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GitS Sequel and Appleseed Remake Are Coming 234

Posted by michael from the pretty-colors dept.
LocusMote writes "Masamune Shirow, the creative genius behind the manga and anime Ghost in the Shell , has a few new irons fresh from the fire. One of his earlier manga, Appleseed, already exists as a rather disappointing television quality anime. Shirow thought so too, apparently. He went back to the original manga storyline, blew off the dust, and has produced a beautiful new all-CG Appleseed which hits the Japanese theaters in April. (Quicktime required) Oh yeah, there's a Ghost in the Shell sequel in the pipeline, too, called Innocence ... w00t!" Beautiful.
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GitS Sequel and Appleseed Remake Are Coming More

GitS Sequel and Appleseed Remake Are Coming

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  • Well... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Tuxedo Jack ( 648130 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @09:42AM (#8396553) Homepage
    The more Shirow we can get, the better. The art's gorgeous, and there's nothing like freaking out people with pictures from GitS.

    • The more Shirow we can get, the better.

      I'd say the more *good* Shirow we can get the better. The first Appleseed movie wasn't really all that good. Not awful, but hardly excellent.

      The trailer, what little there was of it looked as if it were following the manga more closely (though I hope they don't try to cram all four currently completed volumes into a single movie). The art, as you say, is fantastic. Bri looked great, Deunan looked marvelous, Olympus looked like Olympus, it's all looking good s

  • Lesbians = Ratings (Score:5, Funny)

    by bludstone ( 103539 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @09:44AM (#8396582)
    Because everyone loves cyborg lesbians!

    Hey, I know I do.

  • News? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by caitsith01 ( 606117 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @09:47AM (#8396599) Journal
    Um... the Ghost in the Shell sequel has been known about for quite some time now.... am I missing something here? Not really news, is it?

    Nonetheless, it looks completely awesome, the trailer alone has some of the coolest 2D/3D hybrid animation I've seen.
    • abso-fsking-lutely....

      I adore the short scene where some 10 misiles are launched against that huge war machine. The way their smoke trail bends is amazing and reminds me of an old arcade game I used to spend my entire allowance on... Don't remember the name though. It was a game where the player took seat in a moveable cockpit of an F-something fighter jet. Just the sight of the sidewinders hurling towards your target was worth the 50cents I put in it time after time.... Does anyone know of a good modern-
      • Try the Robotech game :) You will have to get a console to play it, though :(
    • The main news is that there's a new version of AppleSeed, which is news to me. AppleSeed is probably the biggest let-down in the history of anime. How many newbie anime fans have seen it on the shelf of their local Blockbuster and said, "I loved GitS! This is by the same guy as GitS! I will rent it." They then waste 5 bucks and an hour and a half.

  • Fantastic! (Score:3, Funny)

    by aanand ( 705284 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @09:48AM (#8396604) Homepage
    A Ghost in the Shell sequel! I hope this one pushes back the boundaries of animation as much as the first one did! Dude, that film was revolutionary! It had guns and everything! Even James Cameron liked it!

  • I no longer believe (Score:3, Insightful)

    by kahei ( 466208 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @09:51AM (#8396623) Homepage

    I was a real believer in Shirow during, about, the early days of Appleseed, but he never really delivered... just degenerated into pin-ups and obsessing over types of weapon...

    I guess there's always a new generation ready to look at cyborg lesbians, though :)

    • Stop looking at the eyecandy.

      Start reading the philosophy in the comics.

      Get a few books on Buddhism, Taoism and Shinto if you have to to start following the themes and messages being related.

      There's more to him than cheesecake.

    • "... just degenerated into pin-ups and obsessing over types of weapon..."

      I fail to see what the problem is.

      • The problem is that it's boring. Why bother reading manga if you can get the same effect from a Maxim and a Guns & Ammo?
        • " The problem is that it's boring. Why bother reading manga if you can get the same effect from a Maxim and a Guns & Ammo?"

          I was actually making a joke, but since you obviously didn't get that, I will reply to your statement.

          What you should have said is "its boring to me". To a lot of people, they might consider that an improvement. There's a reason sex and violence sell, its cuz people like it. Who are you to judge what is "good" and what isn't. It's 100% subjective, so its a moot argument.

