[Anime Review] Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Intro.

Ghost in the Shell is one of those anime that don't really make sense the first time you watch it. Everyone glorifies it to the extent where you're staying up on a Sunday night until 2 AM to watch it, even though you have to wake up at 7 the next day. And you watch it, and once you're done, you say "Was that it? What the hell? This was a waste of time. My boss is gonna be pissed tomorrow for nothing."

At least that's what I did.

I'm a huge fan of older style anime, the classic cel-style animation just gives it that lo-fi vibe which I know and love. So naturally, when I first heard about it and heard it was made in 1995 I was pretty damn excited to watch it. Initial D, Sailor Moon, that vibe was perfect for me. And GitS was going to be added to that list. I heard it was about robots, specifically cyborgs, and military intelligence like the CIA and thought that it was gonna be super damn cool. I saw clips and gifs of really high-tech futuristic shit and got extremely hyped to watch it, expecting tons of action scenes, crazy fights like in Jason Bourne movies.

To say the least, I was rather disappointed about that last part.

But I watched it when I was still really new to anime, and my critical thinking ability.

The rating I'll give it now? 9/10.

Synopsis.

[spoiler=The IMDb Synopsis]A cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=The MAL Synopsis]In the year 2029, advances in Cybernetics allow people to replace nearly all of their body parts and organs with robotics. Through these prosthetics, the weak are made strong, and the dying are given new life. Public Security Section 9 of Niihama City (a fictional setting inspired by Hong Kong), a diverse team of AI, cyborgs and unmodified humans, must investigate cases of corruption and terrorism. Major Motoko Kusanagi has full-body prosthetics, owing to a childhood accident. She, her second in command Batou and information specialist Ishikawa have been assigned an important task: to investigate a hacker known only as "The Puppetmaster." But as Motoko and her team discover, things are never so simple.

Ghost in the Shell is a futuristic thriller with intense action scenes mixed with slower artistic sequences and many philosophical questions about one's soul, gender and human identity in such an advanced age of technology.[/spoiler]

Now, my version.

Ghost in the Shell follows the story of a cyborg special agent named Motoko Kusanagi. Or, as the characters refer to her, Major Kusanagi (Major.) She's arguably the best police officer in her special force, Section Nine, and is tasked with stopping a cybercriminal known as the Puppetmaster. The puppetmaster is trying to cause all kinds of turmoil in the city, by taking over other cyborgs, taking over people, and in general being a terrorist.

At the end of the day, this sounds like a pretty interesting plot, as long as it's really story intensive, tracking down locations where the Puppetmaster may be and having all kinds of fights. Seriously, look at all the cop dramas nowadays. It could have worked that way. But that's not at all how this movie progresses.

The Summary

For me to get to the last bit, you need to at least know how the movie unfolds.

This section is incredibly spoiler heavy. If you want to watch it based off what I've already said, then wanna come back here later. This is for all the lazy people.

[spoiler=Seriously dude dont do it.]
Wow, even after I asked nicely.
Whatever, your loss.

Motoko kills some diplomats who are up to no good during a mission.
Nice scene showing how the cyborgs are made, in specific, Major.
Back at the police force, talking about the recent Puppetmaster activity.
Team discovers where a new attack kind of thing may be happening.
Huge chase/fight scene between Major and gunman. Except not really, because Major is invisible, so you don't see the fighting really, just a dude getting beat up by the air.
Turns out he's being controlled by Puppetmaster only.
Police force find cyborg who is hacked/under control by Puppetmaster. Hack it back to see what's going on. Section Six, other police force is trying to get the cyborg back.
Turns out there's a "ghost" in the body, or "shell." The ghost is potentially the ghost of a person trying to defect the country. Section Six wants to stop that.
Section Six recovers body, taking it away. Motoko and team following it.
Military trying to intervene. Motoko kills some shit.
Motoko hacks into the shell herself to discover what's going on.
Motoko talks to the Puppetmaster through the hacking and agrees to become one with the Puppetmaster's ghost. Shit happens, Motoko's body is basically dead, and an explosion happens but Section Nine team member shields her head and preserves the brain.
Motoko wakes up in some safe house with Batou, the said Section Nine team member, in a new, child-like body. She promises to meet Batou again and leaves.
[/spoiler]

Why is this good.

Ghost in the Shell isn't about a narrative like I thought it would be. It was probably my gateway into less story-oriented anime, instead presenting all kinds of ideas about future technology, specifically cyborgs, and cybernetics. It's the reason that most people hated the new live-action Ghost in the Shell movie released in 2017.

Togusa
Togusa is one of the Major's team members, and plays an incredibly critical role in the team, despite not having much screen time. He uses an old trusty Mateba revolver instead of modern military grade weapons, implying he's more "human" than all the other team members.

This is true, because Togusa is the only member of the team that has never undergone any cybernetic modifications to his body. He's quite literally the most human member of his team. This is why he was recruited, and it's acknowledged by the Major, as he adds unpredictability to the team.

Homogenization is a topic mostly discussed during the discussion of genetic modification. Basically summed up, if everyone is perfect, then what is perfect, and is it really perfect? The Major makes this remark because he's able to think in a different way than a robot could. If all robots are built the same way, they all think the same way, and once their thought pattern and process is known, they can easily be duped or tricked. In the line of police work, this could be extremely detrimental as criminals would be able to get away with almost anything. This raises and gives Oshii's answer to the age old question of "will robots replace people?" Oshii's answer is no, that the human mind's imperfections are unable to be recreated by a so-called perfect machine, and perfection is unobtainable without imperfections.

The Ghost in the Shell
The ghost is a literal human ghost, residing in a shell, or cyberbrain. I'm going to spoiler this part because it's mostly around the end that we discover what it means.

[spoiler=Dont say I didnt warn you.]
How does a human mind enter a cybernetic brain? Seems impossible, and I think that's what Oshii is trying to say. That there's only a theoretical concept of being able to store consciousness on a disk. The concept has been explored in all kinds of science fiction, such as the Portal game series, GLaDOS. Except that usually when it's portrayed, it's portrayed as possible.

The presence of a human mind in a computer would cause the above paradox, achieving an imperfection in the system. This is what's impossible, the presence of an imperfection in a perfect system. But the human mind is what's able to offer so much to a robotic brain. So much to offer that even a robot agrees to fuse with it and become one. So much to offer that another robot will shield it and preserve it. The robots are perfect enough to understand the need for imperfections.

Oshii answers the question of being able to have a mind on a disk with his above idealization of a cybernetic society.

But Oshii leaves it open ended. We don't know what happens to the Major, we don't know how her life continues. We don't know what she does once she leaves. MAybe she goes back to the police force, maybe she tries to live a normal life. Whether the decision to fuse was a good or bad idea is entirely up to the audience to decide. Oshii's answer isn't necessarily the right answer. Hell, we don't know what the right answer is. All we can do is discuss it.
[/spoiler]

Concl.

It's good if you can appreciate what makes it good. It's not about the story, it's not about the art style. It's about the open-endedness, ideas presented and questions raised. You get out of it what you want to get out of it. The art style is nice, the music is as well. Visual effects are not always fantastic but there are cool scenes. There are some high-suspense scenes to keep the audience engaged every so often. More often than none it drags on for a bit with just lots of dialogue. Once you're done, you might hate it. But try and keep your mind open when watching it. Once you're done, try to think about what you watched. Think about why it was presented the way it was, and think about what it presented.