The year is 2045, and artificial intelligence has undergone tremendous developments. Governments use them as weapons, engaging in never-ending warfare to sustain their economies. The mercenary group GHOST, headed by Major Motoko Kusanagi, is no stranger to this landscape. However, the rapid innovation of this technology causes a new threat to loom over the horizon.
Having left Public Security Section 9, Kusanagi and her group are involved in many operations worldwide related to these proxy wars. But a seemingly simple job of locating an arms dealer drags GHOST into a hidden conflict against cybernetically enhanced individuals, who have inexplicably gained extreme intelligence and physical abilities. Dubbed "post-humans," their emergence sets off a chain of events leading to the reunion of Section 9. Armed with a new mission, it is up to Kusanagi and her reestablished team to prevent global chaos at the hands of these post-humans.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
FuchsiaFree
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2045 is not Ghost in the Shell, neither standalone, and nor is it complex. This new “installment” mirrors more the drama level of their recent ULTRAMAN anime than it does the cyberpunk classic that established itself in the past. All that is left of the original series is diluted concepts and themes to placate the infamous “Netflix audience.” Such concepts as new beings literally called “post-humans” (real creative), blatant taking of Orwell in it’s backstory of a “sustainable war” along with pertaining to modern sensibilities in referencing “one-percenters.” Everything here is a silly recreation of what the averageNetflix user would think Ghost in the Shell was about.
It is unfortunate that it seems Shinji Aramaki's vision takes precedence over Kenji Kamiyama on this one, corrupting part of their legacy with this series. I was generally apprehensive about their previous forays in to 3DCG things of the like, and although with this the 3DCG doesn’t look that bad on the Netflix budget and can actually look quite impressive, the show still becomes lifeless both writing-wise and in action. The fight with a naked Patrick Huge, the self-insert of the character designer Ilya Kushinov along with his anime girl maid harem that look like every image he has ever drawn, is laughable on many levels. I had already guessed the whole twist that unravels in that episode in the second episode anyway, since the writing in this is action Sci-Fi and not heady cyberpunk. Ilya Kushinov the known plagiarizer, and even without that bit, is a generally average artist that attracted too much praise given his worth and simply does not have an art style that reliably translates into GitS, especially seen in Motoko among other female characters.
Getting in to the new attachments to this show, we have the introduction of a new character, Stan, nicknamed Clown. His design looks like a Fortnite character and perfectly exemplifies what it seems the creators expect from the exposure to a Netflix audience. He is brash, says the most obvious statements, and serves absolutely no purpose. Pazu and Borma are gone for the first half, the Netflix audience wouldn’t remember them anyway, and instead we have Stan. Most of the first half of the show coincidentally also takes place in America, which has apparently been united under the Empire instead of balkanized with the previous Russo-American Alliance.
This whole sustainable war point simply isn’t interesting and feels like it came out of How to Design a Futuristic World 101, first take some 1984 and then make the concepts more "modern" hmm yes perfect. We already got a close-to-cyberpunk media that did the whole war industry thing better it's called Metal Gear Solid, and the person who did the soundtrack for some of the games on that is the composer for this show as well. A war industry has never been a new concept, and here it is surface level as hell. It even makes itself really obvious what the whole political implications are in the first scene of the show. You’ve got the new GHOST merc group under Motoko and Batou getting chased by “sustainable war victims” in dingy trucks and it just serves as a mindless car chase action scene that gives the little info dump about how The World Be. Then, across the next 3 episodes you will be treated to more car chase scenes which take up the main attraction of the episodes. They really cash in on this mainstream audience they’ll be getting by abandoning what made SAC actually interesting and turning it into stupid action backed up by a hackneyed mystery about “post-humans” (doesn’t even make that much sense given the existence of cyberbrains already inhabiting that concept and all that but who cares amirite) who are just cyborgs that downloaded aimbot and they decide to center the whole show around investigating these people.
There’s this part in one of the episodes where we get the whole virtual chatroom bit, Togusa is watching four disguised guys talk about GHOST so he can get info on them and one of the guys leaves the chatroom, Togusa intercepts him and FLYING PUNCHES him in the VIRTUAL WORLD to STEAL HIS DISGUISE. You cannot make this stupid shit up, none of this shit feels like the Cyberpunk world of the original series despite this supposed to be taking place EVEN MORE into the future. In the end one can’t help but wonder, what is there for anyone to get out of this except for those who have never seen Ghost in the Shell, that being the Netflix Audience? There is nothing, and even if you have not seen Ghost in the Shell, just watch the movies (not Arise not Arise not Arise not Arise), and the SAC show.
And I swear to Allah If I have to see that stupid ass pink haired woman and her moe anime girl idiotic mannerisms one more time alongside her generic dime a dozen kushinov face fuck you ilya kushinov you absolute hack draw a new face for once
(end rant)
FacelessBone
I felt the need to write a review of this show to warn fellow fans of what they should expect. If you are not a GITS enthusiast, I strongly suggest to watch this show ONLY if you are a nostalgic of CGI pioneers. In fact, the characters design and animation in my opinion are on a level which could be accepted decades ago. It seemed to me a lot like "Appleseed", for example, just way too late. If you ARE a GITS enthusiast, please consider it a super-cheap (was it really inexpensive to make?) spin-off show. Watch it only if, like me, you want to fathom theabyss of poor quality where a franchise can fall, even after masterpieces that defined its genre.
I regret some of the original creators accepted to get involved with such a low quality show; I hope they got a good lot of cash from a certain company which has a lot of money and very few ideas (often bad), because I'm sure they lost the respect of many enthusiasts including myself.
As an anime fan in general, I felt offended by the extremely poor quality of this show, and I only stood the pain of watching it in order to update my definition of "poor".
Enjoy (perhaps some other show)
anime-prime
Can CGI ruin a show? Yes. Does it here? Thank goodness no, at least not for me. Ghost in the Shell is a lengthy franchise spanning over decades with at least four different art styles. However, while all of the previous art styles until now were in 2D animation, they decided that they should try a CGI approach. Many will skip over this season because of it, but if that is the only reason, then it is a huge mistake. Despite the animation, all of the characters remain the same and the story feels very similar to SAC previous seasons. So how does it matchup?
SAC (stand alone complex) is what these seasons do: There are stand alone episodes and there are complex (like an arc) episodes. The complex episodes progress the story while the stand alone episodes progress the characters development. This season starts with a complex arc of six episodes about the emergence of post-humans (super smart and strong humans) and the majors (Mokoto Kusanagi) team being forced to take him down by the American government. Then, there are a couple of stand alone episodes when they return to Japan that showcase the characters of Batou, Togusa, and the new character Purin Ezaki individually. Then there is another complex three episode arc involving another post-human case in Japan but slightly different. Then it stops at a massive cliffhanger which will be resolved in the next season.
While the episodes were all great, I am not a fan of the seasons being split up like this, but I take what I can get.
To talk about the elephant in the room: the art. This will severely prevent a multitude of people of enjoying this season, but that is only because they won't give it a chance. The CGI is very well done for Japan TV standards. It isn't as good as something like Frozen but it is still decent enough to not be too distracting. The character models are great and very closely resemble the original models. The fight choreography is outstanding and the backgrounds, while not the best, are still serviceable. My main problem with the art was the faces of characters. A lot of times that there should have been emotion on faces, there just wasn't. It is hard to accomplish it in CGI but nevertheless they didn't accomplish it. But the art for the OP was phenomenal.
The music was okay...or at least when there was music. While the OP was decent and the ED slightly better, there was rarely any music in the actual show. In the first episode there was a great jazzy instrumentally track which got my hopes up, but after that there was barely any BGM at all. It is sad especially considering that Yoko Kanno did the original SAC OST and it is still known to be one of the best soundtracks of all time. The voice acting was all good. I would have preferred the English dub, especially since the original dub cast returned to reprise thir roles, but unfortunately the dub release was delayed due to Covid19.
