Taking its lineage from the cyberpunk genre pioneered by William Gibson’s ground breaking Neuromancer, this is an example of intelligent and provocative animation, a feast for the eyes and for the mind. The film is both fluid and intense. Detailed backgrounds with multi-layered animation, the almost perfect blend of CG with traditional cell compositions, bring the story to life. The crowded streets and decaying buildings, the low flying commercial airliners that seem to just scrap over the tall residential blocks, they all draw us into the industrial wasteland and set the scene for the unfolding plot. From the stunning opening sequence to the open-ended conclusion, this is one hell of a ride.

It is the near future, humans are augmented by cybernetic bodies and parts, their individuality captured as information in ‘ghosts’ and transferable to these so called ’shells’ as the need arises. Into this world is born the ‘Puppet Master’, a world class hacker, able to penetrate and manipulate people by breaking into their minds, much like a burglar would break into a house. At a time when information transcends all boundaries and borders, information becomes the key, and valuable. Chasing this outlaw is a group of clandestine security officers headed by Major Motoko Kusanagi. Practically a cyborg, she is the protagonist of this story and brings out much of the themes hidden amongst all the gun fire and violence.

Its true this anime overflows with longwinded explanatory monologues. Don’t they all? Akira anyone?? Perhaps that is a fault in the translation, perhaps not. It is after all targeted at the young male adult market, youths whose pretentiousness is legendary. But looking past the set speeches that seem to ram the film’s message down our throats (why is it that people give the audience so little credit that they feel the need to explain everything, as if we’re children they have to spoon feed!), looking beyond the sexy graphics and the stylized violence (with a particular fetish for guns), there is something much more that this movie has to offer. The questions it raises will remain with you for hours and days after you have seen it.

Just what does it mean to be human? Who are we? Where do we come from? And where are we going? These are the eternal existentialist questions. But packed, as we are, like sardines in a can that is a city, separated and isolated from each other, these questions take on an increasing poignancy and we all feel an urgent need to understand and resolve these issues, for ourselves and to make sense of the world around us. If our individuality can be captured as ‘information’ or ‘ghosts’, then what separates us from a highly evolved computer program? If we are but the sum of our experiences, then any highly developed sum of information could possibly be human, could it not? What is so special about us? It’s a frightening thought. Our identities, our souls, who we are, these are things that give us strength and solace. Take them away and we become weak and hollow. Has the advancement of technology launched us onto a cross-roads in human evolution?

These questions resonate in our minds long after the movie has finished. They are well served by the soundtrack, an unforgettable mix of haunting drum beats and eerie chants…in a word…awesome…

Perhaps all this is reading too much into the film, to give it too much credit. Maybe its simply a thriller, an action flick with attitude. Yet, the best of science fiction entices us to think of possibilities, the best and the worse of possibilities. And here, in this feature length animation we do just that.

A must see.

Genre: Cyberpunk, Sci-Fi, Action
Parental Guidance Recommended
Credits: 2002 Masamune Shirow, Kenji Kamiyama, Production IG, Animax, Bandai Visual, Bandai Entertainment, Dentsu Inc., Kodansha, Manga Entertainment, Victor Entertainment
Shop: Ghost in the Shell Artbooks, Manga, and Game Guides, DVD, VHS, Game Shop, Toys and Accessories, Music

Dulio Giovanni’s Description:
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex follows the exploits of the Major Motoko Kusanagi and the enigmatic police unit known as Section 9, an elite cadre of soldiers, Advanced AI, hackers and super spies tasked with hunting down the world’s deadliest cyber criminals and solving the most devious conspiracies.

(52 Episodes)

A stunning (if rather much over due) follow-up to the phenomenal hit movie Ghost in the Shell, Stand Alone Complex delivers everything the movie had and raises the bar by a mile. Walking on the footsteps of its movie predecessor, the viewer is treated to cornucopia of stunning animation, cunning conspiracies, interesting characters and great soundtracks all of which seamlessly blend to create a breathtaking portrait of life within and beyond the machine.

GITS: SAC as stated above follows the day-to-day adventures of Section 9, it detaches itself completely from the events of the movie, which in this universe never occurred at all or at least not yet in effect functioning as a prologue to it and the second movie Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. The series is broken down into two kinds of episodes, the complex and the standalone. The former as the name betrays, illustrates the over arching plot of the series in which Section 9 is caught in a deadly multi-layered conspiracy of megalithic proportions involving government corruption, corporate interest and a hacker that is on par if not greater in skill than the preceding movie’s villain, the Puppet Master AI. Though this may sound cliché and formulaic, the story is anything but, as the twists and turns of this plot would make even Tom Clancy smile and the ending itself is a real shocker. A word to the wise, though this is not for the weak of mind or deprived of time, as the amount of information can overload the mind and missing a single complex episode can really hurt your understanding of the show.

