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Jun 8, 2023 6:00 AM

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Dec 2022
5394
The atmosphere in this anime is only bolstered by the visual quality. The main characters have far more depth than you'd expect from a short film like this, and the action scenes are dynamic and smooth. The plot has an excess of geopolitical dialogue and mentions of Section 9 and 6 and so on, which gives you much to process in the short length of the film. Maybe some of the sequels will develop those agencies more.

I didn't like that stupid tribal chant that played three seperate times though. Very ear-grating and unfitting of the setting.


╔⏤═⏤╝ ╚⏤═⏤╗
Shaded Horizon


Jun 27, 2023 1:56 AM

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Dec 2009
9717
Finally watched this classic, and I'm disappointed. It's overrated. 4/10.

Not bad, and clearly a fraction, not a full adaption of the manga apparently, but regardless... standalone, it was very boring.

I don't know how better the manga is, but apparently it's "worse" for being comedic, even though it's a fuller story, but overall dense, while the rest of the interpretations of the other movies is also based on the manga by using its concepts.

So, it seems like all of its iterations is based on a mediocre flawed manga with great ideas and concepts, but is somehow popular in attracting an audience.

Based on this movie,
I never learned what a "ghost" was, but basically, as far as I understood...
The world is mainly "living" of cyborgs, with few humans, and mostly humans who transfered their brains either actual or neurotically to improved cyborgs.

That's cool. Meanwhile there's forces doing potentially illegal things, while a random "ai" cyborg hacker who's taking control of cyborgs and hacking around for knowledge, kinda... but ultimately in the end of the film, it wants to be "real" by dying and creating offspring, by copying his data to the network.

Throughout all of this is Major Makoto, a female cyborg, who's body is built in with camouflage, so she has to get naked to become invisible, sexy, but... fan-service. The character design of the females are big on the eyes, and her hairstyle is odd, so she's not exactly beautiful, but anyway.

For whatever reason, she questions her existence, with somewhat intriguing monologs from a cyborg, wondering about her individuality and what makes her her, even though she has copies of herself.
So the hacker ai likes that about her, and wants to merge with her, so he does.

... and that's pretty much it.
The first event of the story is some illegal event, then it's Makoto and the others chasing a garbage man who's hacking, hacked himself with a false memory. Cool.
To then realizing that this blonde female cyborg similar to Makoto's body gets hacked by the sentient ai hacker.
To which it escapes, and then merges with Makoto...

There's cool intriguing concepts but the events and lack of the rest of the story or any explanation to Makoto's origin or whatever makes this movie disappointing and boring. Overrated.

I love the opening credits song though. That's the best.
Otherwise, maybe the manga is in fact a little better... I'm not sure about the rest since all of them aren't exactly faithful as a full adaption at all and all base from it instead which I'm not a big fan of, since that's technically uncanon and not from the original creator.
Jul 3, 2023 9:21 AM
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May 2022
34
This was a great and excellent high quality movie. Amazing soundtrack. Amazing visuals. Amazing idea 10/10
Aug 6, 2023 6:14 PM

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Apr 2016
79
Clearly the Puppet Master only wanted to save himself, i did not think the Major would be so weak to enable the fusion... Not really a fan of the end.
Sep 3, 2023 10:33 PM
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Dec 2022
1
Ghost in the Shell is body horror and visceral rejection of self that morphs into a fantastic narrative of radical acceptance that really questions the very nature of sentience.
Sep 6, 2023 9:24 AM
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Sep 2023
4
Reply to upsidedownclaude
Ghost in the Shell is body horror and visceral rejection of self that morphs into a fantastic narrative of radical acceptance that really questions the very nature of sentience.
@upsidedownclaude

The most retarded post in this thread is easily this one
Sep 24, 2023 5:00 PM
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Sep 2022
1
supinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpasupinpa
Oct 22, 2023 5:24 AM
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Oct 2023
1
Great visual style, love it... But not much food for thought
Nov 12, 2023 4:49 PM
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Jun 2022
4
One of the best cyberpunk themed anime, period.
Nov 16, 2023 7:28 PM
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Feb 2020
1
A very engaging film. Definitely a film that encourages multiple viewings but nevertheless lives up to it's "classic" reputation.
Dec 15, 2023 4:46 AM
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Mar 2023
8
The most overrated movie of all time?
Jan 1, 2024 2:12 AM

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Jul 2021
1062
An interesting movie, its been on my PTW forever.

I liked the main male lead detective guy.

The buildings in this anime and the overall aesthetic are missing in todays anime.


