View Full Version : Recently Saw the Movie
Over the weekend I watched my copy of the Ghost in the Shell movie I bought. I'm planning to watch it again because it was a little hard to keep track of everything. I think I basically followed the story along, but a rewatch couldn't hurt. I played it subtitled first, saw some white text on white background, then replayed the opening with English dub (I was only like 10 minutes into it). When the people inside asked the female cop on the roof about the static in her brain and I saw the difference between the subtitled and dubbed replies, I switched back to the sub. :) I think when I rewatch it though, I'll play the dub. It might help my comprehension a little since I'll be hearing it in my native language and I won't have to split my attention between the subtitled text and the action on the screen.
I thought it was a pretty good movie. Somewhat confusing which is what I'm going to watch it again, but enjoyable. That means I'll keep Serial Experiments Lain up on my list of anime to consider buying. It seems like they have similar themes and/or are in the same general genre, so I ought to enjoy Lain, too, even if it's more of a mind trip than GitS. :) Hmm, I'm not too sure what to comment on. It was kind of interesting having pretty much all the main characters be cyborgs with computer brain implants and artificial bodies or parts of bodies. But that was sort of the running theme, I think, what makes someone human in a world where everyone's got some machinery inside them. They said having a ghost (a soul) was the key. But as the main character said, what if there never was an actual human her and she's a complete and total construct. Even though she gets treated like a human like everyone else, is she truly human? Interesting stuff, it kind of makes you think about it yourself. The "ghost-hacking" bit where people can take control of another person because of their cyborg nature is pretty freaky. Imagine having someone else control everything you do, making you do whatever they want. Kind of scary. Sorry, I guess this isn't a great discussion starter here. Maybe when I watch it again in English I'll have a little better understanding of it and maybe some more to talk about. But please feel free to reply to this now. It's nice to be able to talk about the shows I've seen with others who've already seen them. Getting thoughts from the veterans is nice for a newbie like me. :)
Drizzten
26-02-03, 10:43 PM
Says Dr0nak:
I played it subtitled first, saw some white text on white background, then replayed the opening with English dub (I was only like 10 minutes into it). When the people inside asked the female cop on the roof about the static in her brain and I saw the difference between the subtitled and dubbed replies, I switched back to the sub. :) I think when I rewatch it though, I'll play the dub. It might help my comprehension a little since I'll be hearing it in my native language and I won't have to split my attention between the subtitled text and the action on the screen.
GitS has a pretty good English dub and it's faithful enough that it didn't pose a problem for me. I've trained my eyes to read quick enough to switch between text and video without much loss of information. And for the most part, this is a dialogue-driven anime. The graphics are gorgeous and compelling, but in my opinion, are mostly there for emotional filler while the actual plot is played out in words.
I thought it was a pretty good movie. Somewhat confusing which is what I'm going to watch it again, but enjoyable. That means I'll keep Serial Experiments Lain up on my list of anime to consider buying. It seems like they have similar themes and/or are in the same general genre, so I ought to enjoy Lain, too, even if it's more of a mind trip than GitS. :)
I agree. Transfers of consiousness, a different "dimension" of consciousness and existence (in both cases, the Internet or the current incarnation of it), and a central character of a semi- or non-human nature trying to make sense of it all.
I haven't read the graphic novel/manga and what I've heard says there's more of a fanservice-y and comedic feel to the story, which is almost entirely skipped/ignored in the movie's presentation.
It was kind of interesting having pretty much all the main characters be cyborgs with computer brain implants and artificial bodies or parts of bodies.
Wave of the future! :)
But that was sort of the running theme, I think, what makes someone human in a world where everyone's got some machinery inside them.
Remember the one character who was almost entirely human, Togusa? The one hand-picked by Kusanagi? Re-watch his scenes again and see how he was treated differently and how he responds to the situations as they pop up. Even in that future age of all-tech, the "pure" human is highly prized.
I did get the impression that most of the story was in the dialogue and not so much in the visuals, so maybe if I focused on the subtitles and didn't worry about missing too much of the action I would have been OK. I didn't realize that while I was watching it though, so I was trying to split my attention between the words and pictures. I haven't seen enough shows subtitled to have gotten the hang of doing that without missing too much. It should come with practice though and I'll have enough anime to watch that it should give me a fair amount of practice. I think not hearing the Japanese audio might help though. I don't understand it, but just having it can be a tad distracting while trying to read and comprehend the English subtitles. So playing it in English where I can watch and focus on what I hear might help. We'll see.
