre.

A Visually Stunning Anime for Adult Audiences

[AMIO-PatricioMunoz · 16 November 2003]

Wonderfully executed anime classic.

It is a darker anime tale aimed towards a more mature audience. I enjoyed the amazing realism of this film. The attention to detail is definitely enjoyable to see.

The DVD has a rather enjoyable documentary on the making of the film. Any fan will enjoy the structure and content of the documentary. It is quite informative on the process of making the film.

Like most Anime, there is a lot of character development and dialogue mixed with stunning visuals.

I think the most captivating element that this film has to offer is its creative "cinematography" and attention to detail. There are numerous memorable shots in this film.

This is not an anime for everybody. Attention to story is critical and I am guilty of rewinding certain areas just to keep up with the story.

Thankfully this is not a mindless science-fiction/anime tale filled with crazy action sequences. The Ghost in the Shell proves to be quite philosophical in nature by questioning the meaning of life.

I would love to venture deeper into this story and its message but I think it is better for you interpret it on your own.

Remember to watch this movie with your heart, not with your mind. Reflect on it later. This is the best way to enjoy this type of film.

A visually stunning, albeit rather empty, anime classic

[yv_es · 6/10 · 4 January 2021]

There is no doubt that Ghost in the Shell is an anime classic. However does Ghost in the Shell still hold up in the distance future of 2021? Well, I guess it depends.

The visual design most certainly does. The background art is especially stunning. Its futuristic yet gritty city feels alive and tactile. The entire film a is great example of the Cyberpunk aesthetic, and watching it today you can clearly see its influence on many later directors. My only criticism of the visual design is that it definitely reflects a male gaze in a way that does not seem self aware.

Compared with the design however, the animation leaves something to be desired. There are drawn out still shots that linger for quite a long time and long sequences where only a character's mouth moves. This of course is not uncommon in older anime, but it feels cheap even by 90s anime standards. Thankfully you'll usually be busy enough looking at the amazing background art and other design that you can overlook this.

For me, the larger disappointment was that the plot and characters are rather basic. The film touches on a number of interesting philosophical topics, such as the nature of consciousness and what it means to be human, without exploring them in any depth or offering any real insights. I find that even bad cyberpunk films, such as 1995's Strange Days, to be much more intellectually interesting.

I was also disappointed by how underdeveloped the characters are. Major Motoko has pretty much one line where she talks about herself and doubting her identity. Her partner is basically just the muscle. This underdevelopment makes it difficult to care about them or what's going on in the film. Even the ending feels very low stakes.

All told, Ghost In the Shell is undoubtably an anime classic. Visually it more than holds up today, although adult viewers may find it disappointingly shallow in terms of exploring larger concepts and developing characters. Compared to other anime work from the mid 90s, such as "Memories" or many other OVAs, I don't think Ghost In the Shell is quite as revolutionary as some make it out to be, although I do love its cyberpunk aesthetic and do appreciate how influential it was.

Part of the problem with watching Ghost in the Shell today is that anime has evolved a lot since 1995. While this film once passed as a groundbreaking work for adults, today I can't help but feel it is not an entirely mature work. All of which is to say that while Ghost In the Shell isn't a bad film by any stretch, in my opinion it's been somewhat eclipsed by the universe of anime it and its ilk helped spawn.

The manga for the masses.

[Luke-Walker · 10/10 · 30 July 2002]

This is the most beautiful film i've ever seen.

There, i've said it. Watch it and be awed at how amazingly detailed and fluid the whole film is. Never does it falter in the art department. The colours are just right, the peoples movements are so real its scary, and sometimes the strong story of the film cant fit all this beauty in and so it releases it entirely in a magical scene in the middle of the film with no dialogue and no plot progression, just marvellous panoramic followed by marvellous panoramic shot. This is my favourite segment of the movie. It shows the nameless city in which the protagonists exist as a cluttered, enclosed, claustrophobic world, yet terrifyingly familiar. This film is full of such themes which subtly make their way into your mind and you dont even realise they're there until afterwards.