Jan 15, 2024 2:12 PM

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Nov 2018
433
It's not easy to digest. I was left with lots of questions.
I'll definitely need a re-watch if not reading the manga too.
"The me today will not ever make the future me to regret!"
(Emily Adachi from Air Gear: Kuro no Hane to Nemuri no Mori - Break on the Sky)

Feb 5, 2024 12:58 PM

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Mar 2018
245
This movie definitely leaves something to be desired in the ideas and messages it brought to the table. The main thing I took away from this is what defines someone as uniquely them, as a human, specifically the boat scene. This was my favorite scene of the movie but beside that it left something to be desired, something more for it's message of human uniqueness in a world consumed by A.I. and augmented humans which stands even more relevant today.

Like if I were to compare this to other shows that tackled the potential dangers of the internet and technology on mankind. I would rate it in the order of Lain, Psycho-Pass, then Ghost in the Shell.

Both Lain and Psycho-Pass provide something more fleshed out in it's vision and messages where Ghost in the Shell just leaves me wanting more from it's concept.

Thinking on the Garbage Collector B interrogation, this scene could have been expanded in a way to provide more emotion and empathy on the viewer on the pain he experienced being told that this life he thought he lived with a wife and kid were all a lie, but instead it glides through it with minimal emotion placed on the viewer as it continues on.

It's gonna be an 7 for me as I was left with slight disappointment but still appreciative of it's vision, message, and experience it provides despite this.
Celest__Feb 5, 2024 1:11 PM
Feb 13, 2024 6:35 PM
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Feb 2023
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Mar 27, 2024 3:04 PM

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Jan 2021
1774
Great story especially with everything that’s going on currently with all the AI stuff and really cool animation
Apr 8, 2024 12:04 AM
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Jul 2015
2
philisophy-heavy. split up this movie between 2 nights, finished watching this at 1 am LOL
May 1, 2024 10:36 AM

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Aug 2021
371
Finally settled for a re-watch after 2 years, the final scene of the dialogue between Motoko and Puppet Master where both lying down in an abandoned Nissen-hut-like structure gotta be one of the greatest scenes I've ever seen in any film.
May 3, 2024 12:05 PM

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Jul 2011
135
It's either too late for me to enjoy this movie in 2024 or the movie is bad.

The characters are just so bland and the world was not explained, it pretty much assumes that you know all these cyberpunk concepts. Maybe in 1995 where people would sit down and just enjoy an avant garde movie to then ponder philosophically what it all entailed and the potential of transhumanism but in 2024 where we live in clown world and you get ads thrown to your face every other minute kind of hard to appreciate.

90's media like perfect blue or evangelion i think are masterpieces but this one feels meh to me.
Jun 20, 2024 7:05 PM

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Nov 2017
266
just rewatched before i see innocence (for the first time!) in theaters this weekend
absolutely incredible, especially on rewatch
one of the most thought-provoking and genuinely interesting things i have ever seen

super excited to watch innocence
"Leonardo... it wasn't, by any means, only your eyes that we welcomed into Libra."
- Klaus von Reinherz
Jun 24, 2024 8:48 AM

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May 2015
2346
Did the same as above. Watched this for the first time after watching a bit of SAC, and wow... Major Motoko is definitely a great character no matter the rendition. Her struggle to see where the humanity in her begins and ends definitely shines brightly in this movie. So much so even the Main Antagonist was drawn too it! The atmosphere was amazing, and the locations were stunning. I'm glad they went with the decision to use Hong Kong because its scenery really rocks in the background. The ending of the movie was definitely surprising to me, usually I'd expect the humans to strive to keep their humanity through it all and shy away from becoming something else. But, from my interpretation of the events I don't think it was fully Motoko's choice. Considering they killed the other shell that she and the puppet master were linked too. Good job secret agents, you made a superintelligent being.

10/10 movie for me, I see why section 9's story didn't just end here. This cast and the world they live in is super interesting and they knew it!
Aug 2, 2024 6:54 PM

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Mar 2022
926
Ah Ghost in the Shell, probably one of the first non Ghibli films I saw growing as a teenager. This along with Akira are probably the first animes that were more on the grittier side of things and I remember that there was a magazine that us brits had in the UK called Manga Force that a line that was around until 2010 which was a film called Ichi which I honestly never saw but in the issues you would get free DVDs of various animes from the likes of Evangelion, Macross Plus, Bubblegum Crisis, Hellsing Ultimate, Perfect Blue, the list goes on and on. And I remember the first issue was bundled with Ghost in the Shell in particular. It was nothing I had seen before and I remember watching it in the dead of night as well. Sadly I watched the movie years ago and I couldn’t remember if I enjoyed it or not. I would see like glimpses of the movie thanks to me listening to the song King of my Castle from Wamdue Project because parts of the film was used in the music video and it wouldn’t be until this year that my original Manga Force of this movie was found.

