DailyView: Day 194, Movie 276

Today, for the DailyView, we jump into the world of Japanese animation with one of the classic films based on a seinen manga series, Ghost in the Shell. Directed by Masamune Shirow, Ghost in the Shell is a cyberpunk thriller animated anime that has become one of the most iconic available.

In Ghost in a Shell, the year is 2029 and humans can be augmented or even replaced with cybernetic parts. This may include the “cyberbrain, a mechanical casing for the human brain that allows access to the Internet and other networks. An often-mentioned term is “ghost”, referring to the consciousness inhabiting the body (the “shell”)” (Wikipedia)

Our main protagonist is Major Motoko Kusanagi, one of the leaders of the assault-team of Public Security Section 9, was after a fellow ghost, the criminal Puppet Master.

I will say that I had a hard time staying focused on the film and my distraction made it a difficult film to understand. I should have given it more of my attention, because it just does not seem that Ghost on the Shell is an effective film to put on in the background while you work on other items. So this review may not be as fair as it should be. I did try to refocus as the film pregressed, but by then I was confused.

The animation was beautiful and was a definite standout. It used the process of “digitally generated animation” (DGA) which combines cel animation and computer graphics and digit data. It brought some wonderful imagery and animation to the storytelling of Ghost in the Shell.

I watched the English dubbed version and the voice work was fine. While I usually do not like the dubbed versions, with the animation it was not as obvious as the live action and the English voice acting was fine.

There are a lot of good to this movie, but I was still confused. That is probably my fault, but Ghost in the Shell never truly grabbed my attention either.