StarDestroyer.Net BBS

 Post subject: Chuck keeps abreast of Ghost in the Shell

Posted: 2012-05-03 12:18pm 

http://sfdebris.com/videos/animation/gh ... eshell.asp

Not his strongest review, but I do appreciate his honesty about not being really equipped for this subject. I liked his overall conclusion that the movie is "thin yet confusing." Kinda sums up the whole phenomenon surrounding it.

Although I'm not sure what we're supposed to get out of him reviewing the same 10 or so evergreen anime titles released in the west :v

 Post subject: Re: Chuck keeps abreast of Ghost in the Shell

Posted: 2012-05-03 10:46pm 

I know he wanted to do animation, but I don't get why he accepted requests for all the anime. I mean he even admits it's not his area of expertise, so is there really anything he can add to the discussion which has been going on for like ten years at this point?

His area of expertise is primarily Star Trek, because that's what he's been reviewing the longest, followed by western Sci-fi. I don't see why anyone would request that he do anime at all.

 Post subject: Re: Chuck keeps abreast of Ghost in the Shell

Posted: 2012-05-03 11:59pm 

 Post subject: Re: Chuck keeps abreast of Ghost in the Shell

Posted: 2012-05-04 01:47pm 

Actually, I quite liked his views on this and Cowboy Bebop, precisely because he's not an anime fan, and he's looking at it fresh. Perhaps that's been done to death elsewhere too, but if so, I've missed it.

 Post subject: Re: Chuck keeps abreast of Ghost in the Shell

Posted: 2012-05-04 02:00pm 

I suspected he choose the more popular (in the west) anime so that he'd have "explain" less and he could "discuss" more. I mean alot more people are familiar with Ghost in the Shell or Cowboy Bebop then some super rare anime which may or may not be better, not to mention those don't rely on the audience knowing the fine details of japanese culture like some other anime do.

 Post subject: Re: Chuck keeps abreast of Ghost in the Shell

Posted: 2012-05-04 02:16pm 

Oh you'd think that. I dunno much about CB, but the GITS movie has always been kind of emptier without the context of when it was made and who made it. Its common sci-fi themes (and lewd titties) certainly give it broad appeal, but there's a deeper texture to it that needs some kind of research. All poor Chuck could do was be like "well the major ain't as sexy in the movie than the comics." :3

And that's not even commenting on Mamoru Oshii's love of basset hounds.

 Post subject: Re: Chuck keeps abreast of Ghost in the Shell

Posted: 2012-05-05 05:25am 

I always find the Major in the movie to be a bit bland. I suppose one could say she's lacking empathy/humanization due to being a cyborg since a severe injury as a child left her having to have a full-body replacement...but I tend to prefer the Major from the series.
She's a good blend, of the Manga and the Movie. That ice-cold professionalism from the movie, with the occasional smartarsedness of the manga, and she does have a particularly scathing wit.

I really do need to see that episode where Aramaki is a "Hostage", getting to see what a magnificent bastard he is sounds quite appealing.

I did like the fight versus the multipede tank, particularly the bullet effects. They showed realistically the bullets leaving gouges in the concrete instead of magical hollywood sparking...as nifty an effect for the pyrotechnics as that is...it's little touches like that that are good.

 Post subject: Re: Chuck keeps abreast of Ghost in the Shell

Posted: 2012-05-05 05:55am 

Iso Mitsuo's talent and dedication in action.

 Post subject: Re: Chuck keeps abreast of Ghost in the Shell

Posted: 2012-05-05 06:20am 

Truth. It's amazing that anime is better about those sorts of touches than Hollywood.
In Hollywood, a heavy cyborg like say, Alex Murphy is depicted with a heavy step and a slow pace....in Anime, Motoko and the rest of her heavily-auged comrades are depicted in their mass as leaving craters on roofs, the ground or anything they're landing on from a reasonable height.

 Post subject: Re: Chuck keeps abreast of Ghost in the Shell

Posted: 2012-05-05 08:14am 

well in case of Robocop and C-3PO (yes a droid but a he's mostly human shaped and played by an actor in a suit), it's limitation of the suit as the joints are so stiff that actor isn't really capable of running or jumping normally (also special effects for impacts would cost) this is also the reason why the ironman suit in the recent films was mostly CGI with parts used in close ups.

 Post subject: Re: Chuck keeps abreast of Ghost in the Shell

Posted: 2012-05-06 04:52am 

Can we all just agree that Stand Alone Complex is superior in practically every way?

 Post subject: Re: Chuck keeps abreast of Ghost in the Shell

Posted: 2012-05-06 05:00am 

Robocop was a Detroit car in human form, a prototype for police enforcement made in the 80s. Full body replacement cyborgs are post-human products of an entire industrial base of amazing robotics and designed for military use. Comparing them and assigning the differences to culture rather than universe seems dubious.

OCP couldn't replicate Robocop if they tried; full body replacements are mass produced consumer products. :v

 Post subject: Re: Chuck keeps abreast of Ghost in the Shell

Posted: 2012-05-09 10:53am 

A fairly substantial percentage of Meat-Murphey was replaced, the arms and legs...and I *think* the face was actually stapled onto the Robocop frame...I guess they wanted to 'Honour' the fallen officer in some way (probably a demand from the PR department or something) and it would explain why Robo had the 'Batman-jaw' thing going.