Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence: Worth it?

[Buster Blader 126]

With this recently going out of print, I have to ask: is this a good movie, and is it worth owning?

TO add some further detail: my GitS viewing consists of the first movie and Season 1 of Stand Alone Complex. The first movie was decent, while I did enjoy the TV series.

Furthermore, should I go for the steelbook or the Blu-Ray release? How is the quality of the animation in the BD version?

[One Vorlon]

I found GitS: Innocence to be decent, but a little forgettable. It takes place after the Major fuses with the Puppetmaster (in the original movie), but before she returns to Section 9 (in Solid State Society), and focuses heavily on Battou (and to some extent, Togusa)

The basic setup is that a new line of sex droid is showing an abnormal number of violent (“sex droid stuffs man into breadbox”) malfunctions. However, that’s almost just an excuse to show Battou mourning the loss of the Major, and to have people participating in cyber- and mind-hacks that show off the writer’s knowledge of esoteric beliefs* and legends

So, if you can get it at a good price, and like the franchise, you might want to pick it up. However, its not one of the irreplaceable entries in the series.


*if you can, read up on the original Golem legend - the one set in . . . Prague (?) before watching Innocence. There’s an extended mind-hack scene that makes a lot more sense if you’re familiar with it

[Betenoire]

Originally Posted by One Vorlon

I found GitS: Innocence to be decent, but a little forgettable. It takes place after the Major fuses with the Puppetmaster (in the original movie), but before she returns to Section 9 (in Solid State Society), and focuses heavily on Battou (and to some extent, Togusa)

Er, no. The GITS movie (original) and Innocence are based of Oshii's maga which SAC isn't (in more than a Deep Space Nine is based on the works of Gene Roddenberry way but far less than a direct adaptation sort of way). SSS follows the TV series but Innocence follows the original movies time line.

It's kind of like the Tenchi Universe in that not everything fits together in an overall arc but many of the parts share similarities and *almost* fit together.

And I saw Innocence in the theater as well as own two copies (Dreamworks and the Bandai steelbook version) and it really comes down to price. There are interesting moments but a lot of time when the writers were working to convince the audience they could write a deep philosophical piece that at times seems to be that and at other times seems to be just a bunch of deep sounding BS.

[One Vorlon]

Originally Posted by Betenoire

Er, no. The GITS movie (original) and Innocence are based of Oshii's maga which SAC isn't (in more than a Deep Space Nine is based on the works of Gene Roddenberry way but far less than a direct adaptation sort of way). SSS follows the TV series but Innocence follows the original movies time line.

It's kind of like the Tenchi Universe in that not everything fits together in an overall arc but many of the parts share similarities and *almost* fit together.

As far as I can tell, GitS: Solid State Society is meant to tie the two continuities (Oshi-original, and Stand Alone Complex) together. SSS refers to events in both (such as the Puppetmaster fusion from the original and the destroyed -and sorely missed - Tachikomas from SAC: 2nd Gig). And I'm not aware of any outright conflicts between the two continuities.

So while SAC lacks an Oshii-original storyline, I have no problem considering the movies and the tv series as one giant storyline. However, if you prefer to see them as two seperate universes, I concede that there are (real world/literary) reasons to do so.

. . . There are interesting moments but a lot of time when the writers were working to convince the audience they could write a deep philosophical piece that at times seems to be that and at other times seems to be just a bunch of deep sounding BS.

And that seems to be the criticism I hear most about Innocence. I remember when it first came out, and half the critics loved it and the other half thought it was an "emperor's new clothes" situation.

[idunno]

It's an Oshii movie. If you are down with the Oshii, Innocence is on par with what he does. In terms of bd video quality, it's ok, not the uber shine from more recent releases; but good enough to be worth it.

[Buster Darkwings]

Originally Posted by Buster Blader 126

With this recently going out of print, I have to ask: is this a good movie, and is it worth owning?

TO add some further detail: my GitS viewing consists of the first movie and Season 1 of Stand Alone Complex. The first movie was decent, while I did enjoy the TV series.

Furthermore, should I go for the steelbook or the Blu-Ray release? How is the quality of the animation in the BD version?

If you're going to get it on BD (and I recommend you do, it's somewhat old for a digital production but it was a theatrical feature and therefore has greater detail than what DVD is capable of), you should just import the HK version, which has lossless audio. The US BD only has Dolby Digital audio.

The UK version also has lossless, but it has a bunch of subtitle mistakes.

[One Vorlon]

Wasn't there an issue with the subtitles, at least on the original release? I remember hearing accusations about them not being proper foreign language subtitles, but rather the kind intended for the hearing impaired.

[Betenoire]

Originally Posted by One Vorlon

Wasn't there an issue with the subtitles, at least on the original release? I remember hearing accusations about them not being proper foreign language subtitles, but rather the kind intended for the hearing impaired.

There were on the Dreamworks release. They offered a replacement (eventually) and I believe any sealed copy with 1.4... or .4 on the top of the sealing sticker is one of the fixed ones.

[cyclograph]

Originally Posted by Betenoire

There were on the Dreamworks release. They offered a replacement (eventually) and I believe any sealed copy with 1.4... or .4 on the top of the sealing sticker is one of the fixed ones.

I bought one fairly late in the game bearing the V4 mark on the security tape, trying to miss the mess, and it still had the wrong disc. The exchange program sorted that out, but at the time nobody had reported finding any fixed disc via other than that exchange program - speculation was that they (the fixed discs) may never have made it into retail packaging despite the label. So skip the Dreamworks discs unless they are guaranteed by the seller to be the fixed version, or if you -really- need SDH (as that may be all you get with that disc.)

I have the US blu, but was thinking of maybe picking up the UK for potentially improved audio... What exactly are the subtitles errors there? (at 6 GBP it's a pretty attractive deal...)

[Buster Darkwings]

Some of the mistakes are described in post #33 in this thread: http://forum.blu-ray.com/united-king...innocence.html

It sounds like it also might have some compression artifacts.