Innocence (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence)

With Major Motoko Kusanagi missing, Section 9's Batou is assigned to investigate a string of gruesome murders—seemingly at the hands of faulty gynoids, or sex robots. But when a faulty gynoid leaves Batou a cryptic message, he begins to question the cause of their malfunctions. Suspicions of politically motivated murder and an illegal "ghost" quickly crop up, drawing Batou and his partner Togusa into a perilous web of conspiracy.

As their investigation goes on, the line between man and machine continues to blur, and reality and perception become indistinguishable. Confronting strange and dangerous foes, Batou and Togusa explore a futuristic world filled with machines and living dolls but utterly devoid of humanity.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit

Background

Rather than directly adapting the source material like the previous film, Ghost in The Shell 2: Innocence instead is based on an idea present in one of the subplots from the original manga. Alongside the movie, there was a book published that served as a prequel to Innocence called After the Long Goodbye.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004, and is so far the only anime to have been nominated for this prestigious award. It won the Feature Film Award in the 9th Animation Kobe Awards in 2004.

Edit

Related Anime

Prequel:

Koukaku Kidoutai

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Batou

Main

Ootsuka, Akio
Japanese

Togusa

Main

Yamadera, Kouichi
Japanese

Kusanagi, Motoko

Supporting

Tanaka, Atsuko
Japanese

Aramaki, Daisuke

Supporting

Ishikawa

Supporting

Nakano, Yutaka
Japanese

Kim

Supporting

Takenaka, Naoto
Japanese

Haraway

Supporting

Sakakibara, Yoshiko
Japanese

Crab Man

Supporting

Lin

Supporting

Arm Doctor

Supporting

More staff

Staff

Suzuki, Toshio

Producer

Maseba, Yutaka

Producer

Ishikawa, Mitsuhisa

Producer, Planning

Morishita, Katsuji

Assistant Producer

Edit

Opening Theme

"Kugutsuuta ura mite chiru [Making of a Cyborg]" by Kenji Kawai

Edit

Ending Theme

"Follow Me" by Kimiko Itou

Reviews

Oct 23, 2008

Vurtox

Recommended

No one can ever know to understand.
They can only hope to understand.

What is life, what means reality? Why does man pursue the creation of artificial life? Where do we draw the line between human and machine? What classifies the perfect species?

Ghost in the Shell: Innocence might very well fare as a compendium of philosophy due to the manifold questions it not only brings up but most often also provides the viewer with unique - maybe obscure at times - in any way thought-provoking arguments.

The movie depicts a state of cold surreality in an eerie and sterile environment. The distinction between the organic and ...

Open

Gift

Oct 31, 2017

TeKSMeLater

Mixed Feelings

The Palme d'Or is one of the most prestigious awards in the world of film, coming from the highly respected Cannes Film Festival. For a film to get nominated for the prize is in and of itself a great merit that deserves praise. Within the few of several animated films that bring about a huge influential force within the industry and art itself, there's only been one Japanese animated film that was ever nominated for the said award.

Regarded as even more dense and rich in philosophical detail than its predecessor, Mamoru Oshii's follow-up to the widely successful Ghost in the Shell, Innocence, is a visual ... feast of intricate design and narrative. With a nine-year difference between the two films, it could be said that Innocence was a highly anticipated sequel. Yet with as much consensual praise it garners from film critics, on top of it a coveted Palme d'Or nomination, what exactly makes this film any different from your above-average anime?

In the same ways, it delivers like the first film, with Oshii's slow but methodical approach in setting scenes to build up suspense and evoking a rising curiosity to the viewers. Ghost in the Shell 1995 exemplifies scenes like the long, calming pause before the conflict arises, or the climactic chase scene with the Puppetmaster to emphasize the Major's internal existential crisis. This way, the slow-burner aspect of the film is justified as it allows the viewers to immerse into Kusanagi's thoughts as a human-slash-cyborg.

This film delivers none of those.

The snail pace of Innocence isn't really something that is as appealing as the first film's, and as a matter of fact it hinders the possibility of giving the film progress. Imagery...and long, establishing shots that take 30 seconds onwards without giving proper character conflict makes this time for the viewers to ponder completely baseless. The film does not allow us to relate or get into Batou's mindset, nor does the meandering moments help. It's something that makes the visuals and the narrative so out-of-sync it becomes flat-out boring.

The first half fails to captivate the audience with the "suspense" it should contain, and I couldn't really immerse myself into the film when all I see is Batou feeding his dog. The plot itself isn't bad—a string of murders by sex robots occur, but a particular one leaves a message that falls under Section 9's prying eyes. But if this two-hour film was a mini-series divided into two episodes, most would have dropped it after watching the first one. It drags on needlessly and unnecessarily, and only a few interesting moments happen. Not to mention the innumerable quotations from other forms of literature that makes me wonder if Oshii was writing a script or a reference list.