          • No, I got the joke. That was more a counterargument for the people who really believe that. True, sex and violence sells. And true, everything is subjective. But once you admit that, everything's good, and where's the fun if you can't make fun of From Justin to Kelly or Battleship Earth?

  • another spin off soon then...? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by freerecords ( 750663 ) <slashdot.freerecords@org> on Thursday February 26, 2004 @09:53AM (#8396637) Homepage Journal
    Matrix was clearly ripped off Ghost in the Shell [geocities.com].. so will we soon get a new matrix sequel ripped off innocence... i wonder?
    • ...the Wachowski brothers list Serial Experiment Lain as a major influence. TechTV currently has it in their Anime Unleashed rotation. I've see both Ghost and Lain, and I'd have to agree that Lain is the clearer influence.

      • Re:Acutally... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by John Harrison ( 223649 )
        I showed GitS to a friend this weekend. He just kept saying, "Oh wow, they stole that shot/idea for The Matrix."

        I'll have to check out Lain, but it is pretty clear that GitS was influentian. As an example notice how the agent lands on the roof of the building, cracking the tiles underneath him, holding his gun at the side of his head.

        There is also a lot of discussion about the nature of reality and things plugging into the back of people's heads. Also arguments about whether an AI is a sentient entit

        • I think it's just inevitable genre similarities, and movie makers borrow all the time. It's no big deal. In fact, there's many anime scenes where I think it would be fun to see someone try to do a live action version.

          • Re:Eh (Score:2)

            by UWC ( 664779 )
            And with the Smith/Neo fight at the end of Revolutions, we now know that a live-action Dragonball Z is possible.

            • Re:Eh (Score:5, Funny)

              by Chris Burke ( 6130 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @11:36AM (#8397559) Homepage
              And with the Smith/Neo fight at the end of Revolutions, we now know that a live-action Dragonball Z is possible.

              And also thanks to the Smitch/Neo fight at the end of Revolutions, we now know that a live-action Dragonball Z would totally, totally suck.
      • They might say that, but the Matrix misses most, if not very nearly all, of Lain's themes, yet does nick some of GitS' themes. As for art direction and cinematography, that's all from GitS...no Lain in sight...unless you count the matrix's computers looking just a tiny bit like Lain's overgrown navi (the one she 'case modded' :)).
    • Akira too. The Matrix is clearly just a live action recreation of about four Anime.

  • You may already know that but... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Tei ( 520358 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @09:55AM (#8396647) Journal
    If you can, get all Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Episodes, where really GREATs, maybe the better anime you can wach. Also get the Tachikomas episodes, has a bonus.

    Some people think that these episodes where BETTER than the original Film itself.

    Thanks Japan Artists!
    • they were better because they more closely followed the flow of the manga. the feature-length film compressed everything into a somewhat hard to understand, but beautiful, package. i know a lot of people who fell asleep watching the GitS movie, but loved standalone complex.

    • Re:You may already know that but... (Score:5, Informative)

      by bludstone ( 103539 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @10:14AM (#8396776)
      Wait on the legit dvds. They are coming fairly soon. Heres the press release (stolen from animeondvd.com )

      BANDAI AND MANGA JOIN TOGETHER TO RELEASE THE NEW GHOST IN THE SHELL "STAND ALONE COMPLEX" ANIME SERIES ON TV AND DVD IN 2004

      February 11, 2004 -Chicago, IL - Japanese animation distributors, Manga Entertainment and Bandai Entertainment will jointly distribute the all-new "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" anime TV series worldwide (ex-Asia). Based on Masamune Shirow's popular manga/comic series, "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" was co-produced by both companies along with Japan's acclaimed Production I.G. (Kill Bill, Blood the Last Vampire, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade). "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" consists of 26 futuristic half hour episodes that will be released on DVD this summer along with a subsequent U.S. cable television broadcast.

      Manga Entertainment CEO Marvin Gleicher says: "We are very excited to join with our friends at Bandai Entertainment in releasing this excellent new anime series. There is no title that better represents the bright future of Japanese animation than Ghost in the Shell."

      "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" presents a new vision of the future in which female cyborg Major Motoko Kusanagi and her fellow police officers of Section 9 must hunt down criminals in both the real world and online world. Set in the not too distant future where technology plays a key role in everyday human life, this top-notch sci-fi action series combines the latest in full CG animation featuring dramatic themes, illustrious characters, and meticulous design.