So lets talk about the story. Its an amazing monster of a tale, squeezing it all in barely in its short running time. It does sometimes feel a little rushed, a little convoluted so that it bears repeat viewings to get the whole thing, but it is still a strong story none the less. In fact it is a very mature story. The creators could have so easily gone the typical manga route and thrown in some invading demons or mega-destructive internet monsters. But no, the whole thing restrains intself to a realistic view of an extra-ordinary situation. it all feels like this is exactly how it would happen in real life, and that is what makes it so engaging, and so scary.

This film deserves to be seen, not just because the heavenly beauty warrants it, but because the deep issues it raises needs to be questioned. If you want to be entertained without thinking, watch Wicked City or the countless millions of other mediocre mangas out there. You want to be entertained and be made to think and question the film? See this.

You wont regret it.

Great examination of what it is to be human, but minus emotions.

[Jeremy Bristol · 7/10 · 1 June 2001]

Ghost has some of the best animation I've ever seen, and the character designs really fit the story better than the usual big-eyed beautiful girls that typically are found in anime (Akira excepted). Unlike most animation, the scenes where computer animation is blended with cel look right (was anyone really impressed with the magic carpet ride in Aladdin?).

Also, it is very thought provoking and philosophical, even quoting from the bible (the "through a glass, darkly" bit, also used in a film by Ingmar Bergman). However, it doesn't have much emotional punch unless you're one of those people who thought The Matrix wasn't just possible but likely. Even liberals are far too conservative and unwilling for change to feel comfortable with having whole parts of their body replaced to become superhuman (there are already a lot of paranoid people at my college worried about how the government will use the human genome project to control their lives or clone them, despite the fact that there won't be any major advancements for many years). The views of individuality are a bit strange, too. Basically, the movie says that we are who we are because of the information stored in our minds, but gives no creedence to the individual ways people process that information (look at autistics). Think of it this way: a robot can have all the information a human can, but when given a choice between equally good things (such as which kind of ice cream to have or which of the seven urinals to use in an empty bathroom), it would prove itself incapable of this simple human trait. Sure, the movie understands that (a "ghost" in this movie is a soul-like entity), but it doesn't really "show" this--the human and partially-human characters feel as unemotional as the computers around them. Still, that's traditional in science fiction--in the Blade Runner director's cut, the replicants (especially Roy Batty) seem more human than Harrison Ford's character.

7/10 for the subtitled version.

The dubbed version is another story. This is absolutely the worst high-budget dub there is--practically on par with the Skuld episodes from Oh My Goddess ("We've--got--to--help--Belldandy!" with very hard and pronounced iambs). On top of that, the sound is so flatly recorded and mixed that you can't understand what's thought and what's spoken (which is very important in this movie). 1/10.

An Animation Masterpiece

[queitus · 10/10 · 11 May 2002]

This is an incredible work in the science fiction category, but an absolute masterpiece in terms of animated film.

Deep thematic probing and philosophical questions dot the story. Characters that are cyborg-humans question their existence... this is a true potential problem for the far future. Is something created outside of a womb without a soul? Do souls even exist? Set all this against some incredible action sequences, plenty of eye candy, and a very dark, acrid backdrop of the future of civilization. This is a summer blockbuster and more. It's ashame that most people are too close-minded to consider a film like this.

Bad guys and good guys? No clue. I had to watch the film 3 times to

-Understand the plot fully -Understand the motivations of the characters -Realize the depth of the film -And still I'm left with questions

If you open your mind, Ghost in the Shell settle itself within you... it will linger far after your first viewing. You will realize that a movie can have action, incredible effects, and STILL be deep.

Drama, mystique, philosophy, intrigue, "going out on a limb" quality, action, adventure, deep characters who don't fall into bad or good categories, beautiful imagery, mind-boggling plot... even some comedy! I just can't get over the fact that I have never before seen a more perfect mix of the elements which make a masterpiece. EVER.