The story only really starts to kick in by the second half of the film, where we get into a convoluted but intriguing hacking sequence and from then onwards becomes a thrilling action-packed final act balanced with excitement and the same feeling that made the '95 film so interesting.

Whereas the story failed in execution but had enough steam to keep it going, the character aspect of the story had less appeal but were delivered well enough. Batou comes across as a ruthless character that the viewers would have a hard time relating to while Togusa sets a foil, becoming his voice of reason. We also see how these characters react as the intensity of the plot builds up, but it honestly doesn't have the approach GitS (1995) nailed with Kusanagi's unique characterization.

More or less, Kenji Kawai's helm in Innocence's soundtrack remains the same, although it becomes much less as a topic of discussion, just like the first film. It doesn't overpower, but it doesn't do anything to stand out as well. On the other hand, the sound effects and the voice acting remain one of Ghost in the Shell's strong assets.

CG animation, for the most part, does not blend well with anime—especially in a time like 2004. However, Innocence makes it all look natural, and its aesthetic (yet baseless) sequences help complement the otherworldly feeling the film's story and theme addresses. Whether it compares to the first film or not is up for debate, but in my opinion the animation utilized for Innocence and GitS 1995 are apples and oranges.

The Ghost in the Shell film series remains an overrated part of anime, both inside and outside the community. Don't get me wrong, I'm not stripping them of its merits—what GitS has done remains a groundbreaking move for anime cyberpunk. However, it is not without its flaws, and is nowhere near perfect. What is considered as a thought-provoking, introspective and philosophical form of visual art lauded by many is surprisingly straightforward, and doesn't really have that many meta-narrative interpretations that can be attached to it. Does it deserve the Palme d'Or nomination? Maybe so, but I'd like to think Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence just happened to be there, and if I was given the chance to pick another animated film that best represents the medium in terms of style and substance, I would.

Open

Gift

Sep 5, 2011

Spagglespook

Not Recommended

GITS Innocence is very much spiritual successor to the original GITS film, at least in terms of presentation of storyline and interspersion of philosophy.

Innocence is a film that will appeal to some people, but others will either find the story too lacking or smothered with philosophical guff. To be perfectly honest I found the story to be extremely simplistic and shallow, there really isn't much depth here unless if you look to the quotation of classics or philosophy as depth. Almost all of the dialogue in the film is devoted to quotation, it becomes quite tedious after a while - not least because ...

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Art house, avant-garde and experimental

by Lethargic

50 Entries · 677 Restacks

Abstract Artistic Musical Films 8

by ooReiko

50 Entries · 49 Restacks

Movies Recs

by _Dunkelheit_

50 Entries · 5 Restacks

More recommendations

Recommendations

More news

Recent News

'Ghost in the Shell' Franchise Receives New Anime Adaptation

The official website of animation studio Production I.G announced on Friday that Masamune Shirow's Koukaku Kidoutai: The Ghost in the Shell (The Ghost in the Sh...read more

Apr 6, 2017 8:29 PM by Vindstot | Discuss (68 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for February

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for February Week 1: February 7 - 13 Anime Releases Beelzebub Part 2 D-Frag! Complete Collection Blu-ray &...read more

Feb 6, 2017 11:41 AM by Sakana-san | Discuss (7 comments)

More discussions

Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) aero - Aug 8, 2008	81 replies	by Satyr_icon »» Mar 28, 7:24 AM
Warning: Watch SAC first! Halkenburg - Jul 29, 2015	5 replies	by Satyr_icon »» Mar 28, 7:19 AM
Does anyone know why this movie is called "Innocence"? R_2_R - Jul 30, 2022	6 replies	by El-Melloi »» Oct 7, 2022 10:05 AM
GITS 2nd movie, for those who DID watch it kalepf22 - Apr 13, 2021	4 replies	by anime-prime »» Apr 14, 2021 2:08 AM
New DVD coming out. tabernac - Jan 17, 2017	1 replies	by tabernac »» Jan 20, 2017 12:04 PM

Recent Featured Articles

60 Breathtaking Anime Backgrounds From 17 Different Anime

Great background art can really make a difference in elevating an anime to greatness. Feast your eyes on these 46 beautiful anime backgrounds.

by removed_user

314,198 views

Collection Art

Top 20 Series With The Most Beautiful Anime Art

It is easy to say that the most beautiful anime are those produced by Studio Ghibli. For sure, Ghibli’s films set the bar for what is anime art. However, although five of their films populate this list of the 20 most beautiful anime, other examples from the past four decades are just as impressive.

by tokaicentral85

423,752 views

Recommendation Collection Art Ghibli

Innocence

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Batou

Togusa

Kusanagi, Motoko

Aramaki, Daisuke

Ishikawa

Kim

Haraway

Crab Man

Lin

Arm Doctor

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Innocence

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-