Koukaku Kidoutai 2.0

They introduced a topnotch 3D CGI tech to the legendary anime, so there's no question about its quality. But viewers may feel uncomfortable with the discontinuity between the new full 3D CG and the original 2D scenes.

Story
It's basically the same as the original one, but the change of Puppet Master's sex brought about slight changes in the voice actings and the atmosphere. Batou didn't show so much jealousy over the relationship between Motoko and the Puppet Master, and the fusion of the two gave a pure impression rather than a sexual association.

Art
There are two full 3D CGI scenes, something similar to the OP animation of the S.A.C1. The quality of the two scenes were awesome in the descriptions of the optical camouflage, air bubbles, reflections in the water etc. etc. But nothing buffered between the neighboring 3D and 2D scenes. You see 3D CG Motoko in a scene and the next moment Motoko is now in 2D animation. I understanding these discontinuities that Director Oshii wanted to show us his partial idea about how ideal GiS looks like.

Sound
SkyWalker sound studio did a terrific job in the sound effects. They were particular about the differences in gun shot sounds. Each gun sounded distinctively different. The sound of Motoko's cyborg body torn up was so real that it gave me goosebumps.

Character
No need to mention the greatness of Motoko, Batou, and Togusa. I focus on Sakakibara Yoshiko as Puppet Master. I think this casting has a good and bad point. Compared to the original actor Kayumi Iemasa, Sakakibara's acting didn't give me much mysteriousness of the character. (Kayumi's low tone acting was perfect for giving an enigmatic impression.) Good thing was it got easier to grasp the idea of the Puppet Master's line "We are mirror images to each other." because Sakakibara's voice resembled Tanaka Atsuko's one in this movie.

Enjoyment
Before I watched this, I tried to memorize the contents of the original one as much as possible. It was so much fun to find changes in the lines and drawings. If you are fun of GiS 1.0, I strongly recommend to watch this remake. You will have a deeper understanding of this legendary title.

Helpful

read more

I'll only go into revisional details assuming you haven't ever watched GITS and checking out which version to watch.

The major difference in 2.0 is the un-matrix-isation of it. GITS was a green movie, in revision it is shifted to a red hue. This makes it way more colorful than intented and a bit disrespectful to Oshii. The introduction sequence is mostly redesigned with 3D additions, it's quite good and gives the impression this will be a complete revision of the original (which is not the case). The credits Matrix copied over is completely taken out.

Lack of transition between newly introduced 3D with the old 2D is extremely uneven and confusing to the audience. There are some panoramic sequences of the city very similar to GITS: Innocence, they manage to fit in, but character 3D ruins it.

I didn't notice any difference plotwise, so if any is present it should be minor. My dvd copy of the original has lots of artifacts, especially in the dark scenes. They did a good job digitally cleaning the film on 2.0.

Overall this renewal feels clumsy and makes GITS more generic than it is. Only a blu-ray renewal should have been more than enough. If this'll be your first time with GITS I strongly advise watching the original first. If you are checking it for a rewatch there is no harm with trying 2.0.

Helpful

read more

WRITER’S NOTE: This review assumes that you’ve seen Ghost In the Shell (1995), as it simply focuses on the changes between the original film and this version.

Ghost in the Shell 2.0 is to Ghost in the Shell what the Special Editions are to Star Wars, and while GitS 2.0 is nowhere nearly as egregious as the Special Editions, it still feels like a pointless exercise in updating a previous work.

GitS 2.0 was released in 2008 in celebration for the release of The Sky Crawlers in theatres that same year, as a way for it’s director, Memoru Oshii, and studio Production I.G. to cross promote both projects. The intention of 2.0 was to “remaster” the original film in away, but it doesn’t really feel like a remaster, it feels like a project intended to make money of an established franchise. And what we got was a weird mix of 2D animation from 1995 mixed with 13 years worth of advancement in CGI attached to a film never intended to have it in the first place.

The main difference between Gits 2.0 and The Sky Crawlers, besides the obvious subject matter and presentation, is that The Sky Crawlers was planned from the start to have CGI integrated with the 2D animation, and as a result, the mix between the CGI and the 2D animation for that movie mesh a lot better in that film.

