Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society
February 19th, 2008 by Bad Jew
PG-16/18 is probably safe, since that’s what Ghost in the Shell usually goes under; official series website
Summary: this is Section 9 vs. Medicare.
The first Ghost in the Shell movie made us question the nature of humanity and life. The second made us critically examine our own perceptions. The third Ghost in the Shell movie, Solid State Society, um…makes us look at the power of senior citizens in aging democracies? Okay, so this movie isn’t going to change the course of Japanese animation or be the subject of philosophy books like the first one.
Solid State Society is based on the two seasons of Stand Alone Complex, the TV show loosely based on the original manga. In the place of ruminations on philosophy is more action and attention to politics. Sometimes the politics get weird, like when the Treaty Review department of the Japanese Foreign Affairs Ministry starts ordering hits on people.
Just to catch everyone up, Section 9 is a secret, paramilitary division of the Japanese government dedicated to preventing terrorist attacks. They live in a world where cybernetic implants - computers installed in humans - is the norm. While the movies deal with the philosophical implications of the technology, the TV shows, and now this third movie, deal with the political effects.
I’m not going to try to summarize the plot, just because that’s never the point of Ghost in Shell. I will say that the movie runs pretty well, it has a surprising ending, and for a series that spends a lot of time talking about God and machines, there’s very little deux ex machina. Also, Stand Alone Society is unique among the Ghosts in the Shell stories in that the main character is no longer Major Kusanagi, the cyborg warrioress. Instead, it follows Sargent Togusa, a more human character who is now one of the leaders of Section 9. He’s no longer the rookie he was in the first movie, and he’s even picked up a cybernetic brain, because his regular human brain wasn’t good enough.
The animation, like all Ghost in the Shell movies and series, is superb. A unique combination of 2D and 3D animation has always been a hallmark of the series and Stand Alone Society does not disappoint. The animation, especially the action scenes and gun fights, are beautifully rendered.
Educated impression: If you’ve seen (and liked) Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, you’ll like this movie. If you loved the first Ghost in the Shell movie, you might want to skip this one - it replaces philosophy with politics. And if you loved the second Ghost in the Shell movie, what the hell is wrong with you? That’s like saying Phantom Menace was your favorite Star Wars. (Bad Jew)
Actually Togusa already had a cyberbrain in the first movie, Major Kusanagi even mentioned, that *beyond* the almost mandatory cyberbrain (which is not an implant, but a brain connected to a computer and through that the greater net beyond) he has no implants or modifications.
BTW.: The series and this movie and the other two movies by Oshii are apples and oranges. Very different takes on the same mythos.