The characters are all the same as previous seasons with the addition of Kenjiro Tsuda, an American agent in the first arc but who then leaves (he might be relevant in the second season) and Purin Ezaki in the second arc who was the comic relief and an enjoyably cute and silly character. Togusa goes through some development as well. The Tachikomas are amazing as usual but they have slightly less screen time than they did in the previous seasons. There isn't yet a main villain that we have met yet, but the puzzle pieces are building up and hopefully can actually pull off a great reveal in the next season. The major is a boss, like usual.
I enjoyed this season a lot, and I would recommend it even to people who haven't seen previous seasons or movies. The pacing is fantastic and thrilling while the story keeps building mystery and great development.
My main issue with the season, not including art or sound, is that this season plays it safe. Ghost in the Shell is known for utilizing thought provoking themes which helped it stand out throughout the decades, but this season hasn't really done that yet. The last arc was close, but didn't fully succeed to hit the usual franchise marks.
It went for a more Hollywood style, lots of fights, but very rarely any serious internal conflicts or thought provoking ideas.
Overall, this season was great. Better than what I expected. Hopefully the second season is as good or better and can properly tie up all of the loose threads that were leftover after this season.
Score: 9 (Very good and rewatchable, but not good enough to do so very often).
animejas
I'm an avid fan of the Ghost in the Shell franchise, having absolutely loved the original Ghost in the Shell movies, as well as adoring the original Stand Alone Complex anime (enough to have that show in my top 10 anime of all time). Arise was a massive misstep though but it's in a different timeline from the other ones so I can avoid talking much about this though. So whilst I saw a lot of negative reception towards the trailers for this new edition of Stand Alone Complex or SAC_2045, it didn't really hinder my excitement too much. I wasn't expecting a masterpiece but stillexcited just to get more solid quality Ghost in the Shell content.
Now that I've officially finished the first season of SAC_2045, I can say that this show truly was a mediocre and forgettable showing overall and was clearly designed for mainly the newer Western audiences in terms of the direction of the storyline and even the visuals themselves as a sort of a cash grab from the looks of things. It somehow fell below my low expectations for it.
The story for the most part without spoiling anything was pretty underwhelming for Ghost in the Shell standards, but okay for the most part. It's not really thematically fascinating but at least has enough action and twists to make some of the portions seem exciting for me. The narrative wasn't too interesting but it was paced fairly well and had solid buildup progressively, with a big cliffhanger by the end that left enough meat on the bone for me to have some intrigue left for its next season.
Regarding the characters, I felt this was the aspect that disappointed me the most from what I expected.
Motoko Kusanagi is one of my favorite characters of all time so seeing her be treated like more of a side character for the most part in this season was pretty disheartening. Her inner thoughts and narratives always fascinated me when seeing the previous shows so the lack of that definitely was a turn off for me. Besides, whenever she was on-screen, she was underwhelming to watch here and never really was compelling or interesting to watch unlike other editions of her (besides Arise since she was annoying there). The other main characters though in the show were solid, especially Togusa in this show. And the tachikomas were fun as usual.
However, the other characters weren't too compelling at all, and haven't really added anything to the show so far at least for this season.
Now, the visuals. I've seen a LOT of people discredit the visuals for being fully CG, and looking like an old video game from the PS2/PSP days; and to be honest, I'm not particularly against that for a franchise like GitS on paper.
The visuals for the action is a bit awkward with its CG nature but it easily could have been much worse than it turned out to be. Battles while PS2 game-like, were smooth enough while not being too janky and rough to watch. The characters looked pretty rough though (Motoko looks way too young, and some others look like wax figures). Some of the animation even outside action sequences were pretty bad to look at and inconsistent/awkward too (like when characters are walking or drinking).
I will say Kushivnov has good art in general, but it's hard to translate his art amazingly into CG. And whilst its not bad overall, you can notice some of the obvious consequences for the awkward transition for the most part.
For people that were turned off by the visuals in the trailers, this full show won't change their minds. Especially considering how phenomenal the original edition looked from character designs, to action and everything else about it,
The sound was probably the worst part of the show for me. The opening and ending songs just don't fit Ghost in the Shell whatsoever (especially the opening for being way too jazzy and upbeat in an environment that's supposed to be more intense and subtle). We went from having some of the best opening songs of all time in Inner Universe from season 1 and Rise from season 2 (rest in peace Origa), to this really annoying song by millenium parade that should be absolutely nowhere near a franchise like this. Disappointing as hell.
This also correlates to some of the soundtracks as they just feel out of place in this environment. At least the voice acting was still okay but far from the top-tier standards that the original GitS set for sure.
This definitely isn't a great showing from Production IG and Sola Digital Arts as the show came off more as a cash grab like I mentioned than a proper sequel to one of the best anime of all time. Some aspects felt incredibly phoned in, and the visuals are a turn off for many, many people that it ruins the opportunities for this show to succeed with a majority of the audience, including other big Ghost in the Shell fans. This could have been great, but it'll remain a show that just looks massively inferior to the original rather than stand out on its own.
At least it's still better than Arise.
Awoouuta
Minor spoiler warning ahead! If you're reading this you've been warned! Look I like the Ghost In The Shell series and I really wanna try appreciate everything about it but the Stand Alone Complex's run of the franchise just doesn't cut it from me... I apreciate this one being a single current line of story with very little fillers but i do have to ask: W H Y the 3D!? Some animations seem crappy, characters are too glossy sometimes and have slopy walking animations (you can see it right in the beggining with the major in like episode 1 and it continues through the whole series if you're carefullenough to notice, not to mention the lip sync which is so bad they can't barely move their lips sometimes, the cars don't seem to go into the decor, they seem to be not too well rendered into the landscape, especially in the LA course tailgating scene and if i had to say, the best 3D scenes in this series are the ones without any characters on them, just with the backgrounds and they can still fucking ruin them with the low resolution characters that they add on them to make them feel more "lively"!
Like come on guys, you have a wonderful artist here doing some great character designs. (Ilya I'm sorry to say this but if this was one of your ideas it was not the brightest...) I defenitely would love to see it in 2D or even 2.5D even with some of the details that bother me (especially Batou/Borma eyes), and you managed to do something this bad? I mean, for real? You had for sure a fucking big budget to make a huge series and you prefered to use it in motion capture and fucking 3D? No i don't accept that, just no. This could have been a good saver for the Stand Alone Complex Run that I didn't like from the begining with the "sub-episodic" episodes they had with the over exagerated ammount of fillers, but this can be even worst than that in my opinion!
If you ask me the best scene is the fucking ending and it's still was able to be not so good! (Don't make me talk about the opening that's another can of worms to be open)
And that's only the tip of the Iceberg about the stuff I have to say about this series!
First, background story is completely fucked here. I don't know about all of you but I like to have some backstory about what happend before the events that are taking place here (Even though I know that the premises of Ghost In The Shell is to be a little unkown, it really made me enjoy the Arise run of the franchise even more than the original movie!):
It was suprising to see fucking Togusa out of fucking nowhere divorcing, getting a new haircut, not to mention that we know that in Solid State Society he got prostethics that we don't know what they are and the fucking kung lee karate moves at the almost fucking end of the series?! Where did he learn them, WHY did he learn them, WHY THE FUCK DID HE DIVORCED AND WHAT JOB DID HE TAKE FOR 2 FUCKING YEARS? He is one of THE essential characters to move the plot of the Stand Alone Complex series and you weren't able to give us some information about what happend about him? I can't allow that!