10/10.

Stunning visual, interesting concept for era

[jasoncrespo-56276 · 6/10 · 10 August 2023]

Ghost in the Shell 1995, a very interesting anime movie but hard to follow.

The movie is short. I generally enjoy movies that take place in the future but this one was just confusing at some parts. This movie feels mysterious, it has a ton of slow ambient shots, setting the tone and doing the world building for the movie. This movie was definitely strange but there is a lot of attention to detail and for it's time I would say it's impressive. I didn't really get it though.

6/10 for me.

I really liked the music played during the atmospheric shots this movie had. Overall tone of movie is mysterious.

Interesting Themes Mean Nothing Without Proper Execution

[DonaldDooD · 3/10 · 20 July 2014]

Ghost in the Shell seems to be as lucky as Blade Runner and Akira, blindsiding its audience with novelty and a false sense of depth. Its one of those films where people love to talk what its "about", but have little to say on how it portrays its themes. They say its "about" conscious, identity, and our dim future...but why should we care?

For me, a film must have strong characters to anchor you to the story. They must be realistic and relateable, so you can understand and emphasize with their experiences. But to call GitS's characters two-dimensional is stretching the definition. The story is so focused on the case, we rarely spend any time with the cast, and thus I couldn't care about their interactions or fate. The main character is especially uninteresting: when she supposedly undergoes a great change at the end of the film, she's just as wooden as before.

The sacrifice of character isn't even worth the sci-fi, cyber mystery thrills. The plot is so bloated with techno-babel its almost incomprehensible. This isn't depth that requires multiple viewings to understand - this is just bad writing. With little emotion attached to the scenes, I barely maintained attention. Only a few action scenes are scattered through the film, and none are worth the wait.

I will concede the animation is pretty good, especially the backgrounds. They're cartoons, but dark, detailed, and realistic. You get a decent sense of this advanced, yet dismal world. If only this quality were in a better film!

Its easy to deride those against this film as people who "just don't get it". I'd say there's nothing important to take away. Its world is barely explored outside of the premise, and the lone conflict between the main character and villain is so bizarre it has no bearing to reality. Imagination and presentation does not equal depth. Ghost in the Shell felt like it needed another 30 minutes to explain things and develop its themes and characters. Its easily one of the worst films I have watched in terms of writing, but at least it looks good, and is a short burn. With the large amount of sci-fi we have access to these days, I wouldn't recommend GitS to anyone.

Unbelievable

[antialias11 · 10/10 · 23 January 2005]

That anime could be this good. I'd thought I'd seen good anime when a friend brought me 'Akira', but this one is just awesome.

It has everything that one could want. An interesting plot, deep thoughts, nice dialog, hot chicks, cool action, neat tech, and animation that puts everything to shame which has ever been produced in the western world.

Now when I watch anime I usually expect (and dread) the scene which will explain something about the fundamental nature of life, the universe, or whatever. This is (the only part) where 'Akira' failed. This is where 'Final Fantasy' went down the drain. But 'Ghost in the Shell' shines here brightly.

While watching it for the first time I had always this nagging feeling that some such scene would turn up and ruin the truly stunning visuals. Not so. After the '2501' monologue the story really comes together and you start to be eager for story development instead of just looking for the many details and extravagant action sequences.

A word on the story: No, you will probably not 'get' the story the first time around. Especially in the English version you will have to make the connection between MoFA, MF, MFA and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that is easy to get confused over. The whole storyline might not be quite as complicated as understanding some 'Aeon Fluxx' episodes, but you have to rewatch the story to get a feel for the interconnection of the different players - especially if you are not familiar with the Ghost in the Shell literature. The story,thank god, is not dumbed down for the average viewer. This is what makes rewatching it so enjoyable. It has also some nice reflections on what it means to be human - things you may ask of yourself after the movie finishes ('Who knows what's inside our heads. Have you ever seen your own brain?').

