Koukaku Kidoutai: Shin Movie

I'm not exactly sure who this new Ghost in the Shell movie is made for. Despite it being the 25th anniversary movie, it's very clearly part of the same continuity of the Arise franchise and works as a conclusion to it's long running storyline. At the same time, however, it's attempting to be a stand alone film that it's own intriguing mystery.

The result is a somewhat muddled, but overall generally entertaining installment in the franchise. While it sadly ditches the more philosophical undertones in the original films and the more political aspects of Stand Alone Complex for a more action driven approach, it still maintains ... the spirit of what makes Ghost in the Shell a consistently compelling and engaging universe.

Set in the year 2029, about one year after the events of Arise, Motoko Kusanagi (Maaya Sakamoto/Elizabeth Maxwell) leads her team to discover the culprit behind the assassination of the Japanese Prime Minister, which leads to a conspiracy deep in the government and connected to her past.

I had a hard time writing that synopsis because, for the most part, this film's plot is all over the place. It's extremely hard to follow, but not in the traditional way Ghost in the Shell makes it out to be. While it's filled with technobabble and exposition, the film jumps from scene to scene, sometimes without warning. It's a shame too, cause the story itself is a very interesting idea and fits right into the Ghost in the Shell world, it's not executed very well.

This is made up though by the strong character dynamics. If Arise and this film will be remembered, it is for the best character interactions out of the entire series. They really feel like a team here, and each member gets a chance to shine. The banter between the team during both in battle and outside the field is very memorable and I hope later adaptations take note.

Surrounding this is the gorgeous animation by Production I.G., which is some of the best work they have ever done. Ghost in the Shell has never looked better then it does here, with the character animations and action sequences popping like they never have before. It's a movie that is a sight to behold, similar to most installments of the franchise.

The normal casts in both languages were replaced for the Arise continuity, so it may take some time to get used to. Thankfully, both do an adequate job performance wise, with the Japanese and English actresses for Motoko being the standout. And it's always nice to hear Christopher Sabat in anything.

Japanese musician Cornelius returned from Arise to compose the music, and brings a distinct techno infused sound to the film. However, while good, his score is not nearly as exceptional as Kenji Kawaii's or Yoko Kanno's efforts, and feels more like background noise at times.

That is probably the best way to describe this movie (and the Arise franchise as a whole) - adequate and unexceptional. It's strong action sequences and memorable characters helps overcome the confusing and poorly plotted story, making this a good, but not great 25th anniversary gift for Ghost in the Shell fans.

I give Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie a 7 out of 10.

Lacking much of the philosophical aspects the series had traditionally had. Very much just an action flick, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Just that, I expect more from the GitS series. Even the "Arise" series -- which is probably the weakest of all GitS -- had some of the philosophical and meta things that really makes the series interesting.

Storywise, thought it was a little convoluted. Was hard to follow who was fighting who and for what reason. Not even really sure the ending really explained any of that. Though, perhaps, it was left that way for future releases.

Some of the English voice acting was ... jarring. Not sure why, but Chief Aramaki's voice actor has been replaced. And the voice doesn't fit him at all. Same goes with some of the other team members. The voice acting just doesn't fit the characters as we've seen them before.

Somewhat along the same topic, it seems that some of the personalities have been changed as well. Characters who don't speak all that much seem, do so more often, without necessarily adding anything to the story.

At the very least, it was entertaining.

First of all, everything you say about one installment of the Arise-Series, automatically applies to all the other installments, cause all of them follow the same lame ass blueprint. So that being said, there is no need to differ between the 5 entries (and the movie).

So, here we have another true Tow Ubukata Screenplay. You can recognize that garbage only 2 minutes in, cause NOTHING makes any sense or is well sceneraized. Just like any other Tow Ubukata Screenplay, we have randomly thrown together scenes, that don't make sense on their own, yet alone any sense withe the original manga. One random occasion after another, ... trying to fool you into thinking you just watched the deepest shit ever. But you really didn't. Things just appear and then go away. No content whatsoever. The characters literally beam themselves into the next scenes. It goes without saying that character development is non-existent in an Ubukata Story.

Remember the one South Park Episode with the sea cows that just randomly picked balls with words on it out of an aquarium and made a sequence out of it? That is exactly how Tow Ubukata writes.

Ok let me try that:

Character: Major
Location: Park
Occasion: Birthday
Activity: Shooting

Ok cool, so we have Major holding her Birthday Party at a Park while a Shooting going on. That is a perfect Tow Ubukata right there. See I'm capable of that method myself, let me write the next screenplay. Geez...

Oh yeah and: don't watch this junk of a movie.