Small Ghost in the Shell Ramble

[labingi]

Damn, has a work ever made so little impression on me? I netflixed Ghost in the Shell, the original 1995 movie, the other day on the theory that it's a classic I'd missed seeing since, well, 1995, and I really ought to correct that omission. I'd seen one of the later ones, and it hadn't made much impression, but I figured I should still see the original.

So I started watching it, and about 40 minutes in, it began to dawn on me that, indeed, I had seen it, unless the GitS universe does the thing with the blonde cyborg woman's torso more than once. The more I thought about it, the more I began to think that I had, in fact, netflixed this before (not more than year or two ago). I eventually stopped watching and sent it back. I still can't remember how it ends. I can't really bring myself to care.

I know this is a classic anime. And, yes, the animation is lovely--it reminds me a lot of Akira, but it's better, being newer. The story also steers clear of almost every annoying anime trope out there. Even its fan service, which is considerable, has the virtue of being plausibly anatomically proportionate. It's "good quality"; it just makes no impression on me. The plot/theme--cyborgs and the nature of identity and all--doesn't seem very original (not even in 1995). The characters are not annoying but have little personality and almost no chemistry with each other. It makes so little impression on me I evidently can't even remember I've watched it. Well, at least now I can say I gave it a shot (twice apparently).

Comments

[louderandlouder]

You know, that's about how I feel. I've never understood the GitS thing at all, and the only explanation I can come up with (though it doesn't make sense in Japan) is that it comes from a time when very little decent anime was available in the U.S.

[louderandlouder]

I seem to remember Shirow generally had a disproportionate U.S. presence in the '90s, maybe because importers thought his classical sci-fi themes would appeal to Americans. I definitely remember Dark Horse's edition of the manga being on my more cutting-edge high school friends' shelves, along with Battle Angel Alita and X/1999.

Dark Horse seems to have generally made great bets in the '90s, and it makes me wonder why they are not bigger in the manga community today. They'd rather put out one painstaking volume of BotI than six of the latest harem thing, I guess, and that's why they've outlasted Tokyopop.

[labingi]

Yeah, I think you've hit the nail on the head, at least for US fandom. My sense--based on whatever awareness I had of anime in the '90s--is that there was very little out there aimed at adults: Akira, Ghost in the Shell, latterly Lain, I'm sure some others (some "anthologies": collections of shorts?), but not much, so it all stood out as amazing.