Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence Review

Mamoru Oshii’s Sequel Continues to Set New Standards in Animé

Aug 22, 2008

After almost a decade, Ghost in the Shell returns to showcase a groundbreaking new level of japanese animation and in-depth storytelling.

It has been 3 years since Major Motoko Kusanagi transcended her cyborg body, leaving her long-time partner and friend Batou mystified as to whether she will ever return.

A melancholic Batou now lives a solitary life as the cybernetic world around him becomes increasingly corrupt and lawless. Working with Togusa – a mostly human officer recruited to the team by the former Major – Batou is put on the case of several murders, committed by prototype female sex droids that afterward commit suicide.

Their investigation leads them from violent yakuza thugs to mind-altering criminal hackers and corporate masterminds. As Batou and Togusa get closer to the dark and disturbing truth behind the murders, they are confronted by enemies on all fronts and may even need a little help from an old friend…

Animé Never Looked So Good

First off, it should be said that the animation of Ghost in the Shell 2 is jaw-dropping. Here we have a display of painstaking 2-D animation and superlative 3-D CGI that blends to create a phenomenal field of depth and atmospheric lighting throughout. There is more detail on view than the eye can possibly process and it simply cannot be understated how good this film looks.

Credit goes to Production IG and director Mamoru Oshii for breaking the mould once again.

The artistic designs also compliment the effort put into the animation, creating a high-tech world that blends the futuristic, the retrograde, and machine forms that imitate nature. The production and creativity of Ghost in the Shell 2 only proves, once again, that the best animé films can match – and often surpass – anything else on the market.

Kenji Kawai also returns to provide the music score and does so with great style, again blending the new and old to give the film a contrasting depth.

Mamoru Oshii’s Screenplay Strictly for Adults

As for the screenplay, you can expect more heavy philosophizing on Mamoru Oshii’s part and if you really pay attention (which may sometimes even require pausing the film to digest what has been said) then you’ll realize just how brilliantly conceived it all is, and how well informed Oshii seems to be on the thoughts of Confucius, Milton, Descartes, Shelley, Darwin, and many others, while adding his own insights.

As with the first film, understanding this dialogue can be extremely challenging, but not only is it rewarding, it’s also refreshing to see a film where nothing has been dumbed down and it’s audience is treated as if they do, after all, have a brain and the ability to think in abstract terms.

The spoiler is there because if there is anyone out there who still thinks animé is for kids, the plot of Ghost in the Shell 2 is another prime example (along with the first Ghost in the Shell) of how adult these films can be.

Clearly, Oshii has envisioned a future and treated it as a reality. To that end, he has been lead to certain conclusions on how cybernetics and it’s relationship with our ‘ghosts’ could be utilized by the criminal element. The result here is one of the darkest visions of abuse that might be found in any film.

As mentioned, at the heart of the plot is an investigation into sex droids that have murdered their owners. The explanation for this comes in the shocking revelation that these droids are infused with a ‘dubbed’ ghost from abducted children, who are held captive at a factory facility.

This makes the droids seem especially realistic to their owners and so a more popular product than the usual brand, but can also cause the deaths of the original subject. Though it is not entirely clear as to whether or not the children are themselves suffering the abuse, their copied ghosts are nonetheless prostituted through the droids, which do ‘feel’ as a result.

Again, this is simply Mamoru Oshii treating a possible future with incredible boldness, paralleling similar criminal syndicates today.

Better than Perfect?

There is, however, one small problem with Ghost in the Shell 2 and that is that it’s not Ghost in the Shell 1. Yes, it’s ‘sequel syndrome’ - the burden that the likes of Ring 2 and other, very worthy, sequels must bear.

The first film was a perfectly balanced and paced story, culminating with Kusanagi’s transcendence. The sequel cannot follow the same format and so is necessarily rendered imperfect. Consequently, many of the film’s best scenes are found in the first two-thirds of the running time and there is no effort to emulate ‘Kusanagi vs the Tank’ for a finalé (which, after all, would be downright impossible). It’s a very minor point, only mentioned here for the sake of objectivity.

Ultimately, Ghost in the Shell 2 is just as unmissable as the first for the variety of reasons above and most certainly lives up to the colossal standards set by its predecessor.

The copyright of the article Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence Review in Anime is owned by Michael Pantazi. Permission to republish Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.