The animation is superb, and used to unusual effect. The details are exquisite - especially cloth effects and character motions. There are a few scenes that only have music or an accentuating sound effect in the background while the animators show off their full artistic talent. But it's not just show-off time, the visuals are tied in with the subject and leave the viewer time to reflect on the philosophical/sociological messages (like showing the cybernetic heroine look at tailors' dummies)

In short: This is a must see for anybody who likes anime. Definitely a movie for grown-ups, though, because the graphic violence may disturb kids and the philosophy will go right over their heads.

10/10

A masterpiece of Art, Technology and Culture...

[Guiz · 10/10 · 22 December 1998]

I would highly recommend this cyber-political-industrial thriller that envisions our future in a hyper realistic (idealistic?) way. The plot is excellent, though I did not get it the first time. The quality of the graphics surpasses any anime available on the market and the soundtrack is beautiful. The creative team did an amazing job providing the movie with fine details, harmony in this very descriptive world of high technology (AI) and traditional Japan. I thoroughly believe it is a masterpiece, a unique audio-visual experience. (cf. Blade Runner, Akira)

At the top of its genre...

[tiyung · 29 February 2000]

I was a huge anime fan in highschool but as time progressed, my interests and focus in media have changed. A few days ago I re-discovered my forgotten anime collection. Behold, Ghost in the Shell.

Watching this fine piece of animation again brought back the reasons why I was attracted to anime in the first place. It is obvious that a lot of work went into Ghost in the Shell; the attention to graphic details creates some remarkably realistic animation.

Though the major reason to see this film is for the animation, there are also other fine points to consider. It has a fairly complex plot. The science it focuses on is definitely modern though, albeit, fantastic.

I recommend the subtitled version because the dubbed dialog is sometimes over wordy and odd-sounding (as are most dubbed versions).

Some viewers may be turned-off by the many scenes that aren't accompanied by music, especially the action sequences. The music, however, is outstanding. There are a couple of scenes that are basically slide shows of various themes. These are accompanied with music and no dialog. The animation, to say the least, is beautiful and seems to be the focus.

In summary, Ghost in the Shell is very satisfying.

Just a whisper in my spirit.

[SantiagoDM1 · 10/10 · 27 May 2019]

Ghost in the Shell tells the story of Major Kusanagi, a member of Sector 9, a private defense organization of the Japanese government to investigate cybercrime. Most of all members of sector 9 have altered their bodies, and have cybernetic augments. Our protagonist has only his physical human brain, the rest of his body is synthetic, what could be considered an android. Other comrades like Batou have cybernetic eyes, with multiple uses, while almost everyone has intracranial radio implants to be able to speak without using a microphone.

The post-Third World War society that presents us with the world of Ghost in the Shell, combined with the use of this cybernetic improvement technology of the body for all of society, generates a new vision of humanity. These improvements range from simple implants, entire limbs or improvements to productivity. As for example extendable and quick fingers for the secretariat or stronger arms for weight jobs. These improvements generate the concept that human consciousness is "bottled" and refers to it as the "ghost", the spectrum.

The story itself narrates the investigation of a cyber pirate, called the puppeteer, who is wreaking havoc on section 9 and the government, assaulting the bodies and memories of the people. Without going too far into the spoilers, Major Kusanagi, in her quest to know who she is, develops an intellectual fascination for him.

This is the starting point for the reflections that the film proposes later, especially those focused on what defines humanity. Where the barrier between the synthetic, the virtual and the real diffuses. Everything that makes you be you may not be yours.

