Ghost In The Shell: SAC Reviewed
I've just watched the finale of the 26 episode anime Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex and there's only one thing I can say:
Whoa.
The whole thing feels like something Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, Neal Stephenson and Isaac Asimov would create after they spent a couple months in a locked room, with continuous reruns of the good episodes of Alias, 24 and the X-files for good measure. If you're looking for good science fiction with a healthy dose of action and philosophy, then look no further. This is better than those two Matrix-bombs any day of the week.
Reviewing a 26-episode series is never easy, since I'll have to take into account its strengths and weaknesses as a whole. The episodes all revolve around a covert group of cybernetically enhanced soldiers known as Public Peace Section 9. The year is 2030, and the internet is literally everywhere, accessible wirelessly through special implants in the human brain. Everyone in this version of the future has some sort of cyborg part in his/her body, bringing with it a host of unique problems as well. PPS9 acts as a task force to bring cyber criminals to justice, utilising their unique brand of battle prowess, technology and information skills.
One thing that struck me was how richly developed these characters are (with a few notable exceptions). Of course, being based on a long-running manga series helped, but one cannot help but wonder at the amount of characterisation there is. Whether it's the stoic, mysterious Major Kusanagi, ubersoldier Batou or the anachronistic Togusa (who insists on using a revolver, in addition to not having any cyborg parts), there is a balance and chemistry that is sadly missing from a lot of the live action series of today.
The series is split into two types of episodes: stand alone ones, and the so-called complex episodes which feature a recurrent theme (the hunt for the hacker known as the Laughing Man). Each ties up with the previous one beautifully, and feature some of the most adventurous methods of storytelling I've ever seen.
Case in point: one episode was set wholly in an online chatroom, where the participants were represented by their 3D avatars. There was hardly any action but the dialogue and discussions mirrored some in our real life forums and chatrooms. In another, a group of mobile, spider-like tanks (known as Tachikomas) employed by PPS9 begin to develop self-awareness and thus discuss the meaning of their existence, death, and why they were designed to be less anthropormorphic, among other things. This particular episode was made all the more poignant because (unknown to them at that point) the tanks were scheduled to be destroyed, seeing that their effectiveness as weapons were seen to be compromised as their AI grew more advanced until they appear to have feelings. In the next episode, as they were all led to be deactivated they all sang a Japanese folk song about a man who has to sell his cow to the market, and the childlike innocence they portrayed spoke volumes about our humanity, and the fragility of our little bubbles.
Fans of political intrigue and espionage would also do well to check this series out, for it contains one of the most probable (to me, anyway) scenarios for a future environment I've ever seen. From government sponsored murders to corporate intelligence gathering, the world of Stand Alone Complex is rich enough to be believably plausible.
In the end, the mixture of excellent animation, a great storyline and overall good story telling/acting elevates Stand Alone Complex from western animation and even some of its sister anime. By the time you get to the penultimate episode you'll wish you had another 26 episodes to watch.
And you will, if you get the continuation of the series, Second Gig.
Ash.ox gives GiTS:SAC a 4.5 out of 5.
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