Ghost in the Shell Review

Mamoru Oshii’s Thriller that Set New Standards in Japanese Animation

Aug 21, 2008

Based on the Manga by Masamune Shirow, 1995's anime Ghost in the Shell delivers an incredible vision of the future where the line between cybernetics and humanity is lost

In the year 2029 cybernetic augmentation amongst humans is commonplace. It allows people to connect at any time to an evolved form of internet that is integrated into every facet of a fully computerized society. In this society, it is possible to hack into peoples’ thoughts and memories, or to simply download one’s soul (or Ghost) into a fully cyberneticized replacement body.

Major Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg working for a government department called Public Security Section 9, and leads her team in the investigation of a network terrorist going by the name of the Puppet Master, who is wanted for manipulations of diplomats and politicians around the world.

In a future where nothing is what it seems, Major Kusanagi ponders the validity of her own humanity, while the trail to the Puppet Master begins to raise questions that only re-inforce her doubts.

A New Era for Animé

Every so often there comes along an animé film that can blow even the best special-effects-laden live-action movies out of the water and match the most intelligently thought out plotlines. Ghost in the Shell is one of those films.

The animation for this film is beautifully drawn and incorporates touches of CGI in representing the ‘net’, which exists analogously to the real world. While this was relatively simple and insignificant at a time when CGI was running rampant in the west, it was practically unheard of in japanese animé.

When, in 2004, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence was released, many aspects of its visuals were lavishly computer-generated, showing precisely how much animé could - and has been - embracing the medium ever since.

The original film’s visual excellence is also matched by it’s attention to sound – particularly of the weaponry involved – where the gunfire feels as real as any other movie, animated or not.

All of that, however, is just the icing on the cake. Ghost in the Shell’s finest points are in it’s concepts. The future outlined in this animé seems not only plausible, but extremely probable, presenting a wide field of abstract questions and paradoxes which feel equally real and soon-to-be relevent.

Motoko Kusanagi and the Puppet Master

The heart of the film lies with Kusanagi, who we see being almost fully constructed in the opening sequence. She is plagued throughout the film with questions as to whether or not a human brain encased in a metallic shell qualifies as human. She even doubts that she has an organic brain, it being entirely possible to programme human memories into an artificial neural network. Does she, therefore, have a ghost – that indeterminable essence that makes us truly living beings?

The mere fact that she cannot be sure makes you wonder how long it will be before we in the real world are asking the same questions (besides the fact that we’ve been asking them since the dawn of civilization in one form or another).

Kusanagi is ingeniously mirrored by the Puppet Master, who is claimed to be a rogue Artificial Intelligence programme, but proves to be nothing of the sort. The Puppet Master is actually a sentient intelligence that was born "in the sea of information" that is mankind’s computerized society.

Whereas the Puppet Master is therefore a ‘machine’ become sentient, Kusanagi is a human that doubts if there is anything truly sentient left in the machine body she inhabits. The symmetry here is sheer poetry and the real drive of the film’s story.

The final result is likewise intriguing, as the Puppet Master proposes to Kusanagi that a merging of the two of them will produce a new species of life that would remove the faults from both of their existences, creating a superior, god-like offspring.

Major Kusanagi Vs The Tank

While the philosophy of Ghost in the Shell scours phenomenal depths, it is the manner in which it’s tied into the characters that counts. For instance, the mythic scene in which Kusanagi – in pursuit of the Puppet Master – must face a futuristic tank by herself is so full of metaphor that it could merit a lengthy thesis, tens of thousands of words long, to properly explore.

The scene itself is stunning on every level, superbly accentuated by Kenji Kawai’s music score (who, incidentally, also worked on the score of Ring 2).

If there was any doubt that Kusanagi is, in essence, still human, it is answered in this scene, where we see her very human, very stubborn, will to succeed pushing her body far beyond it’s tolerances against an enemy she has no hope of matching. It remains one of the most outstanding sequences in all of animé, which would put it pretty high on the all-time list of any film ever made.

Translation and the Spectre of Re-makes

If there is a weakness in Ghost in the Shell, then it’s the weakness endemic to most animé, which lies in the english translation.

Here, fitting the sometimes heavily philosophical banter into timeframes that suit the characters’ vocalization can make the translation seem rushed and awkward, to the loss of proper inflection and natural pauses. The effect, however, is lessened when watching with the original japanese and subtitles.

Of course, it would hardly do nowadays to write about a great asian film without mentioning the certainty of a western re-make. It was sadly inevitable that with Akira in the making, Ghost in the Shell would follow. There’s a very slim chance that a live-action re-make could be worth watching, but don’t hold your breath.

In the meantime, Ghost in the Shell remains a magnificent, fiercely intelligent piece of work that should not be missed.

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