Kusanagi spends the whole film wondering who she is and, in the end, reborn between angel feathers and symbols of resurrection. We find nihilistic metaphors in the motif of the reflections, where Kusanagi tries to glimpse what the real world is and who she is. The film's own presentation is replete with these symbols. Kusanagi emerging from the water and merging with his reflection. This symbology reflects our inability to perceive what is real. Oshii gets the viewer to interpret the abstract as a possible world that appears as real to our eyes, the world we inhabit. As the puppet master explains to Kusanagi that only she can see him through a crystal, but with his fusion She will be able to see clearly. The crystal and the water, the reflections, are poetic expressions of the idea "we can not know what is real". They are visual symbols of the epistemological nihilism that appears continuously throughout the film...

Ghost in the Shell has left an indelible mark on our cultural history, planting the seed of many ideas in different creators. Perhaps the most important and well-known is Lana and Lilly Wachowski's Matrix, the number lines in green when entering the system, the puppet master can be compared with Agent Smith, with his existentialist reflections, aesthetics and especially the fact of that our minds can be part of a world made entirely of data and consequently stop feeling the "reality" that we supposedly perceive.

It is truly a feature film that is a visual marvel, but the best way to enter into symbiosis with Ghost in the Shell is to watch the film and be predisposed to our mind merging with the delightful images and transport us to another reality.

10/10.

A beautiful masterpiece of ironies

[Ryuji-2 · 10/10 · 29 April 1999]

GITS is a storm of ironies. First, the plot criticizes the very advanced computer technology used to create the film. Its mature themes (nudity and violence) all have relevance, yet draw hordes of immature viewers who end up disappointed by a deeply thoughtful social critique. And as high-tech as it is, the science it probably explores most deeply is anthropology.

Cinematically, it's a masterpiece. The alliance of Kawai's music (Blue Seed), Kawamori's mechs (Macross Plus), and Oshii's directing meld to create stunningly beautiful work transcending their "Patlabor" movies. Its quality and detail make Disney's best look like laughably tasteless scribbles, even though GITS cost a scant $4 million. Oshii's political themes and "still life" sequences are trademark, but to those with no stomach for his tastes, I argue his creative license is a fair compromise for compiling a LONG-running manga into a gripping, self-contained movie. "Akira" is a lot less successful in this aspect.

Watch this movie subtitled. The emotion-starved melancholy Tanaka tastefully infuses in Motoko's voice cannot be replaced with a third-rate American voice actress. Anyone smart enough to understand this movie is smart enough to read, anyway. I don't recommend this movie to everyone; only those with the open-mindedness necessary to stomach, digest and appreciate what it offers. To those people: It's GOOD.

A disappointment

[tomimt · 6/10 · 4 July 2006]

I don't actually know what I really was expecting but after hearing so much positive things about 'Ghost in the Shell' I was really disappointed of what I finally saw.

The marriage of flesh, mind and machinery. Can the machine, or artificial intelligence become self aware? What makes humans human? Can a self aware entity become human if it can live, give birth and finally die like everyone else. These are the question and the holding theme of the movie. And it brings nothing new to these questions. Philosophical babble flings left and right among pretty imaginary yet I was left more bored than amused. I felt nothing for the characters, thus their existence became secondary for me.

'Ghost in the Shell' has a couple of effective and well directed scenes in it but overall, after considering all the great things said about it, I really couldn't see why this film has been chosen as a marker of sci-fi anime of this genre. Maybe people settle for lesser things than I've thought or maybe I'm not japanned enough... yet.

There's more than you'd expect to this flick: there's poetry alongside the action.

[Blue_TigerCub · 10/10 · 14 February 2002]

If you're looking for great sci-fi action, ideas, images and effects, you'll definitely enjoy this one.

But be prepared for a convoluted plot - if you're like me you'll be rewinding and watching the film again to make sure you didn't miss anything...and it's well-worth your time to do so; the rich, soulful atmosphere of this cyberpunk world deserves to be explored for more than the film's relatively short duration (under 100 minutes, I believe).

Not unlike most Manga, it's the world that these people inhabit more than the story that really stimulates the senses. This can also be said about the other category that Ghost in the Shell fits, that of cyberpunk, which Ridley Scott's classic Blade Runner first rendered so vividly almost 20 years earlier.