So there was no bones about it, I had to rewatch for myself to see if it was any good. And much to my surprise, I ended up enjoying the film. The thing that it does is atmosphere. Seriously the moment you start the music really sells you on the world itself, some people think that the montage scenes are annoying and distract the viewer but to me they add to the feel of the film because there’s a lot of exposition being thrown at you and you really need to pay attention to what’s going on. So to me I feel they are breather after all the information we’ve been given. The animation is just gorgeous to look at, I did find The Major’s design a bit on the unnerving side of things but that’s kind of the point when we are talking about how she reflects that she may or not be human at all so I guess that was intentional for her to look like that.

I did enjoy the philosophical and religious feel to the movie, really liked the dynamic between the Major and Batou, but I honestly feel like I didn’t enjoy as much as Akira and apart from Mimi Woods, god bless her she did well on what she was given but I feel like her performance for Motoko or the Major if you will was just lifeless and monotone a lot of the time compared to say Richard Epcar who was really good as Batou in the English dub that is. Overall I will say that Ghost in the Shell gets a solid 8/10 from me.
Nov 9, 2024 1:55 PM
Call me Oniichan

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Jan 2007
1903
Honestly, the philosophical questions that were asked in this movie are middle-schooler level at best. This show doesn't offer any unique insight that a developing teenager hasn't thought about and hasn't answered already by the time he graduated. It's such a childish drivel that I am baffled why it gets such praise and recognition. Goes to show how moronic the anime audience really is.
Nov 15, 2024 10:22 PM
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Nov 2024
9
Am I missing something? This was recommended in the same vain as "AKIRA" and while I wasn't expecting anything similar, I felt very bored by the end. It's a gorgeous movie and I really like the style, but I didn't understand what the story was suppose to be. I like stories that don't hold your hand, but I'm confused by GITS..
Dec 26, 2024 7:09 PM

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Oct 2022
386
My current rating of this is a four . Not exactly sure why it is so low. I have almost no memory of anything that happens in this film, implying that I might have been a little out of it. I know I watched this around the same time I watched howls moving castle, Neo Tokyo, and Metropolis. So the judgment may have been made in comparison to those as I would have been expecting something of that quality. But let’s see if I was correct in my original judgment. Starting off week with untranslated text crucial to the plot on the screen. I can’t imagine how awful that would be without Google image translation.. there is extra noise in her brain today OK. Gun briefcase. She blends into anything. Liquid conveyors. She is created. So far I can’t see any reason for it to be rated solo. The machine that took over after the revolution is making demands. Her brain was hacked into. They are attempting to reach your. The puppet master. Malice may be a pawn in this set up. No evidence just a whisper in her ghost. They are already 40 seconds late. They know. He has an invisibility cloak. I simply do not remember any of this at all. This is good so far. He doesn’t know who he is. Ghost hacked humans. His memories are fake. False implanted love. Simultaneous reality and fantasy. The cyborg scuba dives in their free time. She sometimes feels Hope down there. Like she’s becoming someone else. If man realizes technology is in reach it achieves it. She has a sense of her own destiny. She feels confined, only free to expand herself within boundaries. Something else speaks as her. There is another of her in the window with a switch. This is almost entering nine territory. The cyborg arrives late. The numbers turned into a fingerprint when she has no hand. The cyber body operated on its own. There was a ghost in their back up brain. She is assembling a barrier maze. I guess the fat guy had thermoptics because I ain’t see one. Sometimes she suspects she isn’t who she thinks she is. The only thing that makes her feel human is the way she’s treated. If it could create a ghost by itself, what would the importance of being human be? Them combined way over 1000 pounds. He has super hands. It’s him. He has never had a body. The robot is sentient and demanding political asylum. It can be argued that DNA is nothing but a program. A new system of memory. Neither modern science or philosophy can explain what life is anymore. He is not an AI. He is an entity created in the sea of information. The program set up to catch the puppetmaster existed a year before the puppet master ever existed. 2 more of them. She won’t wait for back up. I can vaguely remember this at least. This building and some sort of military robot in the middle of it. She is going to argue with the tank. It shoots through dinosaur skeletons and the tree of life. It is not about time it runs out it’s an entire tank. You’re telling me the tank of the future only has enough bullets for a couple seconds of combat. She breaks her body in an attempt to open the tank. The tank bleeds. Standard issue big gun. She is diving in. They are both class a special bodies. He will monitor her dive through some strangers brain. Face switch ghosts. He eventually became aware of his existence. And tried to isolate him in a physical body. He wanted to meet her by his own free well. He is able to recognize his own existence. He cannot reproduce or die. Copies do not give rise To variety and originality. Life continues through diversity. He wants to merge with her. To create a unique entity. She will give birth to them on the net. Why would she wish to remain herself? They resemble each other’s essence. They will no longer be restricted by their limitations. They will elevate their consciousness to a higher plane. An angel descends in both heads are destroyed or removed. The helicopter had wings. Something returns, but who is it? It all ends in a draw. She is going. Will he be part of you forever? There are even more words that go with the passage that was spoken for her. She is neither and both. Their private password for when they meet again. Where does the newborn go from here. That was really good. I’m assuming I was barely conscious when I watched this the first time. And it had some very, very tough competition. That was a solid eight. Possibly more depending on its impact. Definitely nowhere near a four, although I had a feeling that was going to be the case, it never really made sense to have as low of a score as it did.
Dec 30, 2024 2:47 PM

