Ghost in the Shell: Arise: Borders 1 & 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Ghost in the Shell: Arise: Borders 1 & 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 25, 2014

Production I.G may be branching out into quasi-Studio Ghibli fare like A Letter to Momo, but there’s little doubt the production house knows where its bread and butter have traditionally come from, both aesthetically and financially: the Ghost in the Shell franchise, originally culled from a manga by Masamune Shirow, but transmigrated to anime by the legendary Mamoru Oshii, who in doing so created one of the most iconic entries of contemporary animation. Feature films (Ghost in the Shell, later revised as Ghost in the Shell 2.0, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence) and television outings ( Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Individual Eleven), as well as a slate of multimedia offerings like videogames, have all helped to spread the “gospel” of a dystopian future world far and wide, to the point that Ghost in the Shell has become one of the more universally recognized (and lauded) franchises in contemporary animation. (None other than Steven Spielberg has optioned rights for a live action film, which is apparently in pre-production.) Now comes Ghost in the Shell: Arise, a series of OVAs that is split into separate episodes called “Borders”. FUNimation presents the first two of these, Ghost Pain and Ghost Whispers, in this first general release set (the label previous offered these in limited edition versions which can be found here: Ghost in the Shell ARISE Vol. 1 and Ghost in the Shell ARISE Vol. 2).

The original manga and even the first animated releases were perhaps a bit too prescient for their own good, detailing as they did a future society rife with terrorism, technology run amok and corruption at the highest levels of government. While some aspects of the franchise had already been featured in both previous live action and animated fare, including cyborg policemen (think RoboCop, albeit mixed with a design aesthetic that may remind some of a certain rabbit in Donnie Darko), a lot of Ghost in the Shell’s innovative if labyrinthine approach only became more relevant in the years following its debut. That said, there’s been a certain borderline confusion with home video releases of the franchise, with, for example, the 2.0 iteration of Ghost in the Shell appearing before the original theatrical version, and the Stand Alone Complex offerings redacted from their full season versions in their home video releases. Now, with Arise, we’re being offered a supposed prequel which in some ways might actually be better thought of as a reboot, with a somewhat different design aesthetic and new voice actors.

Despite this ostensibly being a prequel, writer Tow Ubukata still plunks the viewer down in media res, with an assumption that most audience members are already going to know the basic outlines of the story and characters. These are still “early days”, though, and so Ghost in the Shell: Arise initially focuses on some internecine skirmishes between the mysterious 501 Organization and what ultimately becomes Public Security Section 9. Caught in the middle is heroine Motoko Kusanagi, who in the first “Border” Ghost Pain is attempting to ferret out the truth behind the death of a military operative with a connection to her past. Kusanagi’s cyborg elements may be victim to a virus, however, and the episode plays with concepts of delusion and illusion in a kind of Oshii-esque way.

That ultimately brings her into contact with the man who will ultimately become her partner, Batou. However, as so often seems to be the case these two start out as nemeses, with Batou convinced that Motoko is herself behind the death of the military operative. That leads to a no holds barred melee, setting up the fact that neither of these characters is exactly a shrinking violet. If Ghost Pain doesn’t quite have the philosophical gravitas of the best Oshii offerings, it presents a reasonably engaging mystery and offers some more detail on the characters’ backgrounds, especially that of Motoko, whose history has only been variously hinted at in previous Ghost in the Shell entries.

Part of the intertwined subplots in Ghost Pain was the interplay between the 501 Organization and Public Security Section 9, with Mokoto having to wend her way through competing appeals for her expertise. Ghost Whispers finds Mokoto now ensconced in Section 9, though once again trying to unravel a mystery involving a military operative, in this case a commander who’s caught up in a sort of brutal massacre of an indigenous population which may remind some of the long ago My Lai scandal in Vietnam.

Once again Ghost Whispers posits Mokoto and Batou as almost instinctive combatants, even as they’re both supposedly working on the same case. Ghost Whispers is therefore perhaps a bit redundant feeling, especially in light of much the same situation depicted in Ghost Pain.

Ghost in the Shell: Arise: Borders 1 & 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ghost in the Shell: Arise is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While some of the characters look different, this is overall cut from much the same cloth as previous Ghost in the Shell entries, with rain slicked, sometimes green enshrouded, cityscapes, interesting CGI elements depicting Mokoto's access to data, and good, variegated use of color. Line detail is very strong, though the overall look of these OVAs is a bit on the soft side at times, especially with regard to some of the backgrounds. Elements like Mokoto's purplish-blue hair pop quite convincingly throughout the presentation.

Ghost in the Shell: Arise: Borders 1 & 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

What would any Ghost in the Shell entry be without helicopters zooming in through the soundfield with wildly panning effects? Those kinds of elements perks up both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes provided on this release, one in the original Japanese and the other in English. Both of these tracks offer consistent surround activity, good to very good LFE, and excellent fidelity. What may take a bit of adjustment on the part of longtime fans is getting used to the new voice actors, but dialogue is always presented cleanly and clearly in any case.

Note: As has increasingly been the case with FUNimation releases lately, it's impossible to toggle between audio options or to have subtitles on with the English language track. The audio options, with forced subs on the Japanese language track, need to be accessed through the Set Up menu.

Ghost in the Shell: Arise: Borders 1 & 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One:

• Ghost in the Shell: Arise at the Anime Expo 2013 (1080p; 21:17) features interviews with some of the creative staff as well as attendees.


• Logicoma Beat (1080p; 2:22) features the little robotic quadrapeds.


• Promotional Video (1080p; 1:53)


• News Flash Type A (1080p; 00:35)


• News Flash Type B (1080p; 00:37)


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:32)


• Border: 2 Teaser (1080p; 00:26)


• Textless Opening (1080p; 1:03)

Disc Two:

• U.S. Cast and Crew Audio Commentary


• Logicoma Court (1080p; 2:17)


• News Flash (1080p; 00:31)


• Decode 501File (1080p; 2:37) gives some background information on the mysterious group.


• Border: 1 Ghost Pain Cyberbrain I.G. Night Talk Show (1080i; 11:10) is a Q&A from 2013.


• Border: 1 Ghost Pain Cyberbrain Cast. Night Talk Show (1080i; 10:54)


• Promotional Video (1080p; 1:43)


• Commercial (1080i; 00:17)


• Blu-ray and DVD Spots (1080i; 00:48)


• Surface X Ghost in the Shell Another Mission (1080p; 3:02)


• Pacific Racing Team X Ghost in the Shell Arise Promotional Video (1080i; 2:06)


• Textless Opening (1080p; 1:04)


• Textless Closing (1080p; 3:54)


• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 1:44)

Ghost in the Shell: Arise: Borders 1 & 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ghost in the Shell: Arise never quite escapes the looming shadow of its rather monolithic progenitors, but taken on its own smaller scale terms, it's reasonably engaging and offers some excellent action sequences. The animation is once again outstanding, and technical merits as well as supplementary features are excellent. Recommended.