The biggest and most obvious change in 2.0 is that a few scenes have been replaced with fully 3D animated versions of those scenes. These new scenes conflict with the original, not only because the switch between the 3D and 2Dcan be a bit jarring, but the 3D is presented in a different style to the 2D. This wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t for the conflicting film making styles between the 2D and the 3D.

The original film is almost entirely simple static shots, while the 3D animation has sweeping camera shots that don’t fit the style of the original at all, simply because the 2D animation wasn’t capable of these shots. The film was working with what it could the time it was released. It just feels weird going from smooth flowing movements with the CGI, to all of a sudden staring at a static couple of characters talking or plot happening.

There are several other shots throughout the film that have had parts of them replaced with CGI, such as aircraft or certain background features like an aquarium. I guess these were used to heighten scenes, but like I said before, the original Ghost in the Shell film was never meant to have CGI, so it just feels out of place.

I wouldn’t call the CGI awful, but it’s definitely just OK. It’s pretty clear the team behind the CGI added shaders onto it to try and give it a bit of a 2D feel, trying to wash out any detail the 3D models had, but it doesn’t help. A minor nitpick i have is the difference between look of the digital picture. It doesn’t match the grainy filmic look of the original footage. That sounds like a weird complaint, but it just shows the difference between something made in a computer and something made in an analog format by human hands (ironic).

The only change that i thought looked good were the holograms throughout the film being replaced with the CGI. They were the only things in the original meant to look digital to begin with, so the replacement CGI is the least intrusive CGI in the whole thing.

Another minor grievance I have is the framerate difference between the 2D animation and the 3D animation. It’s just another reason on the pile of reasons that mixing the 2D animation and the 3D animation wasn’t that good of an idea.

Everything else that wasn’t completely replaced with the CGI has also been modified to varying degrees. Every shot of the film has been tinted with a warm orange color, with varying intensity. Some shots it’s barely noticeable, and in some shots, it’s overpowering to the point of washing out a few scenes. It completely ruins the cold clinical blue look that the original film was going for, that was supposed to help heighten the sense of some characters losing their identities and becoming more robotic with how modified their bodies were. I assume it the color tinting was to help the older 2D animated scenes match the new CGI, but it just ruins the stylistic choices the original had.

The weirdest thing about this new version is the way it was re-edited. Several scenes have been changed, and there doesn’t seem to be a reason why. All of the edits are simple trims, cutting anything from a couple of frames to about a second of time off at most. But the fact that these edits were made make no sense. They add literally nothing to the whole experience. I don’t know if it was done to make the whole experience feel different or was done just to make a change for changes sake, but it just felt unnecessary.

The other obvious and significant change is the new audio mix. The original soundtrack was re-arranged and re-recorded, and the whole thing was remixed into 6.1Channel Surround, done by Randy Thom over at Skywalker Sound,previously working on Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. For the most part, I don’t really have any problems with this. A lot of the new sound effects are not terrible, but nothing to complain about.

Along with the remixed audio, the Japanese voices were also re-recorded to try and modernize the dialogue. I don’t speak Japanese, but from what I can tell compared to a decent amount of Japanese performances that I’ve heard throughout the years, the performances are fine. The biggest change is that the original voice of The Puppet Master, played by Iemasa Kayumi, the male voice, was replaced by Yoshiko Sakakibara, a now female voice. This isn’t necessarily a bad choice, but it feels like another change in a long list of unnecessary changes.

I could see the argument that since it’s a robot intended to be female, it would have a female voice, but then why does the Major’s voice change back to her previous voice at the end of movie when she’s in a new body? And since the new sentient AI was born in the sea of information, it would either go with whatever voice it happened to be “born”with or pick something that represented itself.

I have no idea if this change was done with some sort of intent, but considering how many weird changes that 2.0 gets seemingly without much thought, I’d be surprised if there was any intent in the change of voice besides changing something for the sake of it, like maybe a perceived error in casting a male voice.