Thanks for the little descriptions of characters, because it tends to take me a little while to remember their names. :) Yes, I remember Togusa and how Kusanagi at one point said she picked him because he was who he was and that he still had most of his original, organic brain intact. So it did seem like there was something kind of special about being more human and less cyborg compared to the general population. All I seem to recall about him at the moment was that he tended not to be in on the main action a lot of times, like the others would leave him as back up or to help clean up. I don't remember much different treatment besides that (almost keeping him out of danger), but maybe I'll pick up on it better when I rewatch it especially with a tip to look for it.
Gryshnak
27-02-03, 04:15 AM
Originally posted by Dr0nak
Over the weekend I watched my copy of the Ghost in the Shell movie I bought. I'm planning to watch it again because it was a little hard to keep track of everything.I enjoyed it more with the second viewing, there's a lot to take in the first time around!
I played it subtitled first, saw some white text on white backgroundThat was my criticism too, it would have been better with either a shadow box behind the text, or yellow subtitles.
When the people inside asked the female cop on the roof about the static in her brain and I saw the difference between the subtitled and dubbed replies, I switched back to the sub. :)Me too! Admittedly that was the second viewing, I actually prefer subs, but I insist on accurate translations! Also consider that the Major has an artificial body so presumably she doesn't have to worry about 'that time of the month' in the first place...
I thought it was a pretty good movie. Somewhat confusing which is what I'm going to watch it again, but enjoyable. That means I'll keep Serial Experiments Lain up on my list of anime to consider buying.Watch out, Lain seriously messes up your head! It's a wonderful series and I highly recommended it, but it's weird!!!
It was kind of interesting having pretty much all the main characters be cyborgs with computer brain implants and artificial bodies or parts of bodies. But that was sort of the running theme, I think, what makes someone human in a world where everyone's got some machinery inside them. They said having a ghost (a soul) was the key. But as the main character said, what if there never was an actual human her and she's a complete and total construct. Even though she gets treated like a human like everyone else, is she truly human?How did you feel about Blade Runner ? The director's cut, of course :)
Yes, they might have been able to pick a better color scheme for the subtitles. Generally it was OK. The only problem was when they showed the subtitles over somebody's white shirt or something like that. Then it became hard to read. I had to sit closer to my TV to read the subtitles when I watched it partly because of that and partly because my TV's little and subtitles are kind of hard to read from a bit of a distance anyway.
True, the Major's body is artificial so maybe the change in translation on the opening scene really doesn't matter. But it was enough to make me pick the sub over the dub for a first watching. Hmm, if you're correct on that point, that would mean that there's only a limited percentage of the population capable of procreating, right? Interesting, I hadn't considered that. It would mean that continuing the race doesn't happen in quite the same then as now. It doesn't seem like tons of people have completely artificial bodies though, so I guess most of the population can still reproduce as usual. Just the ones with completely artifical bodies might not. So might this be part of the reason the Major was thinking about basically mating with the Puppet Master -- she couldn't reproduce like most humans?
Yes, I've heard that Lain is good, but a real mind trip and not for everyone. That's why I wanted to make sure I watched GitS first because it seemed to have a similar theme and I could use it as a guide. I'll probably get Lain at some point now since it gets good recommendations and I liked GitS. Not sure when, there's so much stuff that would be cool to get but it costs so much that I have to buy only a little at a time. I'm not sure I've ever seen Blade Runner. And if I did it probably wasn't the director's cut. I'm not an especially big movie fan, so I don't really watch a lot of them.
Kyrakasa
27-02-03, 05:44 PM
If you liked the movie...
Pick up the manga...
and GiTS2 man machine interface.
Definatly pick up the manga..
Its a real classic.
MMI is cool but branches off in a different direction.
BUt still rocks.
Has it been translated into English? There's no way I'm going to buy a manga if it's only in Japanese because I can't possibly read it. If it's available in English though and people really think it's worth getting, I'll think about it.
Drizzten
27-02-03, 07:44 PM
GitS has been available as a graphic novel (http://animenation.com/dh-44-818.html) for a long time in the US.
Cool, thanks for the pointer. Remember all this stuff is still pretty new to me so I didn't know what or how much Japanese manga got/gets translated into English. Wow, just at that link alone it looks like there's a fair amount of material translated. I was really only looking at anime, but maybe I should start looking at translated manga, too. I'll take that discussion over to the manga forum though if I want to continue it in a more general sense. To keep it on GitS here, how similar are the manga and movie? Do they cover the same basic story? Does one of them have more information, detail, plot, whatever than the other? Or maybe another way, if I already have the movie, what would I gain by getting the manga?
