They finally finished dubbing all of these right under my nose late last year. The original release dates got delayed suspiciously close to when it was revealed the Arise movies would be reworked into a TV series. If I were on the production team for the dub that’d certainly kill my spirits, but I’m glad they saw the project through to the end because I’m so used to watching Ghost in the Shell dubbed. That doesn’t count for much this time, though. Unfortunately, the original voice cast has been completely replaced. A pointless endeavor since the new cast tries their hardest to imitate the old only to fall short because of the simple fact it’s not the same person. The “uncanny valley”-ness of the new voices makes the dub job more than just a little weaker. It reminds you of when things were better. This latest Ghost in the Shell series does that in general.
I’m not being pessimistic, just making an observation and calling it as I see fit. I’m not greedy enough to expect multiple five star meals from the Ghost in the Shell franchise. If Arise is indicative of the general quality the franchise Is going to be from here on after having played its trump cards, that’s a pretty good deal. The Arise team did a great job at creating a reboot with an original story that feels perfectly in place in the GitS world thematically and stylistically. The changes are ultimately minor and none of the franchise’s integrity has been lost. It really is just more Ghost in the Shell. The only question is how it stacks up the old.
Perhaps the most unique thing about the Arise continuity and its greatest hook for old GitS fans is that it attempts an origin story for Section 9 where its most well-known members haven’t joined yet. The previous anime didn’t really attempt an origin. I didn’t have a problem with that approach, as Ghost in the Shell’s “in media res” approach to storytelling is one of my favorite things about its writing. You got to piece together the greatest world in science fiction by yourself, and the satisfaction of doing so accompanied with how well it all genuinely worked together was immense. The lack of exposition and origin detail made the already plausible universe not feel contrived, and it made an immersive experience that only gave you new information.
Arise has a similar respect for its audience’s intelligence, but at this point I feel like it’s expecting them to already understand the technology and various mechanisms of the Ghost in the Shell franchise. This means it has a better excuse for withholding information than Mamoru Oshii’s movie, but it also means it’s still an inferior starting point to Stand Alone Complex which finds the running time to allow the viewer to fully adjust to the world while being able to follow the stand-alone plots well enough to not be bored. I actually found Arise’s first episode, Ghost Pain, to be the hardest to follow Ghost in the Shell story yet. Not in a good way that hints at complexity, though. Just a few moments of “how did that character make that connection and why are they doing what they’re doing?”. By the end I felt like I had a grip on things, but if I cared to look closer after uncovering the mystery I worry some of the scenes would’ve genuinely been poorly written. Again, it’s the plot that’s obscure this time, not the terminology. Which is a problem I don’t remember having before.
These frustrating moments didn’t ruin the experience for me at least. The year this time is 2027 which I think is the earliest year Ghost in the Shell has ever been placed (how do they now think it’s going to take even less time to reach this technology?). Motoko Kusanagi returns to solve the murder behind one of her superiors. She has a run-in with Section 9 and decides to form a suspicious alliance with their chief, Daisuke Aramaki. Motoko is more of a central character this time around than any Ghost in the Shell work since the original Oshii movie. I find this to be somewhat disappointing, as I always thought Batou and Togusa were better characters and they’re barely featured here. Motoko is great, but I always saw her as more of a symbol for Ghost in the Shell’s themes than a distinct human being. I’ve accepted that her seeming lack of humanity is intentional, a representation of GitS’s highly networked world through a person whose sense of self is impressed on by communicating with others in order to form a whole or a desire to move past individual consciousness altogether. Still, I’ve never found herself that compelling. Part of this is also deliberate as her backstory has been kept extremely hidden, but regardless that’s how I feel. Batou and Togusa are more empathetic.
And yet, they do their part to make Motoko’s past a more important thing than it’s ever been due to the fact that this new series’ central theme is identity and memory manipulation. A fantastic idea as GitS has always been focused on existential philosophy and this explores the possible implication of its unique cyber brain technology. It’s a new focus for the franchise that’s completely attuned with its usual interests, and it’s directly linked to its setting. I certainly find it preferable to 2nd Gig going over the Stand Alone Complex theory again and downplaying its direct relationship with the unique technology through a 1:1 post-9/11 geopolitics metaphor and commentary.
I found the production qualities to be about the same level as the Stand Alone Complex series, if not a little bit better (as it should be, since it’s a movie). There’s some frame-skipping during movement but nothing that bad, and although this installment features more action than I care for it features great fight choreography. Use of CG is either subtle on the characters during action scenes or it doesn’t stand out in the environment as with the usual Tachikomas, which is good. The soundtrack is handled by a musician called Cornelius this time around. He’s nowhere close to the level of Yoko Kanno – absolutely nothing got stuck in my head which may be the most disappointing aspect of this release but otherwise his glitchy IDM at least suits the setting and theme of electronic mind corruption. Another thing that’s always drawn me to Ghost in the Shell that I’m sure no one else cares about as much is the impeccable city design and cinematography. Every landscape shot of the city in this franchise takes my breath away and is enough for me to always keep my eyes locked on the screen. Arise keeps that trend up perfectly. I’d love to live in the Ghost in the Shell universe. The one we’re in now already has just as bad political corruption anyway.
Now it’s time to talk about the revised character designs. I feel the same way as I do about the voice cast change: why bother? The character designs are close enough to the old ones to not really feel like a difference, so it’s just irritating how it’s slightly off and thinks that’s enough to be called innovation. We didn’t need new character designs, and if we did these sure as hell wouldn’t cut it. Motoko has taken the biggest hit, now being a much younger girl. People’s complaints about this have been reasonable because Motoko’s character design is largely why she stands out and is so impressionable. It’s precisely because the heroine in an anime isn’t a teenage girl for once and is instead a full-grown adult who’s mature and capable of taking charge and succeeding at any task like a true elite. Arise’s Motoko is still largely the same personality (as are the other characters), but her character design no longer reflects that. And yes, it’s reasonable to assume that this was an attempt to attract a wider audience because the reason old Motoko stood out was for reasons that are also why her type of character design isn’t more popular in Japan. They like younger characters. For whatever the reason, there’s no way around it. And teen Motoko still finds plenty of excuses to run around in her underwear or browse around cyberspace naked, even if her tits and ass are smaller. This has always bothered me because it’s like the show is pretending it’s above fanservice with its intelligence but ultimately finding (not-so) subtle ways to fit it in anyway. Whatever, I’m used to it by now.
I’m not sure yet what the remaining episodes of Arise have in store or if it’ll get better in the story department, but my expectations were met. Above all else it’s just great to see more Ghost in the Shell. If the franchise continues being handled this well then I’m fine with a lifetime of mostly the same-old, same-old.
