Ghost in the Shell, Educate me Options

[Enigma]

Hi,

I am sorry to go a bit off Shadowrun, but it may be of use in Shadowrun so that's my thin, thin relevance to the game.

Anyway, I have seen the Ghost in the Shell movie. That is all. I know that there are other Ghost in the Shell things around, like a TV series, but I know not of them. Could someone who knows about this please answer me the following - assuming I am interested in movies and TV shows and not interested in reading actual manga/books in English or Japanese, what else is there around apart from the GITS movie? Also, is any of it any good at all?

[Crusher Bob]

The 1st GiTS and the 2nd GiTS: Innocence

There are also the tv series GiTS: Stand Alone Complex (SAC) with two seasons, referred to as 1st gig and 2nd gig.

There's also a movie based on the TV series: Solid State Society.

[Enigma]

Thanks very much - your help is appreciated.

I know this is a loaded question and all, but are any of the things you mentioned any good, entertainment wise?

[Crusher Bob]

Depends on your taste, I guess. Innocence might be described as 'selected reading from philosophy textbooks with audiovisual accompanyment'. The TV show is much more accessible, even more so than the first movie

[Stahlseele]

and don't forget the little parts about the tachikoma on the end of every episode . . i'm a man and i still find that cute *g*
let that =V= be a Warning to you all

[ Spoiler ]

thing i really don't like about the series is the fact that the poor little tachikomas get destroyed on the end of BOTH seasons <.< . .
the death song of the tachikoma from the second season end can be found somewhere on youtube i think . . that was really sad ;_;

[Fortune]

Thanks for asking this question Enigma. I have been meaning to find out about these myself. :)

[Daddy's Litt...]

[Kagetenshi]

Mobile Armored Riot Police is actually not good for cyberpunk at all, considering that in all forms it mostly involves battling to uphold the social system (the "Police" in the name is a hint). Post-cyberpunk, maybe, but I don't think it has quite fallen victim to that disease.

Anyway, in my opinion the general quality spectrum runs thusly:

First movie ~= Innocence > first manga = 1.5 manga > Stand Alone Complex > 2nd Gig > Solid State Society > second manga

I'd recommend most of it except for Solid State Society and the second manga, but even those are entertaining (just, you know, not enough that I can properly recommend them). I'll also warn you that because of the quality of the top end of the list, the bottom end gets judged more harshly than might totally unrelated media—I think Solid State Society would have bothered me less, for example, if it weren't for several scenes which were clumsily (and obviously) designed to echo parts of the first film. Innocence has echoes as well, but they're, well, actually done in an effective manner IMO.

~J

[Karaden]

[mfb]

GitS:SAC, 2nd Gig, and Solid State Society are fucking awesome. i'm less of a fan of GitS and GitS: Innocence; to me, they both spend too much time hammering you over the head with philosophy