Furthermore, why the other fucking gang going out of japan and going to work for a private security company in the US from all places alongside some newcomer that you're gonna ditch after 4 eps, NOT TO MENTION THE EVENTS OF SOLID STATE SOCIETY? WHAT HAPPEND AFTER IT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IT LET US ON A CLIFFHANGER! It's just not deep enough for me to give a shit!
Also, what the fuck happend to borma and Paz? Hello? Don't they exist here? At least in Arise they gave em a little of a spotlight, they almost didn't get the change to talk in the whole series here (I'm pretty sure Paz didn't talk and Borma talked like 2 lines of dialogue max)! What did they do in these two years? What's with the new eyes of borma? Why paz changed haircut? IT'S TOO FUCKING INCOHERENT!
Now, don't even have me fucking talk about Purine or whatever her fucking name is. I DON'T WANT A FUCKING IDOL ON MY FUCKING STOIC SERIES JUST TO BE THERE TO FUCK BATOU AND GIVE A LITTLE HELP ON THE CASE, IT BREAKS THE STOICISM OF THE SERIES! She just doesn't have her place here!
I could also mention the Hell that is the Tachikoma problem alongside the question of where the uchikoma's went but it would be too fucking long to write it so i'll just say that I'm not happy with that and just move on to the end of the Character review part here...
Side Characters are below average and everything else alongside is it too. I don't wanna get into details or this fucking comentary is gonna be fucking long just dont make me talk about it (I swear to god if i have to talk about that nude 3D fucking scene i swear to god I'll have an heart attack of how shitty it was and it's purpose here)
Music is ok in my opinion (ok maybe not that opening i don't get the Ghost In The Shell vibe i would like) but the ed is pretty GITS, also those loud music noises that we can here in the middle of some scenes is prob a bit too loud
Yeah I don't think I have nothing else to say about this. (I do have a little rant about that rape scene that I actually can't be over with, to mention or see...
Considering this was a netflix series idea I don't think it's a very open scene to everyone globally, let alone the fact that It had to be approved by a massive team of people, I mean, are you serious? Please don't make more of them) If you don't have anything to do and want to netflix and chill go for it just watch it to pass your day watching something
If you're into this kinda stuff, I would consider watching the rest of the Stand Alone Complex franchise. Maybe you wanna have somewhat of a background to every character in order to try enjoying this but appart that I think you would be able to see Arise (The Original movies aren't the best to use to watch this afterwards) then watch this if you'd like to, Arise is only a couple of movies and two real anime episodes it's pretty quick actually.
Would *I* Recommend watching this? No not at all I don't like it, the story is meh for me but i'm only watching it to see all GITS related series.
Guys, just try not to make a fucking bad season 2 and uhhhh try to make a fucking good ending for this run of GITS for crying out loud it's a good franchise that i wan't to treasure and enjoy and please make it end after season 2 don't make a follow up movie or i'll fucking throw up
SingleH
Of all the anime I’ve seen, over four thousand and counting, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is my unequivocal favorite. With that said, I’m not the kind of delicate elitist who holds great reverence for their favorites and their position as such. The idea of a new installment coming along over a decade since its last and suddenly outclassing all which came before it is not something I particularly begrudge or fear. Projects the likes of FLCL Alternative where the original creators are publicly decrying the grossly corporatist nature of the production are one thing, but in the case of SAC_2045, the original staffis still thoroughly involved with the creative process and still very passionate about the work they’re doing, even if said work is wildly different than the original content in both style and substance. I would never dream of taking a cynical eye to something just to eliminate it as a competitor and preserve my favorites, nor, however, would I let these particular geniuses’ old masterpieces cloud my critical judgement and forget the fact those works were good because they were good, not because I wanted them to be good.
If there’s one thing this review needs to make crystal clear, it’s the stark reality Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 is not in any noticeable way directed by Kenji Kamiyama, and is instead directed by Shinji Aramaki. Shinji Aramaki, CCO and Director of Operations at Sola Digital Arts, the Production IG subsidiary studio which handled the animation production of SAC_2045, is a legendary mecha designer who’s reputation needs no introduction and who’s been at the forefront of CG animation direction since before the turn of the century. While this all may sound like the beginnings of high praise, I personally think Aramaki is better suited a visual artist than a director. The action direction of SAC_2045 is almost exactly that of Aramaki’s Starship Troopers films, which are little more than shoot’em-up Hollywood action flicks, and while this may seem like a nitpick of relative unimportance given the fact Stand Alone Complex was never really about the action itself—despite housing the most technically proficient police procedural and military action animation you can find in TV anime—this iteration of the story very much is, and this stands regardless of the fact Kamiyama reprised his role as writer. In an interview with Newtype USA in 2007, Kamiyama had said he believes himself to work best in the art of filling out the details of a work structured by someone else as opposed to creating a work from scratch and having to write the rules himself. If we’re to ignore the masterful work he was to do in the future with Eden of the East and take this cute little piece of self-deprecation at face value, we can really appreciate why a world and setting as deeply profound with ideas yet so utterly under-explored by its original creator as Ghost in the Shell would end up being a perfect fit for his craft, because he can take this tiny eleven chapter manga rife with conceptual gold it didn’t give itself the time to fully unpack and unpack it as beautifully and brilliantly as he possibly could, seeing as the groundwork was already in place to support his visionary expansion. And it's this perfect balance which he himself seems to recognize which leaves me so baffled by the direction he took SAC_2045. Artificial Intelligence, or “Post-Humans” as they are called, are the focus of SAC_2045, because even though Stand Alone Complex and 2nd GIG seemed to suggest the original idea of the cyberbrain itself to yield infinite facets of thematic and conceptual exploration, apparently this was not the case after all, and a new central concept was necessary to continue the story. Assuming I think the story even needed to be continued at all—which I do not—why he would choose something so cliche and overused to science fiction as rampant AI, I have no living idea. The Post Human plot line and its borderline post-apocalyptic setting can be more cheesy than a series this adult-oriented ever had any business getting and ultimately serves as little more than a stage for increasingly tensionless action sequences of Section 9 squaring off against largely uncharismatic villains.
While Aramaki is credited on both SAC_2045 and Ultraman (2019) with ample episode direction and storyboarding credits, Kamiyama isn’t on either, on either. The writing, on the other hand, actually does feel like his old handiwork, and keeping in mind this man wrote three of the greatest anime ever made, this is actually something of a problem. Everyone who’s ever worked with Kamiyama in the past has corroborated the fact he has always has been the man with the plan, literally, and Stand Alone Complex is the height of the Ghost in the Shell franchise thanks to his brilliant writing. Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 adaptation of Ghost in the Shell is the only iteration of the anime based on a hard source material, since Innocence was entirely written and conceptualized by Oshii, Arise was pitched by Kazuchika Kise and scripted by Tow Ubukata, and Stand Alone Complex was completely conceptualized by Kamiyama and written in cooperation with Shōtarō Suga. These renditions of the story reflecting the sensibilities of their authors so directly makes perfect sense too, seeing as Innocence is a sophisticated study in abstruse philosophy and Arise is an internally flawed mess which puts style over substance with every idea it has, but what doesn’t make so much sense is while Stand Alone Complex is most certainly an exploration of technology befitting the brain which birthed it, it’s also a consistently mature and unflinchingly realistic character drama which takes an originally goofy cast and molds them not into Oshii’s cold realists or Ubukata’s undefined enigmas, but into complex and resonant human beings. Therefore, it’s not unreasonable to think this nuanced yet intensely necessary facet of the series may or may not’ve been the work of Kamiyama himself, because among the many names I just unapologetically tossed your way is Shōtarō Suga. Shōtarō Suga was the co-writer for all three masterpieces the now-legendary Kamiyama Team made back in their glory days with the fullcore Production IG animation staff, and the more Kamiyama makes nowadays, the more I feel Suga to’ve been way more necessary to the beating heart behind his works than anyone could’ve ever imagined. After Kamiyama more or less disbanded the team, they actually reconvened at PA Works in 2013. Written by Suga and directed by co-director of all three of the Kamiyama classics, Masayuki Yoshihara, The Eccentric Family was masterpiece as clever as it was touching, and it was backed by the gorgeous backgrounds of Takeda Yūsuke, the team’s IG art director who followed them over. What I’m getting at here is Stand Alone Complex, Guardian of the Sacred Spirit, and Eden of the East were very clearly a team effort. Yoshihara brought the iconic cinema, Suga brought the deep human element, and Kamiyama brought the mountains of themes and concepts to make them all worthwhile, and now that he’s the only one on staff, it feels like the human pyramid of geniuses fell apart, and the potential masterpiece status of the show crumbled along with it.
