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This show came dangerously close to getting only three stars, but after doing some further reading on the plot and themes of this first season, I decided in the end to bump it up to the four-star mark, but boy, does it only just barely get in there by the skin of its teeth while also running on fumes.
Let's get some of the basics out of the way first though before we brain-dive into the thick-ass plot. For this review, I watched the english-dubbed version. The sound design is generally pretty good and the animation work is also pretty great, though the art style is noticeably not nearly as moody and dreamy as it is the Ghost in the Shell movies, instead taking a more typical clean and bright anime art-style. There are two issues though. For one, there is a LOT of time spent in this show where you'll be looking at a completely static shot of someone's face with only their lips moving in dialogue. This might have been a conscious decision for the cyborg themes of the movie, but I'm personally more inclined to believe that this was simply a decision to save on animation costs.
Another issue is that, at least with the english-dubbed version, the line delivery is often not good. The main cast of Section 9 generally do a great job, but everyone else is rather hit and miss. While this is FAR from a badly dubbed anime and is still good and watchable in this specific regard, Black Lagoon, this is not. And while we're talking about the voices in this show... The tachikomas. Yes, we're really gonna talk about them again because this show absolutely insists on shoving them front and center for a fair few of the episodes, so they are going to get a paragraph or two devoted to them. But I do want to make something clear as well. My issue with the tachikomas lies not in the key parts they play within the plots of the episodes. Not at all, though we're going to get into all that in much more depth in a second here. My issue has to do with the utterly asinine decision to make them all voiced by a seeming five-year-old girl.
I get the surface reasoning for the show creators doing this. I really do. But the reason is not good enough and doesn't justify the hard immersion-break every single time they speak with their childish squeaky fucking voices. There were so many other ways to voice them that would have been fine. Even a straight robotic voice would have done absolutely fine, but the creators clearly overthought this (or maybe didn't think this through enough) and decided to put these squeaky voices into military hardware. Absurd. Completely absurd. What is this? Ghost in the Shell: Disney Animation Complex?
Alright then. With all that out of the way, let's move on the meat and potatoes which is the plot and the main themes of this show. Although some episodes are self-contained sci-fi-drama-of-the-week episodes, the rest of them have to do with the overarching Laughing Man subplot. And as is tradition, the main plot is filled with all kinds of political intrigue and philosophical twists and turns. And also as is tradition, it was rather hard for me to keep up with all of it.
It seems a large part of these GitS movies and shows has to with unraveling all these hidden motivations and power plays, and yes, mystery fans will be pleased, but as I watch more and more of this series, I personally get a little more and more fatigued with it. What draws me to GitS is the implications of powerful sci-fi technology in the hands of the masses, the philosophical, cultural, and psychological implications of such, the well-made and cool-looking sci-fi combat, and of course, incredibly sexy and powerful cyborg girls. But one thing I'm NOT here for is to hear how some bumble-fuck prime minister or senator or whatever is being corrupt and screwing over the general populace this time in some sneaky convoluted politcal power play. I don't care. It means nothing to me.
With that said, there is one politics-esque plot though that definitely intrigues me that this season only touches upon but doesn't ever fully explore whatsoever, and that is the ethics of even having such a division as Section 9 in the first place. It is stated clearly that Section 9 has full power and jurisdiction to investigate damn near anything within Japan, to release any information or story (doctored or otherwise) they want, and to kill and/or arrest with impunity while also being highly funded and given the best military technology and training.
In both movies and in this show, Section 9 is portrayed as completely benevolent and led by someone wise and ethical, but it's very hard for me to believe that someone wouldn't at least TRY to interfere with Section 9 and get them to dance to their tune, whether it be government or terrorist organizations or even just a powerful individual. The Major alone could cause some major fucking damage if she had the mind to. Or hell, maybe someone could tamper with her memories to the extent that she may think she's doing the right thing, but is instead just a weapon wielded by somebody else. And again, that's just the Major alone. With the entirety of Section 9? You got the full makings of your own little Japanese KGB outfit.
And even if that were not a factor at all and everyone in Section 9 currently is entirely infallible, at least ethically, sooner or later, people get old, at least in mind, and they retire. They'll want to move on to other things. If that happens, what will become of Section 9 then? Such an organization is, politically speaking, incredibly dangerous. Perhaps even the most dangerous political threat of all in the GitS universe. In the series, we're always looking at some corruption that doesn't ever touch Section 9, but what's going to happen when it inevitably does? That's a show/movie I want to watch.
Ok, let's move on to the main plot now finally. Again, it was rather hard for me to keep track of everything, and I had to do some extracurricular reading afterwards. It was probably worse in this case because the show is, of course, not like a movie, where it presents the whole thing within a two-hour-ish runtime. Despite everything though, I still rather liked it. The main theme of the show is on what it terms, the Stand Alone Complex which is basically what Inception so brilliantly talked about later on.
