Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3915 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-09-04
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 179 minutes

Synopsis
Two features. 'Ghost In The Shell' and 'Ghost In The Shell 2. 'Director Mamoru Oshii follows up his adaptation of Masamune Shirow's manga in the Anime film 'Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence'. Similar in concept and theme to the cyberpunk classic 'Blade Runner', 'Ghost In The Shell' features a future where humans can modify their bodies with technology and live side-by-side with androids. A few years after the original film, police cyborg Bato is still mourning the loss of his partner Motoko. Bato and his new partner Togusa undertake an investigation of a series of seedy murders of wealthy men at the hands of their malfunctioning sex-androids. Expanding on the subject matter of the first film, their inquiry leads to a consideration of the true differences, if any, between humans and the artificial beings they create. 'Ghost In The Shell 2' combines action, philosophy, and breathtaking animated visuals and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Customer Reviews

Not what I expected
Don't ge me wrong on this, but as much as I liked these films I feel as though they were overhyped. No doubt I enjoyed them but just not as much as other anime like Cowboy Bebop or Full Metal Alchemist. I was really looking forward to these with all the great reviews, but ultimately a little dissapointed as they just didn't have much of an impact on me. I feel like I'm being harsh, as I'm slating the films simply because they didn't live up to the hype. But they were still very good. Good plot, involving characters and great animation. But as good as all this was it just wasn't as good as I was led to believe.

First film is great but the second I found very slow and boring
Not sure I agree with the review below here. I found the animation in the first film to be excellent. The best aspect is the central character the Major.

The second film I found to be very heavy going. The Major does not appear much in it and as a result it lacks anything to maintain ones focus. The other characters were only support characters in the first film and so lack depth. The animation I found to be really disappointing, I am not a big fan of CGI and so was not moved by those sequences.

One thing I found very disappointing was the frame rate, the characters only seem to animated at about 6fps and have little in the way of facial expressions. The CGI sequences are much better, but as I said before. I didn't see anything new in them.

Influential and beautiful
Both the films in this boxset are made by the same team and are an enjoyable watch but for different reasons.

The first film is the original Ghost in the Shell is a classic anime movie and is one of the influences behind the Matrix films. Although the animation is quite crude compared to that of more modern anime it is still a joy to watch and the film is very well scripted, with some great action as well as some more thoughtful and philosophical moments. This film is a must see for any anime fans.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is the second film and although not as good as the original Ghost in the Shell it is still an excellent film. Much of this is due to the incredibly beautiful animation, using a mixture of computer generated 3D backdrops and traditional animation for the characters has lead to this film being one of the most beautiful I have ever watched. The problem with this film though is that for some reason the storyline isn't as involving as that of the first film.

These films are both interesting and fun to watch and are a must see for anime fans and although these films have a different continuity to the Stand Alone Complex series it is still a must see for anyone who likes either Gig.