Since there’s no getting around it, I guess it’s time to address the elephant in the room. Now, whether I take care of this elephant with a painless tranquilizer dart or as many shells from a sawed-off shotgun as it takes is simply a matter of bias, and seeing as I aim to generally adopt the neutral opinion, “good CG is good, and bad CG is bad,” I’ll try my hand at playing the Devil’s advocate. While SAC_2045 very much outclasses its team’s prior work with Ultraman (2019), it is by no means of a quality worthy of the Ghost in the Shell franchise which has set every bar of animation as high as it still is decades later. Ultimately, SAC_2045 is crafted with all the love, care, and attention to detail in the world, it’s just not done with the prettiest of visuals or the most faithful of art design. The set design is passable, but the foreground and background sometimes mesh together awkwardly because everything is 3D, and outside the realm of digital grunge effects, little texture is added to anything which makes this all the more noticeable. Such a drab overtone to the series in darker scenes does it little favors in the visual flair department since the cinematography left much to be desired, even with Aramaki’s endless frenetic action which itself is completely divorced from the realistic and highly researched action direction of SAC and 2nd GIG. The visual direction is just semi-random camera rotations and swivels with little to no dramatic timing to speak of, so if you’re looking for cyberpunk action, this show will deliver, but if you’re looking for the thematically laced, contemplatively formulated shots of brilliance you’d come to expect from the original series with only rare and down-to-earth action, you will find yourself disappointed. Physically speaking, the CG animation looks legitimately incredible, with precise shadow placement, anatomically weighty physics, and the most intricately shaded body definition in any CG TV anime I’ve ever seen, but graphically speaking the show is, at best, distractingly untextured with great depth of color only wherever you can find said color, and at worst, utterly outdated and with coloration as a mere afterthought to the director if not the colorists. And speaking of unevenly poppy coloration, the character designs are just about as hectic as you can get. The male designs are loosely okay, with only a few characters like poor old Togusa receiving unflattering transitions into the world of 3DCG, but the female designs are downright insulting. To be frank, they just look like anime sex dolls. As thoroughly sexualized as Motoko is in all but Oshii’s iterations, though, no anime adaptation of Ghost in the Shell has yet to reach even a fraction of the sex appeal and exploitation found in the original manga, so when all is said and done, you can only really complain about this point so much before sounding like an ignorant hypocrite. Still, one could only hope an icon of feminine badassery and empowerment would not’ve looked like she belonged on a dirty dakimakura.
Despite the fact I’ve done little but act like the obtusely picky bitch I am, I did, believe it or not, seriously enjoy SAC_2045, if not as deeply as I dreamed I would’ve. It’s so hard being as rotten as I am, because you’re always left with so much more criticism than praise no matter what you’re consuming, even if whatever it is gives you more than enough delight to gush over. I mean, I simply cannot put into words how happy it made me feel to see Kamiyama so perfectly recapture Batou’s dynamic with the Major; how proud I was to verify he still has a complete and total mastery of his intelligent dialogue which is incessantly relevant to his clever theming; how timely and smart of an idea the Sustainable War setup is, even if I dislike the over-the-top setting which it fostered; how the choppy direction is only really prevalent in martial combat sequences, and dialogue scenes are as engaging as they’ve ever been; how Shinji Aramaki—if nothing else—knows exactly how to use 3D animation to its fullest extent in every way; how gratifying it was to hear all the original voice actors and actresses reprise their roles as if not a day had passed since they’re last recording; how crisply produced and just downright cool the music is despite being no Yoko Kanno score and absolutely failing to recapture her atmosphere; or how much I absolutely die over every word out of Sakiko Tamagawa’s mouth. But ultimately, I’ll always distract myself with the gripes, be they utterly retarded quibbles or legitimate pieces of valuable criticism. I can complain about an anime I’ve given a nine point nine as much as I can complain about an anime I’ve given a one, and while this can be chalked up to frustration over the fact X would be perfect if not for Y aspect of it, the fact remains my potential for whining stands just as tall in either case. Sure, “high hopes, low expectations,” right? But there’s still no saving me from comparison. No matter how detached I force myself to be, the original series will always be there, and when that original series is my favorite anime of all time, that comparison will never find satisfaction. So ultimately, this review is going to conclude itself advising you not to take it to heart. What I’ve compiled in the previous paragraphs is a list of complaints found only on the barest surface levels and the most fastidiously deep levels, and nowhere in between. It’s a list which explains not why a show is bad, but why a show isn’t literally better than or as good as the best anime ever made. Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 is undeniably an unnecessary sequel at its core, its questionable appearance will offend and enrage fans more radical than I, and its position at the end of a franchise newcomers perceive to be impenetrably large will leave it likely unattractive to them as well, but it is—and this is true—good, and I recommend it to anyone able to stomach their preconceived notions of beautiful animation and biased comparisons to the godly work which came before.
Thank you for reading.
Runasius
What happens when you milk a franchise dry? This. Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 is yet another attempt to cash in on the ever so popular Ghost in the Shell franchise. Based on the 2002 Stand Alone Complex series, this installment is meant to be a continuation to 2nd gig, once again following the hardened, no-nonsense folks over at Section 9 as they attempt to uncover and resolve yet another crime. This time concerning the rise of posthumans, cybernetically engineered humans that are capable of possessing super strength and limbs that can explode heads with one single swing. When it was announced, the fanfare was tremendous.It would be produced by the same studio, Production IG, with CGI provided by Sola DigitalArts, the same guys behind the Ultraman anime. Kenji Kamiyama, the director for all the Stand Alone Complex installments, was also announced to return to the director’s chair, albeit being paired up with Ultraman director, Shinji Aramaki. It also brought back the original voice cast for the dub and was advertised as a true sequel to the SAC universe rather than just a reimagining. Needless to say, it had a lot to live up to as a sequel.
Now, let’s get down to the elephant in the room: the CGI. Holey Moley, it’s really subpar. Not Berserk 2016 levels of horrible, but it’s done poorly enough that you sort of feel your eyes starting to bleed, but not to the point where they’re constantly shedding that scarlet liquid of yours. Every single character looks rubbery like they’re more akin to toys than actual people. It feels almost as if Sola DigitalArts rendered the entire series through a ps2 rather than using their “cutting edge” CGI technology to make the aesthetic easy on the eyes at least. There’s a reason why CGI is so prominent in the anime industry: it’s cheap, efficient, able to animate large crowds or more complex models in a smoother and fluid momentum. And in a way, that’s not exactly a bad thing. Studio Orange, for instance, did a wonderful job animating Beastars, using a mixture of 2D and CG animation to enhance the movements and facial expressions of various anthropomorphic animals. It was a series that needed 3DCG because of how difficult and costly it was to animate such characters, and in a way, the Ghost in the Shell franchise has used CGI a lot in the past due to how prominent technology is in the series, so it isn’t exactly breaking new ground with it. But, in Ghost in the Shell 2045, they just feel awkward to look at. The fluidity is on point, but the models are so subpar it’s almost like you’re watching a video game cutscene from the early 2000s. I don’t understand why the series couldn’t use a mixture of 2D and 3D animation like they had done for the original 2002 anime. The CG in that still holds up relatively well to this day, so why not build on it? There’s been worse CGI anime out there, but that doesn’t mean that the one used in this show is exempt from any sort of criticism.
