Battleangel

Ghost in the Shell - the Television Series! Who would have thought that would ever happen? The movie was an instant classic, although short, a tad slow and hard to grasp for some people (to much dialogue perhaps?). Nothing is more cyberpunk than G.I.T.S! This feature (dubbed STAND ALONE COMPLEX) is brought to you by Production I.G (complete with info, synopsis, characters, images, journal etc.).

The story is pretty straightforward: In the near future, man and machine has merged through the dev. of “cyberbrains”. Cyberbrains are the end-of-the-line for wearable computers and enable the user to interact with stationary terminals with ease. The ultimate wireless technology that is. The (inter)net is now inside the mind of almost every individual. Of course there is a booming market for both information warfare and countermeasures. People can now even be “ghost-hacked” (the word “ghost” in “g.i.t.s.” refers to the essence, the soul). Cyborg bodies roll off the assembly lines by the thousands, waiting to be populated by cyberbrains. Even if the human mind is still unique there are those that see the end of our distinctiveness. Can even the human brain be synthesized, and has it already? What makes a human being so unique among the noise of technology? When is the red line crossed?

As I said, one of the main problems with the movie was the length. While you could feel there was an entire world out there just waiting to be explored there was no opportunity to. The movie revolves around a certain malicious hacker and “his” mysterious origins. It can feel a little narrow I suppose with that colorful and sparkling world around you .. a bit like elementary school then. At the center of the series is of course Major Motoko Kusanagi, presumably in the state she was in before the movie(?). Considering her attitude and how much ass she kicked in the movie I do not think anyone will be disappointed with this one.

The production is naturally supervised by master Shirow Masamune. Can’t wait for the DVD release Judging by the screen caps on the site this will be a widescreen feature. Hooya!

On a slightly less entertaining note, Bandai screwed up with a large number of the Escaflowne DVDs (Escaflowne: A Girl In Gaia/The Movie - both Ultimate and Standard Edition). The DVDs were released only a couple of days ago and now complaints are stacking. Apparently the movie freezes at the 12th chapter shift. As noted on Lizzard.net there will be no problem whatsoever getting a replacement disc - if you live in the US or Canada. Right.

Hopefully they will have remedied this in a couple of weeks if they haven’t already and by the time I do my import thingy, the defective discs will have been removed. I can only hope. It is a good movie that deserves a lengthier post. I’ll be returning to this subject, trust me.