Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045
When you are a big fan of Ghost in the Shell, you sort of expect a certain level of weirdness. All the characters that you love and adore in Section 9 have returned for another long mission. They track down some problems in America when suddenly they are faced with a mysterious foe who forces them to be their mighty hand against this grand evil they can't seem to deal with on their own. That's the gist of episodes 1 through 6. Episode 7 is a stand-alone episode with your lovely Batou. Then things circle around for episodes 8 - 12. The problem is they leave you on a huge cliffhanger. Nothing really gets resolved and you have to wait until they come out with more episodes. That is a big no-no in my book.
When the action gets tight, and it will in the first-half of the series, you will be engrossed in the series. You won't care about the CGI or whether the characters are making smart plays. You will forget about that quirky character they threw in for comedic relief or where the story is going. All you want to know about is what will happen next. When the show tries to get emotional, you start to cringe at the very basic "polished" artwork. The voices don't work too well (which shouldn't be a problem when you are reading the subtext) and the faces don't respond as they should. It feels like a really dated console game that doesn't properly reflect the high-contrasting style of the Ghost in the Shell we love.
Sadly, the entire series falters when it comes to anything not from the series. The American villain is a carbon-copy of the villain from The Matrix. The Americans brought in are either idiots, ignorant, or clumsy. The new tech lady in the second-half is a glorified anime character in the flesh. She exaggerates everything with her hands, fond of the favored male character, too smart and reckless for her own good, and still loved by everyone. The settings are a bit weird when you are splitting between Palm Springs and Tokyo. And it gets really hard to connect with the characters when there is a figurative pink elephant in the room.
I once read a review that the new series is too violent, but I felt it had the same level of violence as it always had. Yet, to some degree, I feel like this series sort of "Americanized" the violence beyond acceptable. Some things you will see are people having their heads blown off, kids being raped or shot at, people being blown up, and physical abuse. I guess I should have expected as such when you are presented with a horrendous pop-culture introduction at the start of every episode.
Review: Whatever Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045 borrows from previous renditions is used spectacularly in a story that spans 12 episodes - the characters shine, the universe is superb, the technology advances are apparent, and the Sci-Fi mystery is mind-boggling. However, everything else in the show is done so poorly that it might detract you from the enticing story under the surface - the music gets repetitive, the CGI doesn't properly show the character's reactions, the environment is too silly, and the unresolved conclusion will make you furious. Watch it only if you are a die-hard fan.
5-1-2020