The actual story itself doesn’t fare any better either. At times, 2045 does feel like it has got a bit of the flair from the original with some of the later, more standalone episodes, though it appears scattered and somewhat confused as to what it wants to be. The first half of the series amounts to just some random series of action sequences like something straight out of a Michael Bay production, with government agents from America even making an appearance here and there. Then later on it just decides to be a politically focused, sci-fi series that explores certain themes and concepts in a cyberpunk world, kind of building on what the original Stand Alone Complex series initially started. In layman’s terms: it starts off wanting to be Metal Gear Solid, then decides it wants to continue the legacy of Ghost in the Shell. Even if it did, it just doesn’t feel the same. Ghost in the Shell has always been a series focused on the perils of technology, how it can be taken advantage of and how living in a world full of androids and cybernetic organisms actually kind of sucks. It’s a show where the worldbuilding is the center of attention, and aside from one episode (which is just so overly comedic and asinine that it doesn’t even feel connected to the world), none of this anime really feels at home with the universe it had set up. The idea of posthumans being created through some sort of tear gas is already ridiculous in it of itself, especially given the more realistic approach to a cyberpunk world that Ghost in the Shell has a huge reputation for, rather than the idealized and magical one that existed in something like Deus Ex. It’s also too political and not in any way philosophical, while the original series uses both to tell a well-realized story.
But I haven’t gotten to the worst bit yet. The characters, good god the characters. Every semblance of dignity and badassery of Section 9 has almost been stripped bare. Major Kusanagi now has hax magical abilities similar to Adam Jenson from the Deus Ex games and her role in the series feels a lot more underutilized. There was so much that the creators did with her in the original Stand Alone Complex series, showcasing all her various hacking capabilities and the ways she approaches certain missions. Here, she just shows up to bust some cyborg’s heads open in hand to hand combat, I mean cmon, there’s so much else you could have used this character for. Togusa is now a professional martial artist and apparently very addicted to Bruce Lee movies with the way he makes goofy Kung-Fu noises every time he fights. Also, he’s divorced here and is no longer a family man. Yup, you heard it right, the guy who based much of his work around protecting his wife and daughter is no longer with them. Gone is the most human character in the entire Ghost in the Shell cast. Pazu and Bulma pretty much take a backseat to the other characters, making me wonder why the heck they were even brought back in the first place. Pazu doesn’t even have any lines for Pete’s sake.
The show also brings in two new characters onboard. First on the list is Standard, a cocky, way-in-over-his-head soldier that tags along with the recently disbanded Section 9 during the earlier episodes. Ever so constantly, he’s proven to be useless, always getting himself tangled in a knot during firefights and always relying on Major and the team to get him out of dodge. To make matters even worse, halfway through the series, he just disappears. He says his goodbyes and never appears again. I’m baffled by the decision to even include this character if he’s just going to be out of the casting list for the latter half of the series. What a complete waste of a character. And his absence brings in another member of the team, a pink-haired, upbeat, waifu-bait by the name of Purin. And she gets on my nerves a lot. She’s basically what happens when you add a generic anime girl from one of those pesky light novel adaptations into the Ghost in the Shell universe, and it looks so out of place. Her poor attempts at comedy just come across as awkward and too over the top. Granted, she provides more usage to the plot than Standard, but her constant boy scout personality just undermines the serious and mature tone that the franchise has established. The show already has the tachikomas, we don’t need a human version of them in the mix. Oh, and as for the supporting cast, we even have a government agent named John Smith who even looks like a typical agent character with a black suit, shades, and a voice that just screams to you that he’s a villain. Man, for a show that was already ripped off by The Matrix, it certainly decided it wanted to copy Agent Smith from that franchise as well. What a turnaround.
Also, what’s with all the corniness? Seriously, 2045 feels like an outright parody of the entire Stand Alone Complex franchise with some of the decisions made. There’s a self-insert posthuman character that resembles the character artist, Ilya Kuvshinov, that spends a majority of his screentime stark naked and performing back handstands like he’s some sort of circus performer. It was so unintentionally hilarious that twitter melded it into a meme. There’re also other elements that just have no place in an anime that’s supposed to be a serious reflection of a dark, gritty, and politically charged cyberpunk society. In one episode, Purin comes face to face with an avatar that resembles a Nintendo mascot, with a CGI goldfish for a face, big lips, and an outfit that looks like it was stolen from King Dedede’s wardrobe. And that was after she got nearly assaulted by a partially naked fat guy. Not to mention, one of the masterminds behind the attacks is a child who spends half his time buried in video games. Given how surprisingly dark the show gets after the halfway mark, it’s astounding that such designs and choices even exist.
What on earth was Kenji Kamiyama thinking? He’s pretty much tarnished the reputation of Ghost in the Shell for good now. Aside from keeping Batou’s dignity intact, including more scenes with the adorable Tachikomas, and showcasing Ilya Kuvshinov’s talent as an artist (seriously, his design for the Major is simply perfect), nothing about 2045 works whatsoever. This was basically the final nail in the coffin. I don’t know who to put the blame on, him or Shinji Aramaki, but nevertheless, this is a terrible sequel that ruins everything that made Ghost in the Shell a masterpiece.
Beatnik
How far the mighty have fallen. The Ghost in the Shell franchise used to be pioneering. It created new visual iconography, new visual language and cyberpunk tropes. In SAC_2045 we witness a franchise flailing about in a last gasp attempt at being relevant. It's a show that has nothing to say about anything. I found the many references to the Wachowskis Matrix series during the 2 seasons of this show profoundly pathetic. As mentioned above GitS used to create iconography that influenced cinema and animation, and now it has devolved into blatantly ripping off the Matrix, with no grace about it. Instead we just get straighthomages to Agent Smith, the burly brawl, the highway chase, along with the obligatory and lazy homages to previous better GitS movies and shows (how many more times will we see a metal claw gripping Motoko's face as she dangles in the air?).
Similarly to the original SAC's Laughing Man subplot, SAC 2045 also has a literary homage which comes to the fore in the second season, but as you can tell by now, it's lazy and superficial. With characters seeking utopia sincerely quoting Orwell's 1984 like it's meant to mean something. It's like the writers have no idea that "War is peace. Freedom is slavery." is supposed to be IRONIC.
I thought GitS: Arise was utterly boring and unpleasant to look at, dropping it within two episodes. 2045 is better looking (despite the naysayers complaints), and watchable as simple entertainment. But as a Ghost in the Shell story, it's woeful, with the ludicrous character Purin behaving like a 12 year old (that we have to see naked for 'reasons'), its typical Japanese treatment of Black characters, and crucially relegating Motoko Kusanagi to a side character who barely gets any attention. We never see her by herself, she has no inner life or character arc. She has less screen time than Togusa and Batou, and is effectively nothing but an exposition device.
Some people will say season 2 is a vast improvement over 1, but take that with a grain of salt. It's simply more of the same.
Shame on Kenji Kamiyama. How the mighty have fallen.
FreedomsFlame
I'm not exactly a 2D purist, but I think the creators are struggling with the move to full 3D. The faces hardly move, which is a problem when you want to convey emotion, and most of the other animation looks very wooden and lacks proper weight, which is a shame considering prior iterations had beautiful animation that helped convey each individual character. The animation isn't the only place where the characters fail to express themselves, either. The paper-thin plot is constantly getting in the way of good storytelling, and the absence of the character vignettes that made SAC (particularly 2nd GIG) great is really noticeable. Theworst part is that the plot uses grand themes mostly as set dressing for the action rather than trying to engage with them in any meaningful way, so it comes up completely hollow. The usage of 1984 as a heavy-handed but empty symbol is a particularly egregious example.