Where this show differs though is that Inception was talking about it on an individual scale whereas GitS:SAC Season 1 is talking about this concept on a much wider scale, much like the mechanics of mob mentality, mass hysteria, and even viral memes. Metal Gear Solid 2 also deals with somewhat the same thing but was more focused on information theory and direct manipulation of the masses using said ideas.
When looking into the motivations of the masses, it is often a complete fool's errand to find the genesis of an idea that set off a wide-affecting action. Civilization is and has always been a rich ebb and flow of ideas very much like the running water of rivers, and further, one never knows what idea will popularly "catch on" as people are infinitely diverse. Yesterday, it was the Laughing Man in GitS. Today it's Luigi Mangione. Tomorrow, who knows. This also brings to mind questions of free will and identity. The old nature vs. nurture debate, but I think we all know that it's always been both, and always the two shall meet in both action and being affected. But in the end, it is your choice. It always has been. Although we will never completely divorce ourselves from any and all outside influence and input, that isn't really the goal anyway. The goal is to take all that outside input and move forward in eternal progression. Some influences will help you in that, and some will not. But always remember that the truth never changes. The ebb and flow of civilization is a heady one but keeping a firm anchor in reality will help extremely. After that, simply decide what you want to do.
Wow, I really went off on a tangent there. Let's conclude this review then. So do I recommend GitS:SAC Season 1? Yes but... It's definitely not as good as the movies. It absolutely delivers on some things, but in others, it is, sadly, rather deficient and works against itself. Perhaps Season 2 will be better?
Let's get some of the basics out of the way first though before we brain-dive into the thick-ass plot. For this review, I watched the english-dubbed version. The sound design is generally pretty good and the animation work is also pretty great, though the art style is noticeably not nearly as moody and dreamy as it is the Ghost in the Shell movies, instead taking a more typical clean and bright anime art-style. There are two issues though. For one, there is a LOT of time spent in this show where you'll be looking at a completely static shot of someone's face with only their lips moving in dialogue. This might have been a conscious decision for the cyborg themes of the movie, but I'm personally more inclined to believe that this was simply a decision to save on animation costs.
Another issue is that, at least with the english-dubbed version, the line delivery is often not good. The main cast of Section 9 generally do a great job, but everyone else is rather hit and miss. While this is FAR from a badly dubbed anime and is still good and watchable in this specific regard, Black Lagoon, this is not. And while we're talking about the voices in this show... The tachikomas. Yes, we're really gonna talk about them again because this show absolutely insists on shoving them front and center for a fair few of the episodes, so they are going to get a paragraph or two devoted to them. But I do want to make something clear as well. My issue with the tachikomas lies not in the key parts they play within the plots of the episodes. Not at all, though we're going to get into all that in much more depth in a second here. My issue has to do with the utterly asinine decision to make them all voiced by a seeming five-year-old girl.
I get the surface reasoning for the show creators doing this. I really do. But the reason is not good enough and doesn't justify the hard immersion-break every single time they speak with their childish squeaky fucking voices. There were so many other ways to voice them that would have been fine. Even a straight robotic voice would have done absolutely fine, but the creators clearly overthought this (or maybe didn't think this through enough) and decided to put these squeaky voices into military hardware. Absurd. Completely absurd. What is this? Ghost in the Shell: Disney Animation Complex?
Alright then. With all that out of the way, let's move on the meat and potatoes which is the plot and the main themes of this show. Although some episodes are self-contained sci-fi-drama-of-the-week episodes, the rest of them have to do with the overarching Laughing Man subplot. And as is tradition, the main plot is filled with all kinds of political intrigue and philosophical twists and turns. And also as is tradition, it was rather hard for me to keep up with all of it.
It seems a large part of these GitS movies and shows has to with unraveling all these hidden motivations and power plays, and yes, mystery fans will be pleased, but as I watch more and more of this series, I personally get a little more and more fatigued with it. What draws me to GitS is the implications of powerful sci-fi technology in the hands of the masses, the philosophical, cultural, and psychological implications of such, the well-made and cool-looking sci-fi combat, and of course, incredibly sexy and powerful cyborg girls. But one thing I'm NOT here for is to hear how some bumble-fuck prime minister or senator or whatever is being corrupt and screwing over the general populace this time in some sneaky convoluted politcal power play. I don't care. It means nothing to me.
With that said, there is one politics-esque plot though that definitely intrigues me that this season only touches upon but doesn't ever fully explore whatsoever, and that is the ethics of even having such a division as Section 9 in the first place. It is stated clearly that Section 9 has full power and jurisdiction to investigate damn near anything within Japan, to release any information or story (doctored or otherwise) they want, and to kill and/or arrest with impunity while also being highly funded and given the best military technology and training.
In both movies and in this show, Section 9 is portrayed as completely benevolent and led by someone wise and ethical, but it's very hard for me to believe that someone wouldn't at least TRY to interfere with Section 9 and get them to dance to their tune, whether it be government or terrorist organizations or even just a powerful individual. The Major alone could cause some major fucking damage if she had the mind to. Or hell, maybe someone could tamper with her memories to the extent that she may think she's doing the right thing, but is instead just a weapon wielded by somebody else. And again, that's just the Major alone. With the entirety of Section 9? You got the full makings of your own little Japanese KGB outfit.