While the complex episodes are what give this anime a reason for existing in the first place, it is the Standalone Episodes that are the real meat of the series. These are essentially one shot adventures and tirades tackling various issues of Section 9 and its individual members, serving to expound and develop the show’s main characters as well as thoroughly exploring several philosophical and ethical issues that would arise should we actually take to using cybernetics. It also more or less provides a brief pause from the over arching storyline’s endless and complex amount of details, instead telling a simpler and much more easily understood tale. Each episode gives the viewer an insightful glimpse into the eccentricities, histories and issues of each character, from Batou’s extreme hatred of the U.S.A, Togusa’s reluctance to use cybernetics to Chief Aramaki’s love life (yes, the cunning old monkey actually has a girl friend) and even the Tachikoma’s (AI Tanks) clumsy attempts at understanding the world from a human point of view.

The series maintains its old stable of well crafted and original main characters, Aramaki, Batou, Major Kusanagi and Togusa as well as their sidekicks Ishikawa and Saito (he did appear in the movie, albeit for only 3 seconds) then expands the roster with new characters such as Paz, Borma and the Tachikomas. Like the movie the series centers heavily on the four main characters, devoting several Standalone episodes into developing and humanizing them into well rounded characters with distinct personalities and quirks that could barely be felt let alone seen in the movie. The other characters Paz, Borma, Saito and Ishikawa mainly serve as technical back up for the quintet and are rarely given more than a hair’s breath of attention which may be quite frustrating as they are quite well made in their own right. The real show stealers however are the Tachikomas which are high tech tanks given cutting edge hive mind AI that allows them to learn and grow as would a human child. Part foil and part comedy relief their childish mindset, innate inquisitiveness and irresistibly cute voices provide a welcome contrast to the otherwise dour mood of most other characters aside from serving as the group’s high end ass kicking machines.

Storyline aside though, the first thing one notices in GITS: SAC would be its slick top notch art and animation. Studio I.G (the people behind the Linkin’ Park music video, Breaking the Habit, as well as number of skits in the Animatrix) being the geniuses they are, cleverly blend copious amounts of computer generated models to traditional hand drawn art without making the CG overly obtrusive giving the viewer the effect of a full 3D world without sacrificing the variety and texture of colors found in 2D animation. On the subject of colors, however, the series departs from its predecessor’s gothic cell shaded look and instead switches to a more vibrant palette of brighter, more mainstream colors that were all but absent in the movie, which, contrary to those who oppose the switch, beautifully compliments the effort to humanize the characters, showing us that Section 9’s life is not just slogging though dark nights and jumping off monolithic skyscrapers. Each character and background is rendered and animated beautifully with a full range of smooth, near life-like motion akin to that of Cowboy Bebop, without sacrificing the level of detail even at the slightest.

The soundtrack, like the rest of the series, is one of the best ever — both the intro Inner Universe (which is oddly enough sung in Russian) and the ending Lithium Flower (composed by the great Yokko Kanno) set the tone and mood of the series quite well. I am a little leery at the choice of vocalist, though. Scott Matthew, while he is perfect for Lithium Flower’s jazzy tune, his attempts at the other OSTs which generally share a depressed theme are much maligned by his attempts to simulate such a mood and instead give the impression that they were sunken by a drunk. Aside from that the lyrics are quite nice and soulful. BGMs are also well crafted and appropriate for most situations, lending more gravity to the atmosphere of every episode.

Overall GITS: SAC, as well as its follow up 2nd Gig, are arguably one of the best sci-fi anime to ever come into the market offering a nice break the dime a dozen crap we have been bombarded with for the past few years — ever since Anime went the way of Magic the Gathering and became a world wide commercial phenomenon, a.k.a. a cash cow. While the show itself is great, its mature and deep content may put off those with lesser patience and an apparent lack of combat. This may not appeal to those of a more action/adventure leaning. Beyond that, the show is almost perfect as is.