This iteration of the series has also expanded the roster a bit, and Purin Esaki is a particularly awful addition. Her fawning over Batou is annoying and the whole fan worship thing makes zero sense considering that the members of Section 9 were wiped from existence almost a decade ago when she was still a kid, albeit a technically gifted one.
matt-t-e
I liked it. Why not make a show about the future with future technologies like the 3DCG. But I wish there was a program that allows them to match the lip flaps from English to Japanese with the CG. Thought all the shading and textures were really cool. You can actually see the textures in the carpet. I have to admit I was confused the beginning and found it quite slow but once you start getting into the episodic episodes It was very interesting to find out what was gonna happen I hope the series continues for a long time.
Zorizka
The amount of negativity on this anime is downright disgusting, unreasonable, & unfair. So many 2D purists out there that rate it 1/10 just because the anime is 3D CGI style. The story & aesthetic actually great, one of the best CGI animation so far. Story: 7 Art: 8 sound:8 character: 8 enjoyment: 8 overall: 8 In any case, this is recommended for GiTS fans or overall Cyberpunk fandom. The full CGI aesthetic might be something new, but it's not hard to get into like other anime & the animation actually pretty superb.the story basically the continuation of GiTS SAC & Arise, with both series has its own easter eggs scenes if anyone look it hard enough. Major & friends basically now hired as a mercenary unit, the former members of Japan's elite Section 9 are faced with the sudden appearance of "Post-Human," a being with tremendous intelligence and physical capabilities. Plenty of intrigues in the new US territory.
Harisrox
"War is peace, ignorance is strength" -- George Orwell (1984) Ghost in the Shell's aesthetic visuals were something it was always known for and SAC_2045 just ruins that totally, the visuals look like that they came from a decade old PS2 game and animation itself was nice but when looking to it's predecessor "Solid State Society" which was released in 2006, I am saddened to say that the animation is straight up bad. Story 6/10 The story takes place 11 years after the events of Solid State Society movie, and it's the year 2045 where the world is evolving with high production and use of AI while beingignorant of the results and consequences that are to come with the great amount of AI and it's powers. The writing itself was pretty basic when compared to previous titles of the franchise, it missed a good chunk of psychology aspect and theme of GitS which was a real turn off for me, it was there but only on a surface level and felt pretentious.
Art & Animation 5/10
I did not like the animation as I've mentioned above, I just couldn't get used to it while I believe the full CGI works fine with GitS's universe where showing things from different angles specially during the fights, the camouflage and VR actually work good with it. Full CGI also helps with easily adding the idle movements to characters which makes them look realistic, these small movements are also noticeable in previous GitS titles. One thing that really annoyed me were the character models, they were done by Ilya Koshinov; Motoko, Batou and Togusa look way younger despite being shown 11 years after the events of previous movie, I feel like Ilya drew them inspired by their ARISE models.
I loved most of the background art, I suppose it's because background art doesn't need any movement.
Sound 5/10
Yet another thing 2045 was lacking in compared to the previous titles, GitS always had great soundtracks, soundtracks that would change the momentum of the sequence, soundtracks that are worthy to remember, soundtracks that make fights more enjoyable. 2045's soundtracks came nowhere near that.
Characters 7/10
At least the characters were the same but they only suffered from bad writing, there was this new character named "Purin Esaki" and believe me when I say this, her appearance doesn't really matter in fact it would be much better if she wasn't in the show. Aramaka the chief and Batou didn't play much of a major part in the series like they used to, even tho both of them got their fair share of screentime.
Enjoyement 7/10
It had it's problems and it was hard to comprehend how this is the same Standalone Complex, but if you ignore that then it was still somewhat enjoyable as literally a standalone series not connected to any previous GitS and it's purpose to serve a newer audience.
Overall it's a straight 6, it really depends on how they conclude the story in season 2.
firestar7o7
Hey guys, big anime fan here ^u^ I rlly loved this show! It reminds me a lot of my favourite American TV shows like 'Family Guy' and also 'American Dad', who could forget Netflix's 'Big Mouth' too. I wish however there was maybe an extra sex scene or two? Something else to really stimulate the senses with powerful visuals and audio design. But alas, I'm sure Stewie Griffin (my favourite character hehehe~) would have something not so wonderful to say about this show so I will instead only review it a 6 out of 10 in his honour. Thank u for reading my animeh review guys >.<3
jimfaindel
Section 9 is back, and I didn't know how nostalgic I would feel when writing that. Let us settle a few things first: -2045 is a direct sequel to the original Stand Alone Complex anime, following a decade or so after 2nd gig. -The character designs were revamped by Ilya Kuvshinov, and the entire series moved from 2D to 3D animation. -This show will be compared unkindly both to the movies and to the other animes, and maybe even the manga. All of these have passionate fandoms that have little sympathy for new, fresh takes of their beloved world, but I do believe this new entry in thecanon has earned its spot and should be given a fair chance by all. After all, GITS as a series has been around for long enough, and taken so many forms, that the people working on it now grew up with it as a formative piece, and when faced with the challenge of writing a new story for today's future, they decided to thread new ground valiantly while never forgetting the series many, many pasts.
Now let us dissect this shell one part at a time:
The major is back as the driving force for the remaining members of Section 9, and in this particular adaptation I would peg her as more human than previous incarnations, though the path leading to the robotic monotone of the Motoko we see in the movies is starting to show. When she takes the lead, she is the most magnificent lithium flower, but more often than not she takes a backseat so that other members of the team can share in the spotlight.
Batou, Togusa and Chief Aramaki are as brilliant as ever, with the shocking news of our human detective having gone through a messy divorce after the wake of section 9's disbanding. They all have fantastic stand-alone moments, which can proudly stand amidst the best their characters were ever offered in any previous entries.
The rest of section 9 is sadly as unexplored as ever, though. Ishikawa and Saito reprise their usual roles almost bit by bit, and Borma even gets a line or two this time around! Sadly, Paz doesn't have anything else to say to us (maybe a wink to a certain theory after his one prominent appearance in the original series?), but at least I remembered he was in the show when first writing this review, unlike the new rookie, Clown.
Some new faces that do stand out quite a bit, are Japan's new prime minister, Section 9's new technician, and the NSA's operation leader, all of which made me hate them the second they showed up, but quickly grew on me as they each interacted with the rest of the cast. I am reserving my opinions till the next season drops, but these, alongside the new villains, have all been extremely promising new characters, which I'd very much would like to see more of.
Also, the Tachikoma tanks are back and in full force, for better or worse. Do with that what you will.
On the technical side, we have more of a mixed-bag. Some of the shots were jaw-dropping and clearly only possible thanks the 3D camera, while others seemed rather uninspired. It really depended on who was directing each episode. The music is not half-bad, even if the new intro really took me by surprise. If you found yourself skipping it, you are not alone, though the ending song feels right at home with the show's older tracks.
The writing, however, was absolutely spectacular. The moment to moment banter between characters hits all the right notes, while the overarching plot felt complex enough to be familiar, while bringing a veritable barrage of new ideas into the mix. I constantly found myself grinning at bits and pieces of foreshadowing and pay-off, and the last episode actually made my jaw drop... before it made me jump off my seat in disbelief as I found out I'd have to wait for the second season to come out sometime later. If anything, I must congratulate Netflix for giving us the version of GITS most apt for binge-watching.
Overall, I am happy, really, extremely happy to have this adaptation and to see the stand alone complex expanded with such love, care, and mastery. Is there room for improvement? Of course there is. Tons, actually. But I can say this iteration of the story managed to hook me in a way I hadn't experienced in a long time.
