Koukaku Kidoutai Arise: Ghost in the Shell - Border:2 Ghost Whispers

From street to street, coast to coast, world to world, there is one cyberpunk franchise most anime fanatics may be familiar with. The Ghost in the Shell is one such franchise that has revolutionized itself and became an epitome of what cyberpunk is. The style, portrayal of its characters, its high tech setting, and story building are just a few characteristics that defines what GITS was. The franchaise itself has inspired an expansion to what’s known as Ghost in the Shell Arise, a four-part saga consisting of an ongoing story involving Motoko "Major" Kusanagi, a mysterious woman involved with Section 9. As an adaptation expansion, ... fans should be excited and what’s to come.

The movie runs approximately 1 hour, the same length as the first film. From what we already known, Major is now relieved of her previous roles as a member of the 501 Organization. Finding her at odds against Batou, she becomes the hunted in the beginning. But troubles doesn’t stop there at all. The real threat concerns of a new enemy with advanced hacking skills that endangers the state. Among other affairs, the movie also focuses on trust and logic. There’s certain characters introduced in the series with odd habits that also spreads a mysterious vibe. If GITS isn’t cryptic enough, the movie also plays a mind game with in its cyberpunk style.

Major returns in the movie as the main protagonist. She generally does not change since from the first movie besides her current status. Intelligent, cunning, and independent, she undergoes an investigation to discover the secret of a certain element in this movie. As void as her character’s personality can be, Major can still be herself most of the time around others whether it’s on missions or with her comrades. Obviously, the enemy isn’t whom she would like to associate with given his status as labeled as “super-wizard-hacker”. More so however is the fact that there is how Major handles her tasks. On the surface, she seems to struggle a bit as both sides enlists aid from specialists to get the job done. The way to two sides clash spells out that feeling of intensity both mentally and physically. As the movie progresses, there’s a sense of conspiracy with the new threat going on in their world. Furthermore, the revelation might be somewhat predictable that sheds out an intriguing suspense formula. And similarly, the movie presents tons of action whether it’s on the road or involving cybernetic struggles.

Action wise, the movie does a solid job to maintain its style. The way characters fight and move presents a rapid pace that is memorable. Their superhuman and matrix style moves demonstrates a fighting that proves why they are specialists. Major is shown on her handy dandy bike at various times throughout the movie to maintain her cool structure along with some glimpses of humor from her mouth. As later on, the movie unfolds revealing more secrets and defines the title meaning of “Ghost Whisper”

The artwork remains generally the same as its previous movie handled by Production I.G. The vehicles, gadgets, and character designs proves solid enough to match its cyberpunk theme. Unlike the previous movie, there’s minimal fan service but instead is replaced by matrix-like movements in various action scenes. Major and Batou generally have more focus on their designs give their status that solidifies them as the primary characters at odds. Otherwise, cyborgs and vehicles are animated flawlessly with its artistry.

Soundtrack proves to be a strength of this movie as it delivers an electronic beat in many of its scenes. More importantly is the way characters are portrayed that gives them the impressions of who they are. Because most of the characters looks intimating or equipped with a sense of high tech prowess, their voices needs to give them a strong outlook of firmness. Thankfully, that is achieved such as by Batou’s VA Kenichirou Matsuda and Logicoma VA Miyuki Sawashiro. The OP and ED song also solidifies itself to give a vivid presentation of the GITS style fans are used to.

All in all, this movie is can be described as a captivating presentation that can bring memorable impressions. But for what is worth, GITS Arise may not be what fans from the original series are used. For an experimental movie, GITS Arise sets its par with this project. There are still 2 more projects from this franchise. With the first two movies, fans should now have a better expectation of what’s to come soon. The ride isn’t over yet so buckle your seat belts.

It's time to write a review. Ghost in the Shell Arise II: Ghost whispers. This "episode" was extremely stylized to say the least. Everything from extreme camera angles to (tasteful) use of slow motion, this episode was really some great eye candy. More and more I'm liking the new art style, and the animation is more fluid than the water in my cup.

The story, as all GitS stories, is pretty complex. A good understanding of how this universe works is a prerequisite to being able to enjoy this particular story. The story had some strong elements of the puppet master woven in, with issues ... such as self awareness and false memory being important and reoccurring the course of the story. But rather than rehash the first GitS story (the 1995 movie), Arise 2 focused more on the political plot and characters rather than the philosophical questions raised.

