GHOST IN THE SHELL: Stand Alone Complex

That's my favorite Anime TV Series. I'm a fan of the writer/illustrator Masamune Shirow, but not to the point that I feel he can do no wrong. In other words, I'm not a "fanboy" who is passionately insane about everything relating to this author and feeling that anything outside of the realm of his work isn't noteworthy, but I do appreciate some of his works and admire his skill as writer, illustrator and general storyteller.

That said, I must admit that my adoration for the related works of anime is a little crossed up. For example, while APPLESEED is by far my favorite of Shirow's manga works, I feel that the overall handling of the APPLESEED 3D CG LIVE animes was a bit... old fashioned and limp wristed. I've been disapointed with both APPLESEED and APPLESEED SAGA/Ex-machina, though the visual storytelling in each was fairly strong (particularly in APPLESEED SAGA). I feel that Mamuro Oshii handled his Ghost in the Shell features much more appropriately, especially in the case of INNOCENCE. But far and away, I feel that the TV series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex was outstanding on every level.

The first thing that I appreciated about it was that it truly had the overall feel and pacing of a Masamune Shirow told tale. Next was that it was very well balanced in it's telling. Most people that I know feel that all of the Ghost in the Shell motion picture properties are a bit quietic, but I wonder if these people are sensitive to the undercurrent of philosophy and true, intrinsic value that runs underneath EVERYTHING that happens in this sumptuously intelligent yet un-obnoxious, non-overbearing story? The efficiency and naturalistic manner in which scenes are turned. The strength of the characters and the overall unit that is so meticulously revealed by the naturalistic telling. And finally, the compelling story values, the poignant and intelligent telling and the overall production values (C'mom music lovers... YOKO KANNO!!!) all combine to comprise what, I believe, make this series a gem among all those that I've seen in the past.. well... few decades ( yeah.. I'm OLD!!! How old? Well... how many of you remember ROBOTECH??? How many were there the day it first aired on US Television in 1985? How may of you were approaching or in your teens at that time? I am GUILTY on all counts! )

I feel that a significant bit gets lost in translation on the overdub, but even this version is one of the strongest TV series I've ever had the pleasure to be exposed to. Of course, I guess it helps that science fiction based cautionary tales set in realistic near futures is a personal favorite story type. May not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's definitely one of the highest quality works to come to television in recent history.


SIDE NOTE: I'm fully aware that ROBOTECH was a mish-mash of the three separate Japanese TV series' SUPER DIMENSION FORTRESS MACROSS, SUPER DIMENSIONAL CAVALRY: SOUTHERN CROSS and GENESIS CLIMBER MOSPEADA. I became aware of this even before I had watched the first run of the complete ROBOTECH series. I've long since seen the originals and with the exception of SUPER DIMENSIONAL FORTRESS MACROSS, I think ROBOTECH was still a GREAT, maybe even superior plot fabrication but only because the story was a tad more sophisticated if a bit obnoxiously scripted and acted.