6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 2.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Taking the "A" Story from Second Gig. When a series of terroists attacks commited by a group called the Individual Eleven becomes attributed to the already sensitive refugee problem. It's up to Section 9 to solve the problem. and The Major finds a suprising link to her past.
Starring: Atsuko Tanaka (I), Akio Ôtsuka, Osamu Saka, Kôichi Yamadera, Takaya HashiAnime | 100% |
Foreign | 100% |
Action | 52% |
Sci-Fi | 43% |
Mystery | 1% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080i
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Both tracks are 16-Bit
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Anyone who thinks animated fare is the sole province of kids hasn’t spent much time with anime in general, or Ghost in the Shell in particular. One of the most arcane, convoluted and intellectually challenging franchises to ever reach either the large or the small screen, Ghost in the Shell doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and even those who consider themselves able to handle the various twists and turns that modern day filmmakers like to throw at their audience like so much popcorn may find themselves at least temporarily thrown for a loop by some of the plot machinations this series goes through. Adding to the general complexity of the franchise itself is an attendant complexity with regard to various theatrical and home theatrical releases of various outings in the long and venerable franchise. As with so many successful animes, Ghost in the Shell began life as a manga, which soon matriculated to the screen in two feature film adaptations. Both films took basic plot elements of Shirow Masamune’s original manga and reinvented them in hyperintellectual style by Mamoru Oshii. In between the two films’ releases Kenji Kamiyama came along with a television version entitled Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, the success of which actually probably helped hurry along the second feature film. Stand Alone Complex came back for a second season, subtitled Stand Alone Complex: Second GIG. That’s all fairly straightforward (at least if you don’t actually get into the nuts and bolts of the various storylines of these many outings), but then things start to get a bit more, well, complex (stand alone or otherwise). Kamiyama released his own film (which was broadcast on the Sky Satellite service) as an epilogue to the series, this time entitled Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society, which I reviewed here. In the meantime, a revised version of the first Ghost in the Shell film was released as Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (shades of Evangelion). Then it was decided to reedit both seasons of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series as OVAs, with the first season’s outing being called Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man. Which at long last brings us to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Individual Eleven, which is, as you may have guessed, the reedited version condensing the second season of the series down to about an hour and a half. As with The Laughing Man, Kenjiyama has literally gone back to the drawing board, reinventing whole sequences, doing new bridging material, and subtly recasting the arc of the series to highlight a couple of focal relationships.
My comments about the previous Stand Alone Complex Blu-ray release culled from the television series, Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man, hold true for this release as well. This AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.85:1 looks remarkably clear and crisp and is testament to Kamiyama's professed desire to imbue this outing with a "big screen" look, despite its small screen genesis. Both CGI and hand drawn elements are interwoven fairly seamlessly, and detail throughout remains top notch. Line detail is also exceptional and colors for the most part are appealing and very robust. A couple of the characters (notably Batou) are cast in a pretty drab palette, and that may bother some persnickety videophiles. Despite what can be a very busy frame at times, and considering its interlaced source elements, rarely if ever do any passing artifacting issues crop up (occasional very minor motion judder is noticeable, though negligible), and this is about as clean and precise a visual presentation as one could hope for.
As with Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man, both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes on this Blu-ray offer superior fidelity and routine immersion. In fact, Individual Eleven begins much the same as The Laughing Man does, with helicopters zooming through the soundfield with attendant panning and some awesome, rumbling LFE. This redo of the second season also features a lot of the same evocative music that I mentioned in my Laughing Man review, and the score certainly elevates the enjoyment of this feature considerably. Dialogue on both language tracks is exceptional, and all elements are very well prioritized in both mixes. This is one of the rare animes where you can't really go wrong with either the original language option or the English dub.
If you're a fan of the Ghost in the Shell franchise, and specifically of Kenji Kamiyama's television reboot, Individual Eleven is a very artful condensation of the series' second season, picking up a lot of the main Individual Eleven storyline while jettisoning some of the subplots that helped fill the episodic version of the story. Kamiyama has once again very smartly redone some scenes and provided new bridging material to make this piece play very well as a (sorry) stand alone feature. If you're new to Ghost in the Shell, this frankly probably isn't the best place to start. The two other Stand Alone Complex releases provide just enough context to approach Individual Eleven with the knowledge to understand the various elements at play, and those are where you should start, if not with the original Oshii films. This Blu-ray sports excellent video and exceptional audio, and it comes Recommended.
2005
2006
2013
イノセンス / Inosensu
2004
2002-2003
攻殻機動隊 / Kôkaku Kidôtai
1995
Classics
2003
Kôkyô shihen Eureka Sebun: Poketto ga niji de ippai
2009
Evangerion shin gekijôban: Jo
2007
2012
2015
アップルシード
1988
Sentai Selects
2004
Essentials
2007
Anime Classics / フルメタル·パニック!
2002
Evangerion shin gekijôban: Ha
2009
Evangerion shin gekijôban: Kyu
2012
レドライン
2009
SD on Blu-ray
2001-2002
2001