      This highly anticipated anime series was produced by an incredible creative team including Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop), Kenji Kamiyama (Blood the Last Vampire, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade) and the talented staff at Production I.G. (Dead Leaves, Patlabor 1&2). "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" has recently made its debut on Japanese television and will begin airing in the U.S. on Cartoon Network's late night Adult Swim block later this year. "The release of 'Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex' marks an exciting and important milestone for anime and its ever increasing popularity in mainstream pop culture here in the United States" said Ken Iyadomi, Executive Vice President of Bandai Entertainment.

      The original Ghost in the Shell feature film is one of the most widely recognized anime films ever released and continues to be a best seller today. The film was a key influence for the Wachowski Brothers in creating The Matrix trilogy and is featured prominently on the Animatrix DVD extras along with being the first Japanese animated film to reach #1 in the U.S. Billboard Video Chart - (August 1996.)

      "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" is set for release on June 27, 2004 and will be supported by a joint summer marketing campaign between Manga Entertainment and Bandai Entertainment. www.ghostintheshell.tv

      Bandai Entertainment Inc. is the premier distributor of Japanese animation on DVD home video in North America. The company has distributed notable titles like Superior Defender Gundam Force,hack//SIGN, Cowboy Bebop, and Witch Hunter Robin. Bandai Entertainment Inc. is a subsidiary of Bandai America Inc., who makes the toys for the hit television series, Power Rangers, Digimon, and Mobile Suit Gundam. All U.S. operations are headquartered in a large, ultra-modern facility in Cypress, Calif. Bandai Co., Ltd is the third largest toy company in the world comprising 53 subsidiaries in 18 countries. In addition to toys and children's entertainment, Bandai Co.'s global interests include video game software, multimedia, music and full-length feature films, vending machines, trading cards, candies, and licensed apparel. Bandai Entertainment is headquartered in Cypress, California and additional company and product information is available through our website at www.bandai-ent.com.

      Manga Entertainment Inc. specializes in the production and distributio
      • Why not watch the fansubs AND buy the DVD's when they come out?

  • Shirow is not the one to credit for GitS anime (Score:5, Informative)

    by ookaze ( 227977 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @09:55AM (#8396650) Homepage
    This news is mostly misguided in that respect.
    Shirow is only behind the manga.
    GitS the movie would never have been the wonder it was without the genius that is Mamoru Oshii.
    I'll go as far as saying that Mamoru Oshii gave more power to the story than Shirow ever could.

    Even the anime design shouts "Mamoru Oshii team" all over it.
    Kenji Kawai is part of the "Mamoru Oshii team", so, well, even though he has his detractors, I always found him to be on par with the like of Joe Hisaishi or Youko Kanno (geniuses), and sound plays a great role in the feel of Oshii's anime (like for Sergio Leone films).

    • Shirow is only behind the manga.

      And quite a bit behind the TV series, which is quite a bit closer to his manga and coming to the US and the UK this summer (end of June, actually)...

      Website [ghostintheshell.tv] (no info yet)
      AoD news archive [animeondvd.com] (searching for "Shell" in this page should do the trick)

      np: The Orb - Valley (Orbvs Terrarvm)

    • Re:Shirow is not the one to credit for GitS anime (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Tolekin is only behind the books.
      TLotR the movie would never have been the wonder it was without the genius that is Peter Jackson.
      I'll go as far as saying Peter Jackson gave more power to the story than Tolkein ever could.
      • I wonder how you could be modded insightful, as the difference between GitS manga and GitS anime are an order of magnitude more than the ones between LotR book and film.

        You seem also to imply that there was a lot of fans of GitS manga, and that it was a masterpiece, before the movie was created, as it is the case for LotR.
        That is just not true.

        Mamoru Oshii incentives to do a film have nothing to do with the incentives of Hollywood. They would never have done anime/films like the ones Mamoru Oshii has done
        • You seem also to imply that there was a lot of fans of GitS manga, and that it was a masterpiece, before the movie was created, as it is the case for LotR.
          That is just not true.
          Umm, there are a lot of fans of the GitS manga. Myself, among others (the very high sales agree with this). And quite a few fans would call it a masterpiece, too.

          One of the things that disappointed me so much about the GitS film is how shallow it was compared to the manga. It was also less exciting, less funny, less imaginative, an
    • Even the anime design shouts "Mamoru Oshii team" all over it.