When it comes down to it, this whole 2.0 experiment feels a little pointless. If the entire film was redone as CGI, it would have at least been consistent in it’s quality. It still might have been a pointless shot-for-shot remake, but it would have felt less intrusive. But instead, what we got was a mixed bag in terms of a “remaster”. None of the changes feel like they enough of a change to justify their existence.

Best case scenario,Ghost in the Shell 2.0 is a companion piece to the original and is for fans only. Worst case, it’s entirely skippable, but doesn’t exactly ruin the film. I have a hard time recommending this when it’s incredibly easy to find and watch the original version of GitS over 2.0. The only people who would be interested in this version of the film would be fans of the original version anyway, and those are the people who would complain about this the loudest. And this version is not exactly a good way to introduce more people to a classic movie like this.

Helpful

read more

As the second time watching GITS 2.0 after a period of about 3 years, I was pleasantly surprised to find that while I still remember most of the plot, the enjoyment has been in no way diminished.

The familiar feeling of having to keep up with the at-times blazingly fast action, while having to run individual characters' lines a few times through my head in order to process the intrigues that Section 9 was caught up with in the unfamiliar futuristic cyborg-dominated landscape described by Shirow Masamune, assailed me throughout the show, making me glad that I had the leisure of being able to replay scenes as many times as I want. Despite all this, it should be noted that viewers were given some room to breathe with well designated intervals showing the futuristic landscape with all its quirks, providing an opportunity to absorb the setting in the midst of all the furious action.

Courtesy of some CG scenes interspersed now and again throughout the show, we get to see the familiar bad-ass fully cyborg Major Kusanagi in all of her unclothed glory. While this certainly added to my personal enjoyment and gave the show a shiny new facet, whether or not they had any valuable contribution is probably a matter for some debate.

The music was excellent, adding an unfamiliar, slightly eerie and disjointed feel that complemented the main themes well.

The characters were introduced in a very rushed manner and it leaves me in serious doubt of whether any first-time viewers could remember anyone other than the Major and Batou. Of course, it probably could not have been done any better given the measly 1hr20min run-time of the show. On the positive side, I think that the director did a great job with the Major, being able to summarize her inner conflicts with a few dialogue-heavy scenes that meshed well with the entire flow.

Re-watching merely affirmed my very first thoughts that GITS was an anime like no other, in the way in which it manages to merge captivating politics-ridden plot with intense action in a believable futuristic setting, while at the same time containing some very thought-invoking themes.

(Note: I have explicitly avoided making any comparisons with GITS 1.0 as I wanted to review GITS 2.0 by itself.)

Helpful

read more

This film is one of the great influencers of the neo-noir/cyber genera that's been gaining steam since its release. What I find astonishing about this film is just how much of a spiritual successor it is to Blade Runner. I saw Gits about 10 years ago for the first time and it was okay...I had seen the first season of Stand Alone Complex and thought it was far superior aesthetically and in regards to content. Recently, however, I saw Blade Runner for the first time and watching it I was struck by how much commonality Gits shared with this film. So, I watched 2.0 online and I'd like to recommend to any first time viewer or anyone who hasn't seen Blade Runner, watch Blade Runner and THEN watch Gits...it's mindblowing.

Now to the film itself, Gits has many strengths: it's visually beautiful, the soundtrack is haunting and the story is executed at a deliberate pace to give the viewer a chance to ponder the broader questions raised. That being said, a major weakness is the lack of background information and character development: Where did Motoko Kusunagi come from? Why did she go to Section 9? Why does she feel trapped and constrained? These questions aren't really answered, leaving the viewer to fill in the missing pieces (ala Blade Runner); personally I think this movie would have benefitted from extra length to give the viewer an opportunity to connect with Major Kusunagi...the plot is too complicated and rushed. Also, the motivations of the protaganists other than duty for the sake of duty aren't really explained other than "they're bad asses" which, fair enough but some of us want more. The villain is also shadowy (a good thing) and the ending is probably what presents the largest ambiguity to most viewers. My advice is, trying not to spoil things for the people who haven't seen the film, pay attention to the diving scene and the following boat scene...they're important.

I recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a film that asks broader questions about existence, identity and where do we come from? and what is human? with a protaganist troubled by these philosophical issues. The action scenes are exhilirating and violent (graphically so) so it does offer set pieces people more accustomed to action might like but this film is dialogue heavy, real heavy. If you're not an amatuer philosopher of existentialism or identity (especially Nitsche...nerds who like him and his adherents will get a kick out of this film) and you are confused by the technological twist applied, look elsewhere...maybe to the series which presents a far less troubled and existential Kusunagi and mainly concerns massive conspiracies and investigations with Gits patented heavy amounts of violence instead of philosophy is more your speed if you like Gits. Personally, I really like both and appreciate what they offer (aside from Cowboy Bebop, Gits is the only anime I watch)...but still, overall prefer the series (although the film version of SAC is inferior to the original in impact, execution and plot development but that being said, it's good too and a good continuation of the series, only a continuation I hope).

Helpful

read more

This story was… well confusing. The problem was that they had a ‘puppeteer’ who was changing people’s thoughts and memories in order to use it for his own purpose to hack into official’s heads. I won’t lie, I don’t normally understand all that political stuff. The fact that this was so heavy in that made it more of a chore to try and figure stuff out. If I missed something that someone said, to bad, I couldn’t really go back and check it out because I wouldn’t know where to find it again.

When we get to the characters, the only ones we really get to understand slightly are Batou and Kusanagi. The others just seem like background characters compared to them. Even then, we don’t get much about the two although you can tell that Batou really cares greatly for Kusanagi. When we do get near the end, it does get into a rather interesting and deep. It really dives into physiological problems and aspects to life. It might of still been a rather confusing show but I did enjoy it.

The art style starts out with a lot of CG stuff in the beginning of the show and then going deeper into the normal animation after. I have to say they really took me off guard when they showed the naked body of the major in CG while she was working. Of course then they had to have an opening that expanded on showing a women’s naked body being created through electronic means. There were little scenes where they would do a bit more of the CG and half of it is rather pretty. Some of the characters designs seem a bit off from how they looked in the anime that I had watched part of before, namely the major. Still, the camera angles and some of the ways they showed the world felt very classic to the anime style of the late 1990s.

Some of the sounds are a bit off and the English voices sometimes don’t match lip movements but the voice actors really tried their best to make such a serious show work. You can tell just how they read their lines that they were trying really hard to keep it interesting but sadly, I keep feeling that they do a whole lot of talking and sometimes not all that much action or just a lot of shooting. When we do get action, its mostly slow movement, looped or over almost as fast as it starts. Now there are also some talks that feel more like a lecture about the problems with the cyber technology and a philosophy of having your own identity. These small parts were the only things that kept my attention as the others talks seemed a bit more complicated and I had no way of understanding the political problems.

Helpful

read more

Reviewer's note: This is my 1st entry into the G.I.T.S. franchise unless you count the live-action film of 2017, starring Scarlett Johansson.


✪ Genre: action, detective, science fiction (artificial intelligence, cyberpunk, cyborgs/human enhancement) seinen, along with some other themes: law and order (police, special squads), nudity, virtual world



✔Positive Aspects✔

◧ Soundtrack: a couple of Japanese folk music pieces and a certain, quite intriguing track of Japanese/Bulgarian influenced ambient music with some very ominous chorals.

◧ Concept/Plot: the film is set in a futuristic, cyberpunk Japanese society where a clandestine law-enforcement/quasi-military unit is trying to track and apprehend a hacker of cyborgs who's constantly engaging in criminal schemes. Meanwhile, the protagonist, the unit's highest-ranking field officer, seems to be contemplating her own existence, if not doubting its human origins outright.


✘Negative Aspects✘

◧ Animation: the film is based on a combination of colors of low saturation/moderate illumination - it felt pretty fuzzy throughout. The characters were distinct from one another but the quality of the animation blurred their distinctiveness.

◧ Character development: besides the protagonist's existential crisis and her partner's protectiveness towards her, there's no serious engagement with the rest of the characters.

◧ Action sequences: mostly third-person based with some instances of first-person perspective (enemy robots) - overall, pretty monotonous and unexciting.


Overall: an interesting plot that, unfortunately, was not explored as actively and as lengthily as it should.

Helpful

read more