Ghost in the Shell
Overview
Ghost in the Shell is a visually spectacular flight of fancy into the future, dealing with cybernetic organisms, a vast network of super computers, and ultra powerful weaponry.
Storyline & Narrative
Ghost in the Shell follows Motoko Kusanagi, a cybernetic agent in an elite crime fighting division as they track a super hacker through a tangled maze of electronic and real world crimes.
She and Bateau, her partner and also a cyborg, follow the trail of possessed people, taken over by the enigmatic Puppet Master, performing crimes in his name without even knowing.
Characters & Dynamics
Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg who questions the existence of her own humanity. She is driven to uncover the mystery of the ghost hacker, the Puppet Master.
Bateau is her fellow cyborg and partner, a no nonsense guy who sympathises with monoka's burning desire to uncover this new ghost, and her own humanity.
Most of the other supporting characters play minor roles. The Puppet Master, the "villain", has a hard to define part to play, since he is not directly seen for much of the movie, but, as his name implies, is pulling many of the strings of other characters.
Animation & Visual Direction
The animation quality in Ghost in the Shell is aboslutely first rate, easily among the best there is. Combining hand drawn animation with state of the art computer generated imagery, Ghost in the Shell is a stunning and engaging display of graphic story telling.
Voice Acting & Soundtrack
The voice acting is good, in both the subtitled and the dubbed versions of the anime. It is fairly rare when an anime of this power and depth is not completely spoiled by the english dubbing, but Ghost in the Shell pulls through without any problem.