      I saw no flying alien princesses in tiger stripe bikinis delivering electric shocks to overly hormonal high school boys...

      Or am I too old school?

  • I mean well.. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by back_pages ( 600753 ) <back_pagesNO@SPAMcox.net> on Thursday February 26, 2004 @09:57AM (#8396662) Journal
    I'm not trying to troll, but I gave anime a shot a few years ago and found it all very vacuous. Ghost in the Shell struck me as being both pretentious and half-baked. I've watched a couple other titles and the experience was about the same.

    Someone once told me that there was a tremendous amount of Japanese cultural reference in anime. Any input on this? Is there a reputable online source where I might learn some of this material and reattempt to enjoy these movies?

    Alternatively, I begin to suspect that anime is to film what trance is to music. And again, I'm just trying to draw a framework, not just troll... Both strike me as eye/ear candy that expect the audience to be non-skeptical of the legitimacy of the plot/expression and enjoy the experience without critical analysis. But I've already admitted that I don't truly understand the culture that produces anime.

    At any rate, I like films by Kubrick and Wim Wenders among others, but I'm also a fan of tacky role playing games. I've played The Crescent Hawks Inception and the first Mechwarrior to completion, so I should have some affinity for giant robot fighters, right?

    I guess what I'm looking for is the History channel documentary on anime that will give me enough insight to appreciate what makes anime interesting, or at least the internet's version of such a thing. Any suggestions?

    • Re:I mean well.. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by bugbread ( 599172 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @10:09AM (#8396742)
      Well, the first thing you need to realize is that not all anime is created equally (I suspect you know that, but just saying it in case), and that, just as with any other media, what's popular isn't necessarily what's good. I personally hated Ghost in the Shell, so I understand where you're coming from. Basically, you just need to find your niche. My anime niche is incredibly small, consisting basically of Miyazaki's stuff, as well as a smattering of random things (Rojin-Z, Memories...hmm...too few to even recall now, but I'm sure there are others).

      Some anime has a lot of Japanese cultural references, some doesn't (comedies, predictably, have much, much more, which is true in any medium). I suspect that it isn't so much the cultural divide that keeps you from enjoying anime, but discerning tastes.

      Just remember, if you hear a billion people praising a certain anime, it means no less and no more than a billion people praising a certain movie. The Fast and the Furious was very successful, but that doesn't mean it was good. The good stuff is out there, but you have to look, and that can be a pain in the butt.

      What I recommend is: don't bother looking. However, keep in mind that there is good stuff out there, but you haven't seen it. Then, one day, when a friend of yours whose tastes you trust recommends some anime, give it a shot and see if you've found the proverbial needle in the haystack.

    • Re:I mean well.. (Score:2, Informative)

      by Tusaki ( 252769 )
      Well, Anime is just a medium. You can expect to find very bad, very good, very weird, very boring, very exciting, very cute, very gruesome, very lovable anime. And there is no one-size-fits-all (tm).

      But, if you're into movies. (I prefer series) Check out Grave of the Gireflies, Wings of Honneamise and perhaps Jin-Roh (the wolf brigade) or Akira (Personally I don't like it -that- much, but I know some people who swear by it).

      In series, I would recommend: Cowboy Bebop (ofcourse), Scrapped Princess, El Hazar
      • I'm looking for a particular 'niche' to sample some concepts - are there any other anime out there with the same themes and quality as Escaflowne and El Hazard (i.e., ancient steam-punk/magic fueled technology that noone understands, in a primarily fantasy setting and plot - preferrably with cool steampunk mecha)?
    • There's some good anime, and a lot of not so good, just like any media genre. There's a lot of variety as well (it really not all schoolgirls and giant robots). If you've really only seen three or so films, that's hardly a fair sampling.

      I'd actually agree with you on Ghost In The Shell. I thought it was visually interesting, had some good ideas, but is a little overrated in my opinion.