And even if that were not a factor at all and everyone in Section 9 currently is entirely infallible, at least ethically, sooner or later, people get old, at least in mind, and they retire. They'll want to move on to other things. If that happens, what will become of Section 9 then? Such an organization is, politically speaking, incredibly dangerous. Perhaps even the most dangerous political threat of all in the GitS universe. In the series, we're always looking at some corruption that doesn't ever touch Section 9, but what's going to happen when it inevitably does? That's a show/movie I want to watch.
Ok, let's move on to the main plot now finally. Again, it was rather hard for me to keep track of everything, and I had to do some extracurricular reading afterwards. It was probably worse in this case because the show is, of course, not like a movie, where it presents the whole thing within a two-hour-ish runtime. Despite everything though, I still rather liked it. The main theme of the show is on what it terms, the Stand Alone Complex which is basically what Inception so brilliantly talked about later on.
Cobb (Inception) said:
Where this show differs though is that Inception was talking about it on an individual scale whereas GitS:SAC Season 1 is talking about this concept on a much wider scale, much like the mechanics of mob mentality, mass hysteria, and even viral memes. Metal Gear Solid 2 also deals with somewhat the same thing but was more focused on information theory and direct manipulation of the masses using said ideas.
What is interesting is how SAC tackles this concept differently. In SAC, the Laughing Man is revealed to not seem to originate with any one particular person. The original antagonist, Aoi, started this entire thing because he had originally stumbled upon a file revealing the corruption within the Department of Health and Labor (might have that name wrong), and the person who created that file in the first place was unknown and is never found in the show. Aoi had decided to run with this information and try to begin a movement of truth and revelation, but his actions, while having a huge impact, had the ironic effect of nullifying his efforts as his persona and supposed cause was taken and used by copycats and corporations alike for their own views or benefit, rendering the Laughing Man too ambiguous and meaningless. This all deeply reminds me of what we're experiencing now with Luigi Mangione. Unlike the Laughing Man though, Luigi's goals were and are extremely clear. In fact, that might be what makes it a bad comparison. There also have not been any copycats or corporate utilization for their own ends. Or at least, not yet anyway. Perhaps the recent assassination attempts on Donald Trump spurred Luigi into doing so... ?
One thing that hit kinda close to home though was the famous quote. "I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes." This is a quote from The Catcher in the Rye which expands out to, "That way I wouldn't have to have any goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody. If anybody wanted to tell me something they'd have to write it on a piece of paper and shove it over to me. They'd get bored as hell doing that after a while, and then I'd be through with having conversations for the rest of my life." I feel like this is exactly what I'm doing nowadays in many ways, throwing up my hands in frustration and divorcing myself from the world, both emotionally and spiritually. I'm tired of seeing people hurt and not listening. I don't want to care about this planet anymore, and I haven't for a while now, but perhaps I still have some growing of my own to do in that regard...
One thing that hit kinda close to home though was the famous quote. "I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes." This is a quote from The Catcher in the Rye which expands out to, "That way I wouldn't have to have any goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody. If anybody wanted to tell me something they'd have to write it on a piece of paper and shove it over to me. They'd get bored as hell doing that after a while, and then I'd be through with having conversations for the rest of my life." I feel like this is exactly what I'm doing nowadays in many ways, throwing up my hands in frustration and divorcing myself from the world, both emotionally and spiritually. I'm tired of seeing people hurt and not listening. I don't want to care about this planet anymore, and I haven't for a while now, but perhaps I still have some growing of my own to do in that regard...
When looking into the motivations of the masses, it is often a complete fool's errand to find the genesis of an idea that set off a wide-affecting action. Civilization is and has always been a rich ebb and flow of ideas very much like the running water of rivers, and further, one never knows what idea will popularly "catch on" as people are infinitely diverse. Yesterday, it was the Laughing Man in GitS. Today it's Luigi Mangione. Tomorrow, who knows. This also brings to mind questions of free will and identity. The old nature vs. nurture debate, but I think we all know that it's always been both, and always the two shall meet in both action and being affected. But in the end, it is your choice. It always has been. Although we will never completely divorce ourselves from any and all outside influence and input, that isn't really the goal anyway. The goal is to take all that outside input and move forward in eternal progression. Some influences will help you in that, and some will not. But always remember that the truth never changes. The ebb and flow of civilization is a heady one but keeping a firm anchor in reality will help extremely. After that, simply decide what you want to do.
Wow, I really went off on a tangent there. Let's conclude this review then. So do I recommend GitS:SAC Season 1? Yes but... It's definitely not as good as the movies. It absolutely delivers on some things, but in others, it is, sadly, rather deficient and works against itself. Perhaps Season 2 will be better?
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