Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

009 Re:Cyborg Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 28, 2015

Anime fans enamored of the Ghost in the Shell reboots Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Individual Eleven, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man should feel pretty much right at home diving into 009 Re:Cyborg, despite the fact that this 2012 film is advertised as the continuation of iconic manga author Shotaro Ishinomori’s supposedly “unfinished” (in their words) Cyborg 009 outings. As with any of the many Ghost in the Shell entries, 009 Re:Cyborg is an often incredibly dense and labyrinthine experience, and director and co-writer Kenji Kamiyama (who of course also helmed Stand Alone Complex) doesn’t shy away from keeping the audience guessing as to what’s actually going on, especially in the early outing. Much like one of Stand Alone Complex’s overall plot arcs, 009 Re:Cyborg deals with the incipient threat of terrorism, though in this case there’s a certain ambivalence as to whether the titular cyborgs are there to stop it from happening or are indeed “part of the problem” themselves.

Those of you who lived through the horrors of September 11, 2001 may have a twinge of melancholy as 009 Re:Cyborg gets underway with the devastating destruction of several skyscrapers, buildings felled by series of explosions which makes them topple like so many dominoes. It initially seems that Joe Shinamura, a red haired kid still in school, seems to know something about the disaster, and in fact seems to be complicit (as with many Kamiyami anime, things are not explicitly detailed, and in fact many salient plot points are simply elided or alluded to without full explanations forthcoming).

What seems to be a “hit” on Joe by some nefarious enemies turns out to be something quite different, in a sequence that plays out in a series of revelations that take place while yet another skyscraper is being shaken by devastating explosions. Joe it turns out has something akin to amnesia, though a later plot development reveals that that is actually part of his programming, for—Joe is a cyborg. And in fact he’s part of supersecret aggregation of similar robotic humans who are tasked with keeping Mankind safe. Why some of these “mutants” are going off script (and/or code) to become terrorists provides some of the mystery underpinning 009 Re:Cyborg.

Those already well indoctrinated in the philosophical musings of Kamiyama, let alone his putative mentor Mamoru Oshii, will probably have little trouble adjusting to 009 Re:Cyborg’s sometimes heady mix of religion, philosophy and existential angst. As with the many Ghost in the Shell outings, dialogue can be a veritable Talmudic dialectic at times, ping ponging between ontological and epistemological concepts that may leave a few audience heads spinning, especially since these “talky” moments tend to act as interstitials between some hyperbolic action elements.

With opening allusions to the Tower of Babel and a recurring plot motif that has various cyborgs going rogue after hearing “His voice” (a capitalized “his” obviously alluding to some sort of divinity), 009 Re:Cyborg isn’t exactly shy about exploiting a religious subtext, but really the fascinating thing about at least some of this is how effortlessly Kamiyami incorporates typically mind boggling conundra into the world of cyborgs. As Philip K. Dick once queried, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, a question which stylistically and tonally if not overtly plays out within the many folds of 009 Re:Cyborg’s plot.

Once the “paterfamilias” of the cyborg siblings, a famous professor named Isaac Gilmore, get involved, it seems like there’s a “virus” of sorts sweeping through the cyborg population which may be turning them to the dark side, though it's couched in the metaphysical ambience that suffuses this entire entry. While somewhat derivative feeling, the odd characters (including an overly sentient “baby” who seems to be a direct nod to Akira) help to keep the story moving at a generally very involving pace. Action fiends may find 009 Re:Cyborg to be too prone toward stopping to “talk about it for a while,” but those who love the more philosophical musings that have been part and parcel of both Oshii and Kamiyami’s oeuvres will probably not mind all that much that there are a good number of action scenes here as well.

1950’s The Next Voice You Hear... (starring future first lady Nancy Davis) posited a scenario where the Creator just reached right out and touched His creation via radio (take that, you insolent upstart television). There’s something oddly similar going on in 009 Re:Cyborg, with rampant discussions about the Divine’s “voice” and what (if anything) we’re supposed to do about it. While 009 Re:Cyborg gets a little heavy handed at times dolloping on portions of Biblical imagery (watch all the walking on water late in the enterprise for one salient example), the film offers an often thought provoking examination of that old adage “be careful what you wish (and/or pray) for”.

009 Re:Cyborg Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

009 Re:Cyborg is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Fans of any of the Stand Alone Complex outings will immediately recognize the design aesthetic of 009 Re:Cyborg, for it's very much in line with Kamiyami's already offered visions of sleek dystopian futures. The cityscapes here offer nice planar dimensionality (the film was evidently exhibited in some markets in 3D, though there's only a flat version of on this Blu-ray). Character designs sport excellently sharp line detail and unusually well detailed features. The palette is often quite lustrous, exploiting deep primaries but also offering more subtle pastel shades in abundance. There are some minor issues with banding (most noticeable in some segues and fades), but otherwise this is a crystal clear and wonderfully sharp and precise presentation.

009 Re:Cyborg Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

009 Re:Cyborg features Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes in both the original Japanese and English. Since this is Tuesday, it must mean FUNimation has had this disc authored to only allow language changes via the Setup menu (as opposed to toggling with your remote), and to have the English subtitles non-optional, meaning they're forced on the Japanese dub. Amplitude seems a little anemic on both these mixes, which are otherwise fairly similar if not identical in terms of channelization and fidelity. There are some awesomely effective surround moments in the film, including a great outer space sequence that finds Joe trying to solve a little problem with a gun. Even quieter moments have their fill of discrete effect placement, often to quite effective ends. Dialogue is cleanly presented, but occasionally gets buried under the noisiness of the mix.

009 Re:Cyborg Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Special Prologue (1080i; 8:58) gives a little more backstory and context for the story. In Japanese with forced English subtitles.


• Promotional Video (1080p; 4:32)


• Teaser #1 (1080p; 1:16)


• Teaser #2 (1080p; 2:15)


• Theater Ad (1080i; 00:49)


• Trailer #1 (1080i; 00:42)


• Trailer #2 (1080p; 1:39)


• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 1:57)

009 Re:Cyborg Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm not overly familiar with Ishinomori's manga, but I had little problem adapting to the context of 009 Re:Cyborg. That said, many viewers will probably just have to let go a little in the early going and let things unfold at their own pace before at least a few explanations are forthcoming. 009 Re:Cyborg is a typically thoughtful (some might say mind boggling) offering from Kamiyama, aided and abetted by a really distinctive design aesthetic. Highly recommended.