      If you are really interested, there's about a billion fan sites on the web that can point you toward good films and seri

    • Re:I mean well.. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mydigitalself ( 472203 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @11:02AM (#8397195)
      whath them in japanese with subtitles.

      often what happens when they translate and dub anime is that the translation is compromised so that the sound fits in with the mouth movement - i'm not talking exactly here, by example...

      perhaps in Japanese someone can say "waaachaaa" and in English it actually means "hey how you doing, gee i haven't seen you in ages". so the dubbers will reduce the english to match the amount of time taken to say "waaachaa" and will come up with something like "hello". extend that to cultural references and more in-depth conversations and you begin to understand that watching a dubbed version of an anime is perhaps not a great idea if you're after good dialogue.

      i saw GITS first in English, twice as that was the only VHS version available to me. i then got it on DVD and watched it with subtitles where they tend not to compromise (although some subtitles can be awfully done!). the film took on an entirely different meaning to me - a lot of the "side scenes" (for example the apparantly random scene of the old dude getting out of the helicopter) actually made sense to me!

      one great example of rectifying this was Princess Mononoke [imdb.com] where the entire edit was redone based on a translation from the brilliant Neil Gaiman. here Gaiman not only correctly translated the film, but he also adapted some of the metaphors and cultural references so that they had a western spin on them. the film was then re-edited so that the mouths matched his translation. watch it, its fantastic - don't get put off by the Disney'esque animation: after about 4 minutes of Bambi-like scenes evil monsters begin to appear and then someone has his head knocked off with an arrow...but its more than just that, it includes some fabulous human dichotomy and awesome fantasy scenses.

      so that may be one reason you haven't enjoyed your anime experience. the other is perhaps you've watched the wrong ones. most of the "famous" ones are more action orientated (Akira, GITS, Ninja Scroll). you may wish to watch something more dramatic like Grave of the Fireflies [imdb.com]. personally it was far to slow for my liking, you may enjoy it or find similar anime that isn't all just blood & guts.
      • Heh... this reminds me of arts guys at parties saying "Oh, I learned Italian so I could read Dante's Inferno in its original form". Problem is, they are kinda right. My gf speaks Japanese and several times watching Stand Alone Complex she laughed and said "Uh, those subtitles are completely wrong. He said this and it's funny because of these cultural references." Now I have to learn Japanese. Doh.

        I completely agree about Princess Mononoke and Neil Gaiman's work on it. He did a truly excellent job conveying

    • Re:I mean well.. (Score:3, Informative)

      by Lord_Dweomer ( 648696 )
      It would be difficult for any one of us to explain Japanese cultural references in anime. I would say the easiest way to find out would be to do some basic research on Japanese culture and society, then watch some anime and you will notice things pop out. But if you want a cheesy example, Goku from DBZ is originally based off of the monkey king god.

      And if you think anime has absolutely no meaning usually, I would suggest watching Neon Genesis Evangelion in its entirety.

      For a good source of free to downl

    • I don't think a lot of what you're not getting is Japanese culture. All Japanese culture really provides is a different perspective from which to view the story. The only real exception is comedy, because a lot of the jokes tend to be somewhat "in-culture".

      Don't refuse to watch anime just because you tried it a few times and didn't like it. It's a medium, not a genre, although technically, I'd call it a specific style in a medium.

      If you like big robots, you should probably check out one of the Gundam seri
    • Alternatively, I begin to suspect that anime is to film what trance is to music.

      Watch Cowboy Bebop, and you'll realize anime is an art form up with all the rest. Anime is like any other media; there's complete, utter crap(One Piece, Dragonball Z), and then fantastic stuff(Spirited Away for example). The Japanese take anime -very- seriously as an art form. I have not met a single person who hasn't liked Cowboy Bebop(as long as they got beyond the "anime is a cartoon" misconception), and it is widely con

    • 1. The bulk of anime DOES suck. You're not the crazy one in the room. The truth is that 99% of the crazed fans in the West have their pleasure centers jacked directly into the Eastern cartoon design philosophy. It's like crack.

      2. Studio Ghibli. Look them up, watch their movies. "It's so good, it's no longer Anime." Disney distributes their works.

      3. Perspective. When you're a highschool kid there's something very exciting about the kinds of stories and the lives of the characters presented in An
    • Ghost in the Shell struck me as being both pretentious and half-baked.
      There is a good reason for that: it is. :)

      Though I do enjoy the film, your criticisms are absolutely correct. There are far better stuff out there - though not a bad film, I am not sure why the film version of GitS gets such praise in the West. I think it is just a lot of people's first exposure to more 'adult cartoons', so they are easily impressed.