Like the replicants and humans in Blade Runner who ponder the meaning of life in a world where technology can do anything we can do better, our hero this time, Major Kusunagi, finds herself debating the significance of real and 'artificial' existence, in a gorgeously-drawn Hong-Kong-like city in the future.

You see, she herself is neither a human nor a replicant. As an employee of a high-profile law-enforcement agency, she's been fitted with an entirely mechanical body, or "SHELL"; all that remains of her human self is her soul within it - her "GHOST".

(SOME DISCUSSION OF THE PLOT IS COMING UP! BE WARNED, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE, THIS MIGHT SPOIL A LITTLE BIT OF IT!)

The mysterious appearance of the PuppetMaster (who we are led to believe is a hacker who can control people's minds by hacking into their "Ghosts") troubles the Major. It triggers reminders of the conflict between technology and humanity that goes on inside of her - and she's becoming painfully aware that the technology is winning.

So she goes swimming in the harbor at the mercy of her flotation devices, realizing that her metal body would sink and kill her if they failed (the look in her eye hints that she secretly wishes they would). Heck, technology has even taken the fun out of drinking, she laments, her cyber-body can sober her up in seconds at the mere thought of it. It's details like these that give Ghost in the Shell an eerie sense of realism and seriousness, one that plays off neatly with the high-tech action sequences that pepper the plot as it rolls along.

There's a particularly dazzling scene - one of the most BEAUTIFUL scenes in any movie I've EVER seen - a montage of people going about their lives in this urban landscape. It really drives the point home: the imagined future of the film is one that has lost its soul. And further into the montage the images look less like an unfamiliar nightmare-future and more like a very REAL present-day. It's a haunting warning to the viewer that the Major's world may not be too far off our own horizon.

The Major meets her exact counterpart in the 'Puppetmaster': it is not a hacker, but in fact a "Ghost" unlike any other. "It" (neither a he nor a she) was "born in the sea of information". For the first time, technology has actually created a soul - something that is alive. It's fitting that an engraving of the Evolutionary Tree of Life on the wall is destroyed just as the PuppetMaster, an artificial soul born without a body, and the Major, a soul who gave up her body for an artificial one, finally meet.

This is not just another "Blood, Tits 'n' Guts" cartoon for adolescent ravers. It feels more like, "Stanley-Kubrick-meets-The-Matrix".

Try watching Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell side-by-side, you'll probably find that it holds up well - which says a lot, considering that Blade Runner ranks in the 'Top-100' on this site (it ranks #67).

Cyberghost wants a cyberchild

[Efenstor · 6/10 · 13 September 2006]

This movie has only one strong side: the very idea of virtual entity dwelling in a network, moreover revolutionary because the movie was made in 1995 when the Internet had only started to evolve. The rest is simply a boring gunpacked action with futile attempts to create a kind of "bladerunnerish" atmosphere, futile attempts to develop a kind of cyberphilosophy and as result no character attracts our sympathy as well as any other emotion at all. Still we must thank this anime for inspiring Gabrielle Salvatores to create his truly atmospheric masterpiece "Nirvana" which borrows a lot of cyberworld details from the "Ghost in the Shell". I must confess that I tried very hard to catch a cyberpunkish vibe in the "meditative" parts of the "Ghost" but it was barely possible, too much action around these sections totally swiped the sprout of atmosphere away. In Nirvana I got it from the first frames.

Conclude: mediocre script with a great core, mediocre direction, tasteless beefy characters, tons of unnecessary nudity, nice visuals and amazing soundtrack. 6 of 10.

Lovely Film.