Watching SAC_2045 is like running into a friend you haven't seen in years and sitting down for some drinks with them while you catch up, and that's something I sorely needed right now.
Balthier14
Original Como un fan de toda la vida de GITS puedo decir que, argumentalmente esta serie si es fiel a Ghost in the Shell SAC, el trabajo de Kamiyama y Shinji es bueno, el argumento es muy bueno (si no prestas atencion 1 minuto te pierdes del guion como sucedia con SAC, esta plasmado de informacion continuamente) la idea tambien lo es, el tema de los poshuman es bestial, es intrigante, pero esta muy mal desarrollado y no podes plasmar en 12 capitulos todo eso, mas si contamos que de los 12 capitulos 4 son de relleno o de reactivacion de la seccion 9. Narrativamente no teatrapa casi en ningun momento, no hace que te quieras comer los 12 capitulos consecutivamente como si hacia ''the laughing man''
el desarrollo de los poshuman esta muy mal llevado, podrian haber enfocado toda la temporada solo en 1 poshuman, un villano principal, y no separarlos en 2 capitulos a cada, salvo el boxeador que solo tiene un capitulo.
El opening es un insulto para con los openings que tuvo SAC 1 y 2, es basura. El ending esta bien.
La serie es buena pero para ser GITS le falta muchisimo, todas mis franquicias preferidas terminan por desilucionarme, no se puede confiar mas en los japoneses.
Google trans
As a lifelong fan of GITS I can say that, argumentatively this series if it is faithful to Ghost in the Shell SAC, the work of Kamiyama and Shinji is good, the plot is very good (if you don't pay attention 1 minute you miss the script as it happened with SAC, this information is continuously reflected) the idea is also, the post-human issue is beastly, it is intriguing, but it is very poorly developed and you can not capture all that in 12 chapters, more if we count that of the 12 chapters 4 are filler or revival of section 9.
Narratively it does not catch you almost at any time, it does not make you want to eat the 12 chapters consecutively as if you were doing `` the laughing man ''
The development of the poshuman is very poorly managed, they could have focused the entire season only on 1 poshuman, a main villain, and not separate them into 2 chapters each, except for the boxer who only has one chapter.
The opening is an insult to the openings that SAC 1 and 2 had, it is rubbish. The ending is fine.
The series is good but to be GITS it lacks a lot, all my favorite franchises end up disappointing me, the Japanese can no longer be trusted.
Some1Else_
I don’t normally leave reviews since some members of the audience react impulsively to low scores of their favorite thing, but I promised myself I wouldn’t stay quiet if the third season of Stand Alone Complex came up lacking. I could talk about this for hours, so I’ll limit myself to six points. I’ll start with the bad news. Spoilers ahead. Turn back now if you haven’t been with this show since the first season. *** - I initially wasn’t concerned about the decision to do this season using CG because I figured that might mean there would be more action sequences. This is a situation fit for amonkey’s paw. The fights with Huge and Harts were acceptable. Everything else was a bit excessive. The previous seasons in this series relied more on winding tension and building intrigue. When Section 9 had to start shooting, it was quick and clean. The soundtrack Yoko Kanno composed fit that aspect of the show perfectly and helped tell the story in a way that words and images could not. Without Kanno and with CG, the mood of this show has changed completely.
- Section 9 always gets disbanded. That’s fine. I can groove to that. After all, they spend most of their time bringing justice to those who believe they are above the law. This show begins with them already being disbanded. No problem. But wait. Something is amiss. They are working for a foreign PMC on foreign soil. What? In the past, they worked closely with the Japanese government. And they just get let go, but not before they smuggle three Tachikoma’s out with them? This is a weak part of the plot that needed more of an explanation. And them being very expensive is not a good one.
- Purin. I initially didn’t have an issue with Purin until I realized what she was. I used to read a lot of fan fiction. I even wrote it. Purin is a Mary Sue. She might even be a self-insert, although I base that on nothing more than suspicion. She would not be half as bad if she didn’t have a crush on Batou and if the Major made it a little more difficult for her to get in good graces with the team.
I don’t know why they used her when they could have just as easily used Maven or Kuro from First Assault. I guess they just had to get the moe audience.
- The single most offensive scene in the first twelve episodes occurs when the Major has to protect the Prime Minister against the post-human who digs boxing. First of all, wouldn’t it have been a good idea to use Batou here? He can box. There was a whole episode about it in the first season of this show. To brush up on her skills, the Major is seen downloading a program that turns her into Mike Tyson and George Foreman. With a Doritos promotion.
No.
Absolutely not.
You can’t convince me that someone as experienced in combat as the Major wouldn’t have been able to lay that clown out flat without downloading a community fan patch from GitHub. This cheapens her character. Why? Because if anybody in this universe can do that, then anyone can be the Major so long as they have the right kind of prosthetic body and the necessary clearance to access such files.
+ The episode where Batou helps a bunch of old people rob a bank and the one where the Major devises a test for Togusa so he will feel more confident about rejoining Section 9 were great. They’ve got that old-school Stand Alone Complex flavor. I was also pleased to see that the Major still has problems fighting anyone who’s wearing one of those pesky armored suits. She’s got to have some kind of weakness. Might as well be that.
Maybe she can download something off the App Store to help her with it.
+ The Major is my favorite fictional character. Across all mediums. Doesn’t matter what it is, she’s got it under control. I dig that. I wish I could be that kind of person. I found her portrayal in Arise to be lacking and was tickled pink when this show did her right. Atsuko Tanaka doesn’t sound like she took a single day off from the role and I adore her for it. I can say the same thing for Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, especially since this is one of a handful of shows that I prefer to watch in English.
I was thrilled that they got Michael McCarty back as Ishikawa. I must admit, when I heard his voice, I had to cheer. They even got Dave Wittenberg back as Saito. Just about all of the American voice actors reprise their roles. It’s so good. I almost can’t. It makes me want to squeal in delight every time I think about it. Too bad Sherry Lynn and Jimmy Neutron didn’t get to come back as a Tachikomas, though. That’s okay. Oh, and Megumi Hayashibara was in this? Wow! This show has some serious star power.
***
In addition to all the above, I can’t say I cared much for the main plot, but it wouldn’t be fair to say anything about it without seeing the rest of the episodes first. I’ll do that later. I do not believe they will be able to turn this boat around before it collides with the iceberg in front of it, but I suppose there’s always a chance. Though I did not like this show, it was fun getting to see the Major and all her buddies again. I’ll just have to forget this show ever happened when I’m rewatching 2nd Gig.
It has been 13 years since Solid State Society. Man. I guess it’s called getting old. Everything you like gets remade for a new audience that you aren’t a part of. The same thing will happen to you as well, dear reader. It’s only a matter of time.
kozad
Watching this series without first seeing the 2 seasons of Stand Alone Complex and the Solid State Society movie will leave you feeling disoriented. Character building and backstories are all handled in those, so without the investment of watching those (quite good) anime, you likely won't have a clue who any of the characters are. The opening of the first episode is similar to the opening of Balde Runner 2049 - there's a large gap between the prequel and sequel, and there are events just casually mentioned which are not fully explained until the 2nd season of 2045. We also are greeted with fast paced actionwhich is bewildering - our Section 9 team has become mercenaries and they're in America of all places. We're also greeted with the most controversial element of this series - it's fully CGI with that odd cell shading used on the characters.
Anime studios are still learning to use computer animation, so it's janky af at times, but it never crosses into Berserk levels of absurd, and actually enhances several scenes and aspects of the series by enabling levels of visual detail we didn't get in the 2D prequels.
One thing that did bother me about the show is the use of terms from today (edge lord for example) cropping up in the show. Yes, they are contextualized to mean something different, but it just feels like breaking the 4th wall to me.