      The film Memories just came out this week in the USA, which I would recommend you check
    • I've played The Crescent Hawks Inception and the first Mechwarrior to completion,

      Please, in the name of all that is holy, tell me which planets I was supposed to kick over in the Star League Cache! I had the map, but I think I was to young to understand what I was doing.

      --YLFI

    • One other thing, if you have the time to read, I would recommend Manga on paper to Anime without hesitation ( although there is some very enjoyable Anime available, such as Cowboy Bebop and the works of Studio Ghibli ). I would suggest Nausicaa, Akira or Lone Wolf And Cub as good places to start.

      LWaC is a particularly interesting piece, set in samurai period Japan. It is perhaps the oldest Manga series still in print, and has a richness of artistic style ( no googly eyes ) and period detail which has yet

  • 2nd song in Appleseed trailer ... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 26, 2004 @09:58AM (#8396669)
    is from the Basement Jaxx album Kish Kash called Good Luck (feat Lisa Kekaula)

    In case anyone wanted to know :D

  • The actual site, for users without quicktime (Score:5, Informative)

    by ffub ( 322605 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @10:01AM (#8396682)

    The trailer is also available as a Windows Media stream [a-seed.jp] from the official Appleseed site [a-seed.jp], which also features an introduction to the film and soundtrack info.

    http://www.a-seed.jp [a-seed.jp]

  • "Innocence" will be out March 6th... (Score:5, Informative)

    by tacarat ( 696339 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @10:02AM (#8396693) Journal
    It'll be starting on the country wide "Road Show" at a Toho Cinema theater near you. "One Piece", the pirate mange/anime, also has a movie starting at the same time. I'm hoping it'll be a double feature (in my dreams, incompatible demographics). 1700yen (US$16-17) for a regular showing is expensive. I really miss getting ripped off at American theaters. The japanese ones I've seen are generally nicer, but the snack bar prices are about double for half.

    I wonder if that's how they subsidize rebuilding Tokyo everytime Godzilla attacks?
    ----------
    • You've got a couple of alternatives for cheaper seats.

      Cinemas usually offer advance ticket sales (for example, Innocence tickets are available for 1,300 yen at Lawson convenience stores).

      If you go on the official Movie Day, you can usually get in for 1,000 yen. This sometimes doesn't apply for popular movies, and it varies between movie chains and areas, but it's usually the first of each month (in the areas around Tokyo) or the first Wednesday of each month (within Tokyo), except for January and December
    • Little info for you Slashdotters who haven't been to a Japanese movie theater: the new ones are generally nice and clean, like upscale theaters in the U.S. Old theaters tend to be pits. Old theaters have standing room tickets, so popular movies / opening nights will have people sitting in the aisles. Beer is sold at all movie theaters (I'm sure there's an exception somewhere, of course). And, best thing: there is no policy against bringing in food / drinks.
  • One may find it very interesting to read the original manga, of which Dark Horse had made quite a nice translation several years ago (with the infamous Three Lesbian Pages out, but who does really care?).

    First of all, Shirow began drawing Kokaku Kidoutai (the original name of GITS) back in 1989, the last years of Soviet Union. The plot is heavily based on the Soviet intrigue, not without the funniest blops, like calling an aircraft carrier Pirozhki, which means Patties. Note that the Soviets line was not
  • Appleseed, in my opinion, was always a better story than Ghost in the Shell. GitS was pretty superficial, jumped around a lot, and now suffers from a massive incomprehensibility complex, not unlike one of his other manga, Orion.

    Frankly, I also enjoyed his art more before he started doing this blend of CG and penciling.

    I hope this anime lives up to the manga. That's tough, but I already recognized parts of the story in the trailer, and it certainly looks pretty. I also hope that they get some decent voice acting for Deunan and Briareos. I have an idea of what their voices should be like in my head, and if Deunan ends up with a bimbo-y voice, and Briareos has a whiny bishonen voice, I'll be pretty sad.
    • Appleseed was fantastic in the beginning. And then. . .

      How far did you read? I found by the time it got into book 4, Shirow had descended into bullshit politico-speak, seemingly in the hopes of sounding as though he had something important to say.

