Hello all you happy people! It’s thirty degrees Celsius here in the ninth circle of hell, I spent all day playing Digimon Story Time Stranger (out now on the Nintendo Switch 2, where it always should have been) and we’re going to watch Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence. In Japanese, because my parents couldn’t find the English version when I asked for this for Christmas.
Fifteen years ago.
Anywho, enough about my midlife crisis, let’s get on to Batou’s!
I’d like subtitles more if I could understand Japanese.
Brief recap of the first movie and a little expositon
There’s a lot to complain about Innocence but the cinematography is top notch.
Ah, early 2000’s CGI. How we didn’t miss you.
SAC came out two years before this movie did, and you can see how the series influenced the movie right off the bat: Batou has his SAC design instead of the one from 95 or the manga.
How many police organizations does Japan have?
I feel like I’ve played this video game.
For the curious, Innocence is loosely based off Robot Rondo, chapter six of the manga. And I do mean loosely.
Mamoru Oshii, did some woman abuse way back in the past? Because man, you draw some creepy women in creep situations, dude.
Um, we just watched an egg get fertilized.
It’s The Making Of A Cyborg but in CGI!
Written and directed by Mamoru Oshii
Animated by Production I.G.
Composer Kenji Kawai
The credits are in English. But this is the dubbed version?
Togusa still has his mullet, poor bastard.
Old Ape Face is looking more like Yoda
Also, back to Togusa, he looks kind of like Mulder here.
The funny thing about Togusa being nervous about being Batou’s partner here is that in other continuities, they’re often paired up. Including the manga chapter this movie is loosely based on! Hell, in SAC, Togusa is practically Batou’s best friend after the Major.
I guess that guy was some kind of desk sergeant? Or the lead detective, maybe.
I need to brush up on my classic Japanese literature apparently, because that insult(?) went way over my head
The ME knows way more then she should.
The difference between ‘suicide’ and ‘self-destruction’ is pretty thin if you ask me.
Sexbots for everyone
Togusa is just saying what the audience is thinking, here. The problem with philosophical works is that they often get bogged down in their own pretentiousness.
A chain-smoking cyborg. Now I’ve seen everything.
Is that supposed to be Ishikawa? Subtitles says so, but man. He looks nothing like our favourite bearded rectangle face man.
Gloves, Ishikawa. Handle the damned evidence with gloves!
That’s a sweet, sweet car.
I wonder who told Ishikawa that? Dry dog food is often cheaper, but it’s not necessarily better for the dog. Depends a lot on the brand
I can’t pick on Mamoru Oshii too much: anybody who loves basset hounds this much can’t be all bad.
Okay, I know Oshii chose to make the CGI in this movie as Uncanny Valley as possible but like… there’s being deliberately creepy and then there’s just bad CGI.
Your pup needs play time, Batou.
Holographic meeting, cool
This movie would be a lot easier to follow if I spoke Japanese. Or if the sound mixing wasn’t poor; everybody sounds like they’re mumbling.
Batou, you lying bastard.
I like when Batou gets to show he isn’t just dumb muscle
Impressive, but I don’t think shooting grenades is a good idea
Honestly, they’re probably the only the only thing that would stop a cyborg
Jesus, Batou, way to comfort the poor guy!
I’m surprised Aramaki didn’t have you shot
Gunning down your only leads sounds like a half-assed job to me, Batou
Yeah, that little old lady was definitely the Major.
Almost, big guy
And Ishikawa saves the day
Batou is a big softie confirmed
Poor puppy.
That is one of the most poorly rendered helicopters I’ve ever seen.
The great trap of post-Cyberpunk: the tendency to all into navel gazing.
The float’s interesting: most of it is in a distinctly Chinese style, but I’ve always associated elephants more with India than China. My ignorance, or a hint of multiculturalism?
Old friend, big guy?
You’re going to have to be more specific, Batou.
That’s just a straight up castle
Ah more creepy dolls. You know, dolls never creeped me out as a kid? They were just lame and girly (according to kid-me). But watching this movie, I might start being creeped out by dolls.
This is a movie that can’t decide if it’s cyberpunk, horror or a philosophical tract
Yep, he real dead.
Or maybe not.
I would not drink blood red tea, personally
I think we’ve left the realm of internal consistency
They’ve been hacked
Much as I do like big gun ships, the ships of the future will probably be missile based like today’s are.
Batou don’t tell the bad guy how you outsmarted him
Well that was weird
I see Batou has taken up scuba diving.
Where did he learn that from I wonder?
I’m going to assume the catwalks in a real ship would be made of sterner stuff than that.
High-end gynoids my ass; I draw women better than that!
Unarmed, unarmoured robo-women would not do nearly as well in real life.
Hi Major. It’s good to finally see you again, sort of.
Major, honey, you need to start investing in stronger robot bodies.
Ghost-dubbing: the process of duplicating a human across robot bodies while killing the original. Yeah, it’s not hard to see why that’s a crime in GiTS
Ah, puppy is a daddy’s boy.
Kid looks creepier than the doll.
I don’t think Batou’s going to be keen on dolls for a while
Ah, Skywalker Sound. One of George’s least appreciated gifts to the world.