Unlike the prequels, where story arcs such as Laughing Man were done in drips and drabs until it shifted into full focus, the main plot of this series (both seasons) is moved to the front fairly quickly and becomes the focus of the series.
The prequels often concerned themselves with deeply ethical and philosophical questions and individual episodes seemed to "stand alone" (haha) even though they were all part of a larger picture. 2045 usually doesn't bother ending episodes with the story concluded and the viewers left to ponder transhumanism. Instead, 2045 plays out like a movie with 24 episodes.
The conclusion of the first season is a cliff hanger. The opening of the second season feels more like the prequels and seems to have better animation as well. I can only assume the studio noted feedback to the first season and implemented changes.
The conclusion of season 2 is akin to several endings in the prequels - viewers are left to conclude on their own the morals of posthumanism and the ethics of manipulating the entire worldview of the global population.
Overall, I recommend 2045, but I realize the animation and lack of moral gray area endings to the episodes will upset some long time Ghost in the Shell fans. Unlike the live action movie, we're not guided to a right-and-wrong ending - we do get that grey area in the end. It was a real treat to return to the world of Stand Alone Complex after nearly 20 years from the debut, but like others I found the animation to initially be jarring. As I watched, I became accustomed to it and did find it enhancing the world of SAC overall.
Swarnadeep
Final Impressions THE UGLY Art, Design and Animation- Of course this would be the first to pop up here on popular demand. There isn't much to say on the environment design since the exposure to the cyberpunk nightlife was limited. The 3D doesn't work: It is plain, and simple as that. Although it facilitates some of the action set-pieces, it is not GITS. Facial movements aren't synchronised, and the plain artstyle takes away the gritty feel of the franchise entirely. Motoko Kusanagi's redesign is probably the worst redesign in history as her now petite high-school figure doesn't even keep up with her movements; her boxing challenge hadan entirely comedic tone to it, and doesn't do her 'Queen Kong' nickname justice either. She feels like a Barbie Doll in the wrong place. Togusa's redesign is the only good thing as it is satisfying to see his rough and tough persona be on level with Batou. Which brings us to the worst of the series(yes, and that is not animation)
THE BAD
Characters- Let's be honest, characters have been always the weakest front of SAC. 2nd GIG helps this by giving some of the iconic members of Section 9 their own story, but the exposure hasn't been beyond that. Batou is the only Section 9 member(other than Major of course) who gets his screen-time, as in here too. We don't see of Kusanagi much too, since exploring her vulnerability in 2nd GIG. Thereby, the characters are more lifeless than the first season, other than Togusa(Gonna be honest, ironically Tachikomas had more of a personality than the cyborgs here). The other major characters of John Smith and Prime Ministers weren't really appealing either but tolerable. The biggest blunder however was the forced addition of Purin Esaki. I understand the need of appealing to the modern generation viewers but Esaki essentially destroys the no nonsense vibe of GITS, which is in no way a good thing. Pink hair, moe, with a generic shtick of a stalker- she doesn't bring humour to the show, but plain annoyance. Did we really need this? Definitely not. Even the Clown was a better addition to the old team, though unwanted.GITS:SAC was never much of a character driven show and hence it worked so far. However, when you introduce characters that break the immersion and the established tone of the show, you know you've ruined it.
THE GOOD
Story- The reformation of Section 9 and the following introduction to the post-humans felt much in line with GITS. The politics are moderate and the setting of the sustainable war seem very much in line with 1984 by Orwell which was referenced in the storyline directly. All these twelve episodes seem to be building up to the crux of the matter, a glimpse of which we see by the last few episodes. The themes of society, internet ostracisation is moderate and never overbearing. The man machine conflict is yet to be explored, but it is amusing how the show starts with introducing the post-humans as stereotypical evil AI, to gradually breaking them down to something human. The story of Takashi was intriguing and it really leaves you wanting for more by the finale.
THE EHHH
Additional Elements- 2045 has been the most drone heavy instalment in SAC and this gives it an unnecessary Appleseed feel to it. The Think Pol system was quite intriguing, before Motoko turned up with superhero hacking barrier to cancel it out(like really? Come on). Same as characters, some of these elements crack the staunch serious nature of the show in favour of something over-the-top that might appeal to the younger audience. But certainly not the old GITS fans.
Final Rating- 7/10
Conclusion- An unnecessary addition to the sub-continuity that was well rounded up by SSS. It's nostalgic to see the old characters return and the world expanded, but at a heavy price that wasn't worth it.
Dionkeykong
I guess Netflix has done wonders again..They took a beloved franchise and turned it into the most hideous mess that brings me memories of another beloved franchise that got the "fuckitintheass" treatment...Namely Berserk. Netflix it seems wants badly a piece of the anime money and decided it would be nice to get some exclusives..That's all nice and dandy but if you think about it..There are already way too many options for legal streaming..But it's ok cause more competition means more options, right? As it turns out no..Cause Netflix as it seems has the habit of taking already established titles and fucking them. And that is also truefor new titles as well. In fact i think there are only 2 titles worth watching..The rest of them? Holy fucking balls of Satan...Speaking of whom Devilman Crybaby which was as impressive as it could get for a manga and anime adaptation as it could get for the time it was released. Now go forward some 30 odd years or so and Netflix bought the rights and produced what passes these days as "reimagination"...What that means of course is "we'll take a beloved series and turn it into shit just to anger the fans".
Don't believe me..Just go to Google and search the words He-Man and Kevin Smith..That's the whole mindset of these morons..But that's not where it all ends, is it? Cause being American morons means that politics HAVE to be inserted into this medium as well..Of course we had to endure SJW political agendas shoved down our throats in anime as well..
What does all that have to do with GITS?We'll come to that in a sec.
Firstly, we need to address the relentless attack on our pupils..The god damn animation whici i wish i could say gets better as the series progresses but that's not the case at all. Remember those demo games of old on PS3? Well this feels like a longer version of a demo with lifeless eyes, head movements similar to that of stiff corpses and lip syncing so lazy it beggars belief..Which of course in turn takes its' toll on the voice acting department cause when you have some damn good VA and the lips are working in geological time zones..Well let's say it's not gonna be a nice, comfy ride. And iff you add the difference between the backgrounds and the characters the result is as appaling as swimming in a pool of shit and sulfuric acid.
Speaking of shit, guess where GITS takes place...NOPE, you're quite wrong..It takes place iiiiiiiinnnn.......America! So low speed limits, huge burgers and even larger styrofoam cups full of Coke and people so fat you mistake them for interstate buses.
The very first things to hit the screen are images of America’s palm trees and blue skies which is a far cry from the cyberpunk streets we all know and love. But hey, at least you get Agent Smith clones and muscle cars and villains straight outta the football pitch.
As for the soundtracks...Lord deliver me from songs with "money make the world go round" lyrics in them..It's bad on another level.
As for the story itself..Nothing noteworthy here as well..What we get for our money is the investigation of robotics entrepreneur Patrick Huge and his connection to “post-human” engineering,which sounds interesting but it isn't..This economic dystopia is presented with the finesse and depth of...An American actually..This also being American and Bernie Sanders friendly we are presented with terms such as “1-percenter” and “global reset” and the worst offender of them all....Episodes like "EDGELORD-Revolution of the 14-Year-Olds"...Which is the direct result of SJW's marching into every medium and ruining everything for the normal people..It would be no surprise at all if in the next installment we see pink haired lesbians with pussy hats fighting patriarchy and targeting people on twitter for having the "wrong opinion".
So...Streched thin story with sjw politics, animation that can cause violent vomiting, characters i can no longer care about..Yeah..Don't you think it's time to stop beating the old horse and bury it? We have so many good entries let's leave it at that and let this franchise rest in peace already. As for the SJW crowd, don't you think it's time to think of something new rather than picking up already established names and fucking them up for all of the rest of the world?
