(Untitled)

[bakanogami]

Things are progressing, it looks like there might finally be some light at the end of the tunnel. Yesterday morning I got a call from a company called Follow Productions. I honestly haven't the slightest idea how they got their hands on my resume, but they were interested. They're offering a (unfortunately unpaid) post-production internship for a

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[queensarcaste]

So far my exposure to the metaverse has been limited to the anime series, Stand Alone Complex, of which I am an absolutely rabid fan. I consider it to be just about the best thing in the universe and officially one of the things that keeps me bothering to keep on breathing.
I know that everyone and their brother has adapted the idea into some sort of format or another, which I'm trying to keep an open mind about as I try to experience each on its own.

I dunno man. I still think that the GitSSAC series is just about the pinnacle of human achievement (I'm exaggerating... but not.by.much) and pray daily for a third season... I don't want anyone but the pros wanking around with it. In my eyes, Spielberg's record of Doing the Thing Right is waaaaaay too erratic.

I never saw Transformers. Because of my condition, it's really hard for me to go to movies anyways, and it looked like it was just two hours or so of some CGI technician wet-dream about robots in disguise (you know, something more than meets the eye) saving America and Jesus and Our God-Given Right to Blow Shit Up. And the original series wasn't exactly important to me to begin with, so I skipped it and felt no remorse.

I just try to wait it out while this period of comic-book movie-izing dries up. Just like oil, it's a mathematical certainty. Hopefully soon the Industry will find some other deposit of source material to mercilessly suck dry of anything resembling an idea. They're also running out of popular Japanese movies to remake. (God, I can't believe they even tried to remake that cute little movie about ballroom dancing that was really a commentary on modern Japanese society and turned it into a Jennifer Lopez vehicle. And I thought Richard Gere would honestly have more decency... oh, disappointed at every turn I am.)

[bakanogami]

Stand Alone Complex in its various forms (the two seasons and the movie) is definitely the best adaptation (as opposed to the two Oshii films and the light novels), and it even brought more than a few fresh ideas to the table rather than cribbing ALL its stories from hashed up bits of the original. However, I still maintain that nothing tops Shirow's manga. SAC got the kinda cop drama theme right, and Oshii did a decent job with the philosophy, but neither managed to do both at once, implement the thickest technobabble in all sci-fi, or get the Major's character exactly right. Her snarky side just seems to disappear in the transition to film leaving her stern and grumpy.

The problem with Shirow is that some of his plots are so dense and technobabble-filled that they're next to impossible to figure out what's going on, but I personally see that more as a challenge that invites rereading them.

Seriously, get the original manga, and perhaps 2.0 as well, and 1.5 (cut stories from 2.0) if you like it.

I'll go on ahead.

[queensarcaste]

It's at the top of my Amazon Wish List.

I've never seen Solid State Society... I hear that the Major quits Section 9, which just fucks with my universe too much for me to bear.

And I dunno... since I can't say I've seen every anime ever, obviously I shouldn't be offering my opinion, but because we're on the Internet and that allows any idiot to put their unfounded opinions into print, I will say that the Major has to be the most nuanced female character in anime. She shows the widest array of emotions (odd being that she's a full cyborg) I've ever seen... Usually men are the only to suffer moral crises, and women are either just flat but totally sexed out badasses, or are the paragon of virtue and self-sacrifice. I mean, it's nice to see a strong female central character who's obviously comfortable with her sexuality (is she a lesbian with that nurse chick with the inhumanly huge gazongas, or is she straight, what happened with her and one-armed Batou at the end of Season 1 and why did she choose duty and sacrifice perhaps her one chance at having a lover her equal with Kuze? (Maybe I'm reading a little into that)). I could keep going. But my nerd level is so high right now that I'm in danger of imploding.

And I dunno if technobabble is strictly the correct term here... the word emplies something somehow ersatz, whereas all of the ideas I've seen in GitSSAC re: technology, while requiring some extrapolation, seem totally plausible.

Re: I'll go on ahead.

[bakanogami]

See solid state society, it's probably one of my favorite bits of the SAC canon and its soundtrack is great. And Motoko leaves section 9 in every medium it's been transferred into, though SAC gets props for not inflating it into the huge thing with the puppet master the Oshii movies and the manga do.

I dunno, it's just that her personality always seems so dumbed down, like it's lacking something it was missing in the manga. Much less so in SAC than in the Oshii films, where she was basically stuck with a single blank expression and a terrible visual design that was barely recognizable as being her. But even in SAC she's much less prone to break out of being serious and militaristic. I'll agree with you in terms of character development, though, they fleshed it out a lot better in 2nd Gig and Solid State Society than in other stuff. As far as other good female characters in anime that aren't flat or hypersexualized...I'd have to think about it. Miyazaki springs to mind, of course, and maybe some of Satoshi Kon's work. I kind of want to say Gunbuster and Gunbuster 2, but that's probably just because they're my favorite anythings ever more than any real reading of them.

