Monday, January 16, 2012

Ghost in the shell Anime review

Title: Ghost In The Shell
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
Length: 1h  22m


Synopsis:  The year is 2029, and technology has really sped up. There are cyborgs, invisibility cloaks, super giant walking tanks, and other neat things. One of these cyborgs is  Motoko Kusanagi, and she's the leader of the secret unit shell squad, which was formed by the government to deal with a wave of crime it can't deal with alone. One of these criminals is the puppet master, a super cyber criminal who hacks into peoples bodies. Her unit is sent to get this guy and now we have our movie.


Good Stuff
Animation: Realistic, and fluid
Music: That really cool Japanese choir in the beginning is the perfect way to start your movie, sound really epic.
Motoko Kusanagi being "invisible": Whenever she uses her stealth cloak she has to get butt naked and damn is it good looking. This movie is proof that fan service existed in the 90's.


The bad
Story: Way too many things aren't explained well enough.
Felt like the "Middle" film in a trilogy: This movie felt like there was a bunch of shit going on before this movie, and you should already know it.
THE FUCKING ENDING!!!!: ARRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH


Review
Watching this movie would be like watching the "two towers" without watching fellowship of the ring. Sure it's fun to watch, the actions cool, and the characters are likable enough, but you really don't have an understanding of who everyone is and what there motivations are. That's how it's like to watch ghost in the shell. During the whole movie I'm thinking "whats a shell?", or "whats a ghost", or even "WHAT THE FUCK IS SECTION 9, OR SECTION 6?". This all seems like things we should be told right? Wrong, the major downfall of this movie is that it ends up being an under explained mess which leaves me with more questions than answers (and not in the good way).


And the ending was oh so disappointing. I wont spoil it for you but it will leave you feeling so unfulfilled that it makes you question what was the point of this movie? How the hell are they one entity now? It sucks and makes no sense. But bitch and moan, bitch and moan lets get to what I like about this movie. Well I really liked the animation and the color design. There are a lot of greens so I was constantly thinking of the matrix, and for some reason I thought of blade runner as well. The actions cool, it felt intense and got me engaged. The music is freaking awesome, that choir really add a sense of just scale to the movie and makes everything seem important. The puppet master character was really interesting, kind of reminded me of HAL from 2001.  The fan service is a nice touch. Seeing the major naked quite a few times is definitely a plus (sadly there was no lesbian cyber threesome like there was in the manga). 


So in the end was it a good movie? It was above average. It was definitley entertaining, and I enjoyed watching. Id recommend that you watch it at least once.






Overall I give this Anime a 

7/10

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo Review

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo Anime Review




Gankutsuou is one of the best Anime's ive ever seen, period. Everything about this this Anime just screams perfection. The Animation, perfect. The story, brilliant. The characters, well there good except for one but we'll get to that later. 


Story
The story of this anime is based off of the classic novel "The count of Monte cristo" written by Alexander Dumas. As I said before the plot to this anime is brilliant, so I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum. The plot is basically the revenge scheme of Edmond Dantes (The count) against his 3 friends who betrayed him and left him to rot in the scariest prison you've ever seen. That's the jist of it anyway, because I cant really do justice to the story unless I told you every last detail. So just take my word for it and understand that it's one of the most intricate plots you've ever seen. 



Characters
One of the things that makes this Anime so compelling is it's realistic and human characters. Considering that theres son many of them I'll just stick to our two main characters. 
The count

The count (Edmond Dantes) is a seemingly immortal vampire with unlimited resources to acomplish his goals. He is incredibly charismatic and charming and it impossible not to like him. Almost everyone in the show can't help but be entranced or engrossed or infatuated by him. Even when he is doing evil things you still root for him because his charms even effects the audience watching. His voice has such a sense of coldness and arrogance to it that it grips you with every word he says. In short he is one of the best           Anime characters ever.

Albert Morcerf
On the other end of the spectrum is our whiny, retarded main character Albert. He's naive, oblivious, and you cant help but feel sorry for him. In short I hate him. I'd say more but i'm afraid id kill myself if i did. 











Animation

This Anime is a treat for the eyes. It was made by GONZO animation studios so of course there is some cg but it's not too bad. Everything seems to be made of.....ummmmm.......how would I describe.... wallpaper, everything is made of wallpaper. Its way to hard to explain so here are some pictures. You know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. 









Final Thoughts
Gankutsuou is a underexposed masterpiece that everyone needs to see. Strong characters, a interesting plot, and some of the best animation you'll ever see, this anime definitely gets my recommendation. 




Score
10/10