Individual Rating: Art/Animation 10; Story 9; Characters 9; Sounds 8

Genre: Comedy
Parental Guidance Recommended
Credits: Shiina Takahashi.
Shop: Ghost Sweeper Mikami Artbooks and Manga, DVD, VHS, Music

Cover Description:
Her name is Mikami and she is a Ghost Sweeper by profession. She’s also the sexiest exorcist/bounty hunter you will ever meet! When an evil vampire sorcerer returns to Tokyo after a 100-year absence, Mikami is hired to track him and his menacing assistant down before they take over the city.

–
NOTE: This description was written sometime in 1997 and was recorded in the classic Otaku Fridge as ??.??.1997. Unfortunately the database would not accept non-numerical values, so this review is now dated January 01, 1997 by default.

Yokoshima Tadao is a typical uhh… “worldly” (aka perverted) high school student who isn’t really getting paid well from his part-time job. Earning only a measly 250 yen, he goes to various haunted houses, hideous dark caverns, and dirty abandoned buildings as assistant to the greatest ghostsweeper Reiko Mikami. Of course, doing this for the simple reason of his hopes in seeing Mikami-san naked does count. Reiko Mikami is a strong girl armed with a spiritual baton and paper ward (ofuda). She fights various supernatural forces in a sexy purple tube dress and high heels. Her fearlessness comes from the fact that she doesn’t usually refuse any dangerous job as long as she gets paid well. They are later joined in their ghost-fighting escapades by Okinu-chan, a 300-year old mild-mannered ghost whose specialty in singing once saved Mikami-san from a demon. Most of the time, Reiko Mikami has to deal with fighting off dark monsters and Yokoshima’s perverted moves. But there are also other zany characters who never fail to add to all this comedic chaos!

GS Mikami is one of the funniest anime series I’ve ever seen. I was laughing so hard watching the episodes as I did watching Ranma. I guess this is because aside from the usual comedy anime trademarks of exaggeration (like big blocks literally falling on the heads), the dialogues themselves are hilarious. GSM, however, does not have a definite plot that you follow. The series simply showcases Mikami’s challenging yet funny exploits, with each episode independent from the other. However, this doesn’t affect GSM’s entartainment value. But don’t expect GSM to be like Ranma… although Rumiko Takahashi’s wit is a bit smiliar to GSM creator Shina Takahashi’s. Yokoshima, being the series’ perverted mainstay, means that there is a lot of sexual humor and sometimes, he is not alone! So with his presence, you can’t expect any kind of depth in the conversations. It is a comedy after all! Later, just when you thought that Mikami has solved everything with Yokoshima and the ghosts, here enters her rival Emi or the mild-mannered Meiko with her 9 spiritual beast Shikigami. The shallowness of it all just makes fine comical sense and the unusual entrances of many extremely “eccentric” characters means that everything here is crazily unpredictable.

Oh and by the way, if you see some Dhalsim spoofs around, don’t get surprised.

–
NOTE: This description was written sometime in 1997 and was recorded in the classic Otaku Fridge as ??.??.1997. Unfortunately the database would not accept non-numerical values, so this review is now dated January 01, 1997 by default.

Individual Rating: Art/Animation 5; Story 9; Characters 9; Sounds 5

Genre: Comedy
Parental Guidance Recommended
Credits: Egawa Tetsuya / Shueisha / KSS
Shop: Golden Boy DVD, VHS

Cover Description:
Get ready for the ultimate road trip as wandering student Kintaro Oe hits the highways of Japan in the wildest quest for knowledge ever! Whether he’s re-programming the president of an all-female software company, check-mating the malicious daughter of a malevolent politician, or defending the sweet virtue of a noodle maker’s daughter, Kintaro’s cross-country odyssey is guaranteed to keep your sides aching with laughter! Take a lesson from the Book of Love with Golden Boy!

In a nut shell: Twenty-five year old Kintaro has dreamed of being a computer programmer for years… but he ends up hopping jobs and meeting various “golden opportunities” along the lines of “near-hentai”.

Can I ever say anything bad about Goldenboy? This anime is vulgar, gross and at times downright twisted-but that is exactly its charm! If you’re looking for a bit of dirty fun sans the disturbing darkness of hardcore hentai, then Kintaro Oe is your guy. He’s a wandering student
whose journeys are naughtily spiced up by his liaisons with a variety of impossibly gorgeous women. There’s one for each place he visits, each unique in profession, pulchritude and sexual fetish, and at the end of every episode each girl is madly in love with him. Why, you ask? You’ll have to watch to find out. The main problem is that Kintaro seems to go through life with a perpetually rearing hard-on that is often in conflict with his unfailingly good intentions. and this combined with a very buxom, smolderingly sexual beauty guarantees that you’ll be breathless with laughter the whole time.

