This season we see an old classic come back. The iconic piece by Shirow Masamune, Ghost In the Shell.
This new piece comes for a very well expected work as it was done with the aim to have the artwork and story of the original manga published on March, 1989. The story involves a special agent in a futuristic Tokyo where most of the population if not all are cybernetic enhanced humans, at different degrees of modifications. To add confusion there are androids that are 100% cybernetics but they act indistinguishable from humans as they also have advanced AIs. So those that have advanced cybernetics but still a human consciousness are the ones that are called to have a ghost.
Ghost in the shell has been one of the most iconic work of Cyberpunk coming from Japan, next to American classics like Blade Runner and American literature do Android dream of Electric Sheep. This anime has been elevated to a cult classic not only by the statics but also by the philosophical narrative of what make us humans.
Back to this reboot, it had inspire me to go back to the original manga and watch the first issues and have to say, although I didn't like the art style. It was too 80s type and completely different from the masterpiece artwork in the original GiS movie. A comment I made was that the police chief, looks a bit like Happosai from the Ranma 1/2 anime show. With a peak like a bird and very basic drawing. Judge for yourselves.
That said, they add also a lot more sassyness to the show, so I guess is part of the beauty, as well as the original anime was also drawn on that style. Anyway, small annoyance, let see how the series evolve as only episode 1 has been broadcast. I can't wait for the second one.
What you think of this anime? Did you watched the original movie? the manga? Let me know on the comments.
Well, while I'm not a big fan of the original work (we're talking about the manga of the same name), but only of the movie that made it popular, I must admit that I have very high expectations for this new adaptation. I agree that every adaptation should be mostly faithful to its original work, but without neglecting that distinctive element that transforms literary art into a more audiovisual and modern art. This transformation has a very big change in the viewer's vision and in this case the challenge for Science Saru is enormous if we consider the number of adaptations that GITS has.
Even so, knowing the good work they've done with other animated series, I know that this new version will be very different from everything we know and are used to seeing. To begin with, this first episode makes it clear that it will have a much more cartoonish, humorous style, full of action and fast-paced effects, which, for those of us from the 90s, will not be familiar. Rather, it will be difficult to assimilate at first, but if we consider that it will be faithful to the manga, we may be in for a surprise, only it won't be the same as what we expect.
While the lack of drama, mystery, and other elements that made the film memorable is a drawback, I believe this new take on the work could attract a new audience of fans, which is exactly what the producers will be looking for with this new adaptation. Given the current state of the science fiction genre in this industry plagued by generic garbage, more adaptations of classic works like this one are needed.
Good review.
Honestly I'm disappointed with the new style. They made it into action comedy - my first impression was that it resembled Trigun. Don't get me wrong, original Trigun was great in its own right, but making hard SF cyberpunk GitS into the same style is a downgrade for me. I'll still watch it though :o)
That's exactly why; its change in animation, style, and genres is what made many people dislike this new adaptation. They say it's more faithful to the manga, I don't know, I haven't read it. But from what I can see, don't expect much drama or suspense from this anime, as it's very different from the classic films in this franchise.
Obviously, nothing modern can surpass something as classic as GITS from the 90s. Or well, unless Madhouse were in charge of this adaptation, it would be something very different. But anyway, as you say, it's too early to talk more about this new series.
I actually went to check out the manga, this is a few pages in brazilian portuguese, you can see how similar they look to the anime.
Awesome work on the daily Ecency leaderboard quest, @jza! It is wonderful to see such a legendary cyberpunk classic making a stylish return.
Tipped with Ecency POINTS.
I haven't really watched anime in years but back in the day, Ghost in the Shell was one of my favorites.
Yeah is a classic.
Love anime and have watched some of the older stuff.
Yeah most people watch old anime from 20 years ago. I wouldn't blame them as I also agree that anime was a lot better in the past. I was just thinking if any other anime has come even close to Evangelion on the topic of human origins, psicological limits of humanity and how our species is doomed in someways. Those questions haven't been even repeated since, which is sad as it takes out the soul of what anime used to be.
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