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Sep 2014
4971
This is my 3rd time watching I think (maybe 4th..) but it stays pure art. At this point its a weird sort of comfort anime, Im probably looking forward to it more than I actually enjoy watching it. Or rather the total amount of enjoyment is greater, since this movie is not very long.

Every frame is pure art, the OST is absolutely oustanding. Its still hard for me to understand why they ever demastered this with inferior CGI (2.0). I remember watching an interview with Oshi from the BD for GitS 2 Innocence and he highlighted how long this parade scene took in CGI and damn its just not worth it, compared to what this original delivers.

Ironically the movie itself is not even THAT good, I mean the characters and story are not outstanding, but the atmosphere is just so damn thick if you are even remotely into this there is nothing else like it.
I tried SAC and sadly its so far removed from what makes this great I never bothered to finish it, I will probably try again next year simply because this movie is so damn amazing I cant help but crave more of it, even though I know its pointless..

I cant even decide whats better, the art, the music, or the overall style. For me its all a 10/10.

Its actually funny how little I remember about the details of this movie for my third time watching, I completely forgot about the ending scene for example.

One thing which stands out to me is how it doesnt shy away from beeing nerdy, I mean compare it to Matrix which originally used the human brains as computers but they dumbed it down to "batteries".

I frequently see criticism about how the philosophical aspect is "shallow", but quite frankly thats pure nonsense. I dont think beeing more complicated would make the movie better at all. Its exactly what it needs to be.

@shmoomp Im jealous, I would kill to see a classic like GitS in cinema
"This emotion is mine alone.
It is for Madoka alone." - Homura
or how I would descripe Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica.
Dec 31, 2024 9:55 AM

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Feb 2024
1508
Reply to Comander-07
This is my 3rd time watching I think (maybe 4th..) but it stays pure art. At this point its a weird sort of comfort anime, Im probably looking forward to it more than I actually enjoy watching it. Or rather the total amount of enjoyment is greater, since this movie is not very long.

Every frame is pure art, the OST is absolutely oustanding. Its still hard for me to understand why they ever demastered this with inferior CGI (2.0). I remember watching an interview with Oshi from the BD for GitS 2 Innocence and he highlighted how long this parade scene took in CGI and damn its just not worth it, compared to what this original delivers.

Ironically the movie itself is not even THAT good, I mean the characters and story are not outstanding, but the atmosphere is just so damn thick if you are even remotely into this there is nothing else like it.
I tried SAC and sadly its so far removed from what makes this great I never bothered to finish it, I will probably try again next year simply because this movie is so damn amazing I cant help but crave more of it, even though I know its pointless..

I cant even decide whats better, the art, the music, or the overall style. For me its all a 10/10.

Its actually funny how little I remember about the details of this movie for my third time watching, I completely forgot about the ending scene for example.

One thing which stands out to me is how it doesnt shy away from beeing nerdy, I mean compare it to Matrix which originally used the human brains as computers but they dumbed it down to "batteries".

I frequently see criticism about how the philosophical aspect is "shallow", but quite frankly thats pure nonsense. I dont think beeing more complicated would make the movie better at all. Its exactly what it needs to be.

@shmoomp Im jealous, I would kill to see a classic like GitS in cinema
@Comander-07

I can see why you rated Elfen Lied and Mirai Nikki 10
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