This is not a bad thing, however, as the main point of this story (at least as I saw it) was to assemble Kusanagi's team. The team has to be introduced somehow and this episode was where it happened. We already have back stories from 2nd GiG, but Arise 2 makes it clear that these are not the backstories that will be used in the Arise series. This is another reboot, one where Saito actually has a personality (lol). To make it clear: the 1995 movie and 2001 movie are in the same timeline, the GitS TV series is another timeline, and the Arise series is a whole other time line, and most significantly different of the 3.

This is a fresh reboot of the GitS franchise. The feel is grittyer than the series. It feels almost like comparing the new Daniel Craig Bond movies to the old Pierce Brosnan ones.

finally I must comment on the soundtrack. Cornelius is no Yoko Kanno or Kenji Kawai, but I must say...WOW really keeping up in his own way. The sound track is minimalist (no epic tracks like "Torukia" or "Kugutsuukatageroiha yomini matamuto") but fits well. Cornelius is not trying to compete with Kenji Kawai nor Yoko Kanno; and to be honest, I doubt he'd be able to win. He instead turned around and did something else, and boy is he good at it. The music really felt like part of the movie rather than an addition to the movie and helped create a holistic feel. Will I buy the OST for Arise? As of now, no. Would I rather Yoko Kanno or Kenji Kawai did the music for Arise? Surprisingly no as well! I'm happy with the sound track. More than happy actually.

Overall this episode was beautiful to look at, but stands alone in style, even compared to the first Arise episode. I personally like it less, but if you're a fan of fluid fights withs extremely stylized action sequences, this one is for you. I gave the first Arise movie a 10/10. I'll give 8.5/10 for this one. I have great expectations for the next movie.

Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Border:2 Ghost Whispers is very similar to the first Arise episode in presentation. That is to say, it is basically a stand alone GiTS story revolving around the redesigned cast as the quirk. I don't think this Arise episode is as good as the first one, but it was good enough in my opinion.

Ghost Whispers is even more bombastic, colorful, and stylish than the first Arise episode, and much more so than the somewhat similar Stand Alone Complex. This episode is about 90% action scenes, and they are all well choreographed and look excellent with this well budgeted animation ... and cgi. It is unfortunate however, that most of the attention went to making the focus of this episode bombastic action. The GiTS franchise is not new to action obviously, but there is always an appropriate depth to the narrative that takes precedence over it. This is not so in Ghost Whispers, which features a rather simplistic tragic war hero plot with a single twist that doesn't redeem it past being made out of recycled 2nd Gig concepts. I may sound a little harsh, but that is because I have high standards not just for the GiTS series but also the Arise branch, because the first Arise was pretty cool.

We saw much more of the other members of the soon to be Section 9 in this episode of Arise, contrasting with the first episode. Batou, Paz, Borma, Ishikawa, and Saito all make appearances, basically the whole gang. Batou is still Batou basically, despite him being featured as a secondary antagonist in this episode we didn't see much about his character. Paz is kicking ass in his leather jacket, not unlike his previous iteration. Borma is still blank faced and no personality. Good old Borma. I actually like Borma alot he is a straight man just by existing it is kind of funny. Saito was crap in this film, for some reason he is a moneygrabbing Mr. Krabs. I do not like this change in direction from a previously collected, mysterious sniper into a much sillier persona. Ishikawa didn't wise crack even once, nor did he blow up a pachinko parlor, but I guess we can't get everything. This film's length didn't do justice to this redesigned cast, but we will probably see more of them in the next film. I do think however, if they didn't have so much action there would have been more time for some character dynamic. The Section 9 team is an iconic, serious, and interesting team in Stand Alone Complex, and the premise of the Arise series would imply it puts a focus on these guys.

Music is once again underwhelming. Although the intro once again is styled like a sitcom opening like last time which was funny.

The verdict I have on this episode is basically, it was a cool action packed ride but it felt like the new Appleseed movie, its all style, very little substance. It's not that Arise itself suffers from this, its just that this particular Arise episode suffers from it, which is disappointing. Great action and animation awaits you, and not much else.

This doesn't make the whole episode way better but, there is a particular scene towards the end of the movie that is a very obvious reference to the first GiTS film. I got goosebumps when I heard it, but we have no idea of its significance just yet. If you are curious about this scene be sure to check out this, above average but not as good as the first Arise episode.