EVA fiend
01-03-03, 04:52 PM
Originally posted by Dr0nak
To keep it on GitS here, how similar are the manga and movie? Do they cover the same basic story? Does one of them have more information, detail, plot, whatever than the other? Or maybe another way, if I already have the movie, what would I gain by getting the manga?
The movie has the same basic plot as the manga series..., but the manga has far more character interaction & development..., including how 'humans' treat AI's..., the story is also longer & more convoluted too..,
The manga is incredibly detailed info-wise..., there are pages & pages of foot notes explaining all the pseudo-jargon that Shirow uses in the series..., & occasionally, there is some light-hearted humour thrown in too...,
Hmm, that does sound like something that might be worth getting. It looks like that full collection doesn't cost much more than a movie does, so I'll have to think about it for a future order. Thanks for the info about it.
Kyrakasa
02-03-03, 03:09 AM
The movie is drawn Terribly compared to Shirow's Art...
Lol... I hated the movie... Wasn't shirow...
You should buy the manga....
Learn Japanese... and Buy Man Machine Interface ...
:D
EVA fiend
02-03-03, 12:38 PM
Originally posted by Kyrakasa
Learn Japanese... and Buy Man Machine Interface ...
:D
But why learn Japanese when Dark Horse & Studio Proteus are currently translating it into English......? :D
I don't have time to just start learning languages for fun, especially if I have little use for them right now. If I have to travel to another country, I'll use that as a reason to learn the basics of the language. But I'll consider getting the GitS manga (in English) since it does sound like it would be a good companion to the movie.
Kyrakasa
04-03-03, 05:26 AM
#1 reason... the first issue of MMI that was going to be translated.... was supposed to be out by Nov 2002... I waited... went back to Darkhorses website... guess what... moved till december...
They keep moving it back.... You'll be 50 and would have time to learn a semester or two of japanese... :liplick: by the time it comes out.
Another reason...
Because if you have Man machine Interface...
You'd know how censored it would be... :p
http://store6.yimg.com/I/animebooks-com_1727_29158888.jpeg
I hope it comes out alive...
Lol.... It's half in color and Shirow doesn't believe in much clothing when you go for a dip... in the "cyber net"
:liplick:
Yes, if it was going to take some company forever to translate it, I could probably learn the basics of the language before they finished. However, I'm trying to get my PhD thesis done so I can graduate next year so I don't have all that much time for doing something like learning Japanese just to understand anime or manga. Do they censor the mangas when they translate them? I thought they were just supposed to translate, not edit. And yeah, I did notice how Kusanagi stripped down rather frequently throughout the movie. :) I'm not quite sure what the point of that was or for that matter exactly what that "diving" the net thing was, but that's OK.
mrgazpacho
04-03-03, 06:56 PM
The most infamous GitS edit is the replacement of a cyber-lesbian scene in the English-language version of the first graphic novel. I don't even know if anything else was edited.
After the outcry, I'm not sure what the approach will be when translating future works (such as MMI).
Kyrakasa
06-03-03, 07:07 AM
I don't know if Shirow was angry or what... but he included that cut-out scene in the epilogue of the MMI novel...
:liplick: I'm pretty sure that'll be cut out again...
but since 50- of the book now is in color... I'm almost certain that 30- of the drawings will get some kind of "bathing suit"
And in the manga... It's not Kusanagi... It's Aramaki... So they only have the same first name... :p
And she doesn't look like a man the way the movie makes Kusanagi look :liplick:
:liplick:
p.s. as always ghost in the shell is published in Young magazine and isn't made for children anyways... So i don't see why they should... :p
EVA fiend
06-03-03, 06:30 PM
Originally posted by Kyrakasa
Another reason...
Because if you have Man machine Interface...
You'd know how censored it would be... :p
I have the GiTS Solid Box set..., so I already know how censored the Dark Horse/Studio Proteus' version will be...., the uncensored pages don't help me understand the story any better..., so I'm still gonna buy DH's translated version of it...., :tongue3:
Kyrakasa
10-03-03, 09:42 PM
Where did you get your Solid Box set?
The only place I know to get it.... has it for $200 USD...
:liplick:
EVA fiend
11-03-03, 06:32 PM
Originally posted by Kyrakasa
Where did you get your Solid Box set?
The only place I know to get it.... has it for $200 USD...
:liplick:
I got my Solid Box set way back in March 2001.., I pre-ordered it in 2000 from www.otaku.com, & I paid US$150 for it, including shipping from Japan..., it was well worth the 10 months I had to wait for it...., :D
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