And just for the record, it's been confirmed in the past that Motoko is bisexual, though that's probably more than anything due to Shirow's side business drawing porn (and the brief lesbian sex scenes in the first and second mangas that were cut from the US release.) It's generally presented that Batou is the strongest love interest, though they only revisit it from time to time (end of manga 1/movie 1, a bit of manga 1.5, end of SAC season 1, end of SAC:SSS, and a strong undertone and an explicit scene or two in movie 2, to be exact) and it's overall a bigger part of Batou's character than Motoko's. Outside of SAC her character development inevitably gets sidetracked into philosophical stuff that takes over the plot.

God, why do I know this stuff.

SAC went much easier on it, they had to lighten it up for TV audiences. Get to the second manga, Man Machine Interface, read some of the hacking scenes (or try to) and you'll know what I mean.

Re: I'll go on ahead.

[queensarcaste]

Yar, it's obvious that Batou's infatuation is more than a little bit one-sided. He's obviously in love with her (although I don't know what about that family photo he showed whatshisface, the Boxer-Traitor Guy.... Zeitsev! in Ag20 (mmmm, wow, a chemistry pun... reminds me of mole-day jokes).
Yeah, I figured bisexuality was the most likely solution.
I haven't read the manga nor do I know much of anything about Masamune Shirow, but even geniuses have to pay da billz.

Heh heh, it's actually weird hearing (seeing) her referred to by her first name-- actually, as you see when Togusa is going a little postal in ep 26 and trying to find out what happened to Section 9, she's the only one listed as having a first name... That could be just a quirk, or it could be some sort of result of the anonymity/identity-dilution that's part and parcel of a unit like Section 9.

I mean, I understand what you're saying in that she leaves; it's hard to see her being satisfied in any one place for any length of time. But the unit would never be the same, obviously; and where else would she go to occupy her time using her skills and talents to their utmost? Bah, I'll have to see the film.

But honestly, ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, the complexity / sheer amount of the material, the difficulties of making a TV show (in the back of their minds ultimately also for an American audience), isn't Stand Alone Complex pretty freaking awesome? I'm glad we're in agreement.

*thirdseasonthirdseasonthirdseasonthirdseason*

Re: I'll go on ahead.

[queensarcaste]

Something so obvious I forgot to mention it before. Her name is KUSANAGI for Chrissakes. Hope I'm not beating the dead horse.

Re: I'll go on ahead.

[bakanogami]

Yeah, Shirow's kind of weird. He's a pretty serious recluse (his writes under a pen name and doesn't do interviews) and while GitS is probably on the top 5 list of most well known anime over here, I gather it's less popular in Japan. Shirow's art is pretty special, though, particularly his photoshop-aided color work, so he pays the bills with side projects of porn and cheesecake artbooks. Though I imagine he can't be too bad off since if you throw in appleseed he has a shitton of stuff derived from his work.

The three works in the three different storylines primarily focusing on section 9 without the major (Manga 1.5: Human Error Processor, Solid State Society, and particularly Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence) all generally switch to a focus around Batou and Togusa, with the major being kind of a distant character from outside who reunites to some degree towards the end of the work. I'm generally fine with that, myself, since Batou's probably my favorite character of the series and Togusa's character development arc across all the mediums is really interesting (from the first issue of the manga to Innocence and Solid State Society, he's practically a whole new character.) as he goes from really obviously inept rookie to one of the leaders of section 9. As to Motoko's fate, it varies a bit betwen the three canons, but it's pretty much doing the same thing as before only on her own. SSS details what she's up to pretty well, in the manga...it's complicated, since her whole existence is pretty different. Innocence doesn't really go into the details of what she's up to that much.

While there are a few other anime I would consider to honestly be in the realm of art, there aren't really any outside of GitS I feel are truly smart.

Re: I'll go on ahead.

[queensarcaste]

Geez, you can type like a motherfucker can't you.

Being a recluse is expensive. Trust me.

Yeah... The show is hands-down the best at combining traditional hand-drawing and CGI.

Doing the same thing but on her own. That is, without charter. A vigilante of some kind?

I dunno... Togusa's fun, and Batou's always good for a laugh, but I don't know if I could say which character is my favorite... I have to say, other than the Kuze-arc, the two episodes that are just about Pazu and Saito's backgrounds are some of the most interesting. "Hey, do you think the Pazu we got back is the genuine article?" "*shrugs* Probably."

I completely agree with your last statement. I mean, it seems that what passes for smart is just Eva-esque (and I enjoy Evangelion as much as the next giant-robot) mixed-mythologizing and general philomosophical jackoffery. (I guess that's partly why I can enjoy Inuyasha so much (screw you, everyone's allowed a guilty pleasure or three): they're not even trying and they never had. It's a silly little soap opera with bright colors and not much else matters. Not even an ending. I had a feeling Naraku wouldn't go down THAT easily!

Oh and another thing. Soundtracks good. Only "Death Note" is better.