[craigt92 · 10/10 · 9 January 2021]

An absolute classic. I'm not the biggest fan of anime, dont hate it just haven't dived into the genre. But this film has always intrigued me even when it first came out when I was younger, I thought (still do) the action scenes were awesome and the whole atmosphere and tone of the narrative makes you dive right into the world. Now if you want more than an action movie theres plenty of philosophical questions the narrative throws out there to you, some blatant and crucial to the story but theres some in there with deeper meaning that makes you wriggle to understand. And the artwork is unbelievable.

Great Animation but a Predictable Story

[MattBirk · 6/10 · 15 March 2016]

Ghost in the Shell is one of those movies that I really wanted to like more than I actually did. While I enjoyed to animation (greatly detailed and knowing no bounds but the illustrators imagination), the story itself was a bit too predictable for me. Normally that's not always a bad thing, but this story seemed to rely very heavy on the reveal of the villain and his motives (both of which I saw coming a mile away, unfortunately). But leading up to the revelation there were some interesting ideas floating around about the mind/soul of a human being. What makes us human? Do people really care about their 'souls'?

That being said, my biggest gripe with Ghost in the Shell had to be the Puppet Master itself. I knew exactly 'who' it was and what his goals would be. It felt way too familiar from a cyber-heavy-narrative standpoint (but the big thing is the movie was released in 1995, so the ideas were a bit more original back then). Both how he came to be and what he wanted felt all too familiar. Again, that might be a bit unfair to say when watching this two decades after its release but the fact still remains. But if you can get past this aspect of the story, there is a lot to like.

The action scenes are great, particularly the ending scene involving the spider-tank. A quick burst of action followed by a few shots of the rain falling down on their tiny battlefield really created a unique, tranquil feeling. There is something eerie yet poignant about the scene. Also, the idea of 'ghost-hacking' and the camouflage are two very interesting ideas that gave Ghost in the Shell some more memorable moments (it'll be interesting to see how the live-action version handles the camouflage idea).

You can easily see the importance the movie played in the science-fiction genre, specifically involving The Matrix or any movie involving cyber-science vs the human soul. Had I seen this movie years ago, I'm sure it would have been a more enjoyable experience, but the story seemed too played out for me. And as for the age-old question that gets asked (not really that old, but often brought up), which is better Akira or Ghost in the Shell? I'm definitely team Akira.

A hollow shell of a movie

[ligertiger · 3/10 · 21 September 2010]

Being both an avid Sci-fi and anime fan, I was very eager to see this movie. An animation focused on the close future, where cybernetics and androids thrive, sounds fun.

However unfortunately that is exactly what this film lacked... fun. Firstly we're thrown into some disorientating scenes, of which there is barely any explanation of what is going on. When you do start to get a very slippery grasp on this film, you'll find yourself simply sliding off again, as the movie throws in terminology and conversations which you don't even know the basis of. I would've preferred to have been told what a "ghost" or a "shell" is, and a clear description of the technological world the inhabitants have created for themselves, without having to guess, and without trying to piece together the various fragments of information that are lazily and carelessly thrown out at various intervals.

And, I'm guessing these action scenes are supposed to be riveting yes? Well, personally they were as interesting as watching the grass grow, no emotion, no passion, I just got the sense they were lacking in something so deeply. In all seriousness, I think Pokemon has more interesting action scenes than this.

The plot of this film (plot? there was a plot to this?!), was immensely hollow, not to mention hard to follow. The emergence of an artificial entity known as the Puppet Master causes Major Kusanagi to question her existence, showing as much emotional distress and depth as a slug. At the end, she combines herself with this 'Puppet Master'(after a harrowingly dull fight scene with a tank), with no adequately explained reason. And thus ends this dreadful dreadful movie.

The only good merits I can put on the film are the concepts within it, notably the advanced use of technology, such as, being able to connect with a world wide interface via implants in the brain, which with our ever growing advances in technology could be a reasonable scenario for the future.

However I'm afraid this movie has almost completely destroyed my interest in Sci-fi Anime films, and it frustrates me to hell that this movie has so many positive reviews. Personally, I'd prefer something with much more consistency, than this complete garbage.