There is definitely so much to love about Goldenboy. be it the painstakingly detailed art, the diverse characterization, the brilliantly contrived situations and their creative kinkiness. But it was Kintaro and his “golden” heart who really hooked me-he is such a sweetie! Save for his irrepressible sexual urges, he is the perfect guy-a real gentleman, intelligent, thoughtful, kind and oh-so-hunky in his own strange, constantly salivating way. Were there real-life perverts this lovable? On the other hand, I also loved all of his memorable “Goldengirls”. You’re sure to have a favorite because there’s one for everybody, whether you like them devilishly deviant or delicately demure. (I don’t know if this counts as a plus, but in the course of watching Goldenboy, you’ll also learn a lot about life in Japan and interesting miscellany as Kintaro pedals from place to place. Kintaro is, after all, a wandering student who seeks to learn as much as he can about the places he visits. Still, it is of course understandable if the documentary aspect of this anime is not foremost in your mind as you watch.

Individual Rating: Art/Animation 10; Story 10; Characters 10

Genre: Comedy
Parental Guidance Recommended
Credits: 1988 Takahata Isao (director), Nosaka Akiyuki (novel author), Ghibli
Shop: Grave of the Fireflies DVD, VHS

Cover Description:
It is post-war Japan, just weeks before American troops arrive for occupation. In city of Kobe, a boy lies dying in a train station. By his body lies a small metal candy container. A janitor, not sure what to make of its ashy contents, pitches it into the night. As fireflies float softly around it, the ghostly figures of the boy and his little sister emerge.

Flashback to a short time earlier. Orphaned and homeless from a fire-bomb attack on their city, 14-year-old Seita and his 4-year-old sister Setsuko set out to survive on their own in the face of a society no longer able to help them. Forced into living in an abandoned bomb shelter in the Japanese countryside, they slowly come to realize that they cannot escape the hardships of war or even find enough food on which to survive.

A critically acclaimed Isao Takahata masterpiece, Hotaru no Haka, will definitely break your heart the way many 1970’s anime used to do. At first I found it so depressing that I had to fall asleep. Moments later, I was already excusing myself and then returning only to my seat with boxes of tissues in hand.

The artwork isn’t much, though its quality is something I’ve come to expect from Ghibli productions. Despite this, you’d come to realize that the artwork in itself is a tool on its own. You will not have any doubts that you’re watching something tragic. The choice of colors, the background music, and back drops in themselves already make you want put you in tears.

From the first five minutes, Hotaru no Haka does not paint a pretty sight. Here you will see a skinny boy who is left for dead and he tells of how he struggled to survive and how he eventually passed away. Nevertheless, many reviewers have said — and I tend to agree — that even though this title speaks a lot about tragedy and death, it is brimming with life. You experience the harshness of human emotion, greed, and need from the very people that play major roles in this scenario: the heartless aunt, the uncaring doctor, the annoying little brat who later becomes victim to malnutrition. These elements teach a lot about the essence of humanity, especially to people like me who have ancestors that have fallen to Japanese guns and bayonets during the World War II.

Was it a good watch? It is. It definitely is. I could count the few depressing movies that I’d gladly give a high score to. Hotaru no Haka is one of them. There’s only one thing about it that sets it apart from the other movies I’ve given a high rating to: I don’t plan to watch this again. EVER.

Individual Rating: Art/Animation 7; Story 9; Characters 7; Sounds 9

Genre: Comedy
Parental Guidance Recommended
Credits: 2000. Toru Fujisawa (creator). Noriyuki Abe (director.) Studio Pierrot and SPE Visual. Fuji TV.
Shop: Great Teacher Onizuka Artbooks and Manga, DVD, VHS, Music

Cover Description:
Tough on the outside, all heart on the inside, Onizuka turned to the life of a high school teacher for less excitement and action…or so he thought. GTO, A.K.A.: Great Teacher Onizuka, is the racy story of Onizuka, a former motorcycle gang member who becomes a teacher to make a difference and… to meet girls? Using his street smarts to deal with colleagues, students and troublemakers, Onizuka finds that he too has many lessons to learn!

(43 episodes)

–
NOTE: This description was written sometime in 2003 and was recorded in the classic Otaku Fridge as ??.??.2003. Unfortunately the database would not accept non-numerical values, so this review is now dated January 01, 2003 by default.