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  • Sachi 2:55 pm on March 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Ghost In Shell, , , , philosophy, ,   

    S.A.C. 2nd GIG 


    A close sequel to the acclaimed Ghost in the Shell anime series, the events of 2nd GIG begins shortly after the reforming of Section 9 and premieres with their debut. Japan’s prior executive cabinet had dissolved, and is now headed by the new Prime Minister. Political stability hangs on a hinge as tension builds between the Japanese government and refugees from China thanks to the targeting made on refugees by the mysterious terrorist organization known as the Individual Eleven. But all is not as it seems on both sides of the conflict, and Section 9 faces a dilemma that could end in civil war fueled with weapons of mass destruction. Will Major Motoko Kusanagi and her team be able to resolve the issue in time to prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people? (More …)

     
    • Yi 9:27 am on April 18, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      I actually really enjoyed all the filler-ish episodes. It helps to build the world’s details even more. Still, yea agreed that some of the side character spotlight episodes were unnecessary. As for the villain, he is indeed pretty obvious, but the plot is still complex even then.

      Anyway, great review! I loved this series too.

  • Sachi 7:46 am on January 17, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , philosophy, , , Terminator 2, The Empire Strikes Back   

    Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence 


    When creating a sequel there’s a few key things that you need to keep in mind. First, you want your sequel to have all the things that made the original great, yet on a grander scale; you want a better story, better special effects, better action, better everything! But you don’t want it to be the same, or else it’ll become bland and predictable, meaning that you’ll want to strive to do something different, breaking the status quo. You want it to remain true to the original and not break continuity so that it may truly be a sequel and not just a random movie with the same characters. However, if it were as easy as these last few sentences make it then we wouldn’t have this “bad sequel” pandemic we have now. Lastly, you’ll be needing to drop in your little dash of Chemical X to provide the cherry; add that secret ingredient and your sequel will be a masterpiece. Unfortunately, only a select group of writers accepted into the most secret circle of the Illuminati at birth know of this most important puzzle piece, and even they need to earn it. Others stumble upon it through sheer dumb luck. The secret of good sequel-making may be a mystery forever.

    Despite this lack of knowledge, however, we are still somehow blessed to experience good sequels every once in a while, and on the rarest occasion we get one that even surpasses the original, such as The Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, and Terminator 2. Well, one more we can add onto that list is Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. (More …)

     
    • Fazmotron 7:36 am on January 21, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Anyone else scared of dolls now after watching this film?

    • marinasauce 11:01 pm on January 22, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      You certainly did rock this post ^_^ I enjoyed reading the prior post on the 1995 Ghost in the Shell, and I liked reading this one even more! A successful sequel blog post? (pardon my cheesiness)
      Nicely written again; now I have another of your recommendations to watch.

    • Mac Colestock 12:24 am on January 26, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      I respectfully disagree. The biggest criticism often leveled at Innocence was how awkwardly Oshii placed his philosophical ruminations. At first glance, it certainly seems that GitS 2 tackles more subjects than its predecessor, but the thing is that GitS tackles all of the same themes and concepts without having to rely so much on uninspired talking heads to do so. Its themes are more refined and subtle, for one thing, but its narrative also more focused than its sequel; Innocence on the other hand always struck me as a work that Oshii lost track of where he was going with his narrative somewhere after the first half of the work. The problem isn’t the fact that it’s packed with exposition and allusions to intensely academic works (Gosenzosama Banbanzai was even more intense in this regard, yet he handled that beautifully). The problem is that these segments contributed very very little to the narrative and ultimately only served to underline the ambiguous nature of these characters’ predicaments, things that were already fairly obvious and could have been conveyed in much subtler ways. The fact that in GitS he’d already done exactly what he’d failed to do in its follow-up was quite disheartening.

      While I do enjoy it, I think GitS 2 is one of the weakest works Oshii has ever done for this reason–combined with the very awkward pacing and extremely tangential nature of the plot. The fact he followed this work up four years later with the phenomenal Sky Crawlers is a small miracle, IMO.

      Although to its credit, Innocence has some of the best action and mindfuck scenes Oshii has done. First half of the movie worked fantastic as neo-noir, too.

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