      All I cared about were Deunan and Bri and what would happen in their lives, but the story slipped away from that, and they seemed to lose their spark. Shirow got lost in the world building and forgot that the average reader doesn't care AT ALL about the back-r
      • I own all of them. I read and love them all. Book 4 was a bit disjointed, but I think it showed good development for both Deunan and Bri. The closing scene of book 4 with Deunan in a lace eyepatch planning some time with Bri was a nice look into their private lives. I wish he'd do more, though. I think he ended the series right as it was getting really good.

        I'm worried now, though. If he does start writing it again, will it suffer from the same random complexity that GitS does? Will he focus on his blended

  • Big Eyes (Score:3, Interesting)

    by HarveyBirdman ( 627248 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @10:46AM (#8397061) Journal
    Someone was asking about the big eyes. It's just a stylistic thing. Some anime creators use it, some don't. One thing I've noticed is that the eye size is inversely proportional to the character's age. Young grils will have big eyes, but older women will have more normal eyes, but this isn't a hard rule.

    One a mildly related note, realdoll.com now has an anime doll (named Annie Mae... sheesh...) with pink hair and big blue eyes. I dunno... it just looks creepy to me. I've seen other attempts to do realistic images of big-eyed anime women, and it just gets disturbing. Although the same could be said about a Picasso. :) Some things should stay in the world of art.

    • Re:Big Eyes (Score:2, Informative)

      by Locus Mote ( 307298 )
      The big eyes are actually an artifact left over from animation from the United States in the 30s and 40s (Think, Felix the Cat). The Japanese saw our big eyed animation and loved the expressiveness of it. Like our automotive industry in the early 80s, they took our idea, refined and improved upon it and sent it back across the ocean to us. : )
    • Just see this Innocence final Japanese trailer, as there are no such big-eyed characters (pity for you if you can't watch wmv), small [innocence-movie.jp] [innocence-movie.jp]/medium [innocence-movie.jp] [innocence-movie.jp]/large [innocence-movie.jp]
  • Did anyone else in the UK think of the Harry Enfield's hilarious "Old Gits" [geocities.com] on seeing "GitS Sequel"?

    ALF GIT: When's the funeral?

    FRED GIT: Today.

    ALF GIT: Good! Are they gonna burn him or bury him?

    FRED GIT: Up the chimney.

    ALF GIT: Yeah, that's how I'd like to go, have my ashes scattered in the old back garden - when her next door's got her washing out.

    FRED GIT: Take her weeks to get you out of her knickers.

  • US official site (Score:5, Informative)

    by News for nerds ( 448130 ) on Thursday February 26, 2004 @11:50AM (#8397684) Homepage
    Innocence official US site [gofishpictures.com] at Go Fish Pictures [gofishpictures.com] (subsidiary of DreamWorks)

    Far less impressive site though, compared to Japanese official site [innocence-movie.jp]. I doubt their promotion - at least they should spend enough amount of money for web design, as it should cost not so much as "real" PR. Isn't internet for such virtual advertisement?

    Now Japanese official site has gorgeous final trailers in wmv, small [innocence-movie.jp]/medium [innocence-movie.jp]/large [innocence-movie.jp].

    The theme song, "Follow Me" is by Kimiko Itoh [kimikoitoh.com], and the new version of her 1989 jazz hit (English profile here [satellitesrecords.com]).
  • I'll preface this by saying the GitS movie is beautiful, and I haven't read the manga...

    ...but the movie just didn't do much for me. It suffered from the usual problems of adapting a (presumably) sprawling manga into a film. There's no hope of adapting a plotline into the limited space, so they fall back on a shot at noirish, nihilistic plotlessness, hoping that they can get by on being evocative. Akira is another example of this problem. As is Blood: the Last Vampire. All have fascinating universes

  • TV? (Score:2)

    by sootman ( 158191 )
    I heard ages ago that there was supposed to be a GITS TV show. A bit of googling seems to indicate that season 1 was made & shown in japan. Is that true? Has another season been made? Is season 1 available on DVD?
  • ll ~/torrents
    ...
    -rw-r--r-- 1 18MB Jan 4 19:42 GitS_Innocence_Trailer.avi
    ...
    -rw-r--r-- 1 15MB Feb 15 19:30 Appleseed_2004_Trailer.avi
    ...

    They are *so* going to kill me for this (the /.ing), but here's some links (.avi / XViD/DivX encoded, IIRC). I have 3 GitS trailers on various CDs, but I can't find the .torrents...

    Appleseed [mircx.com]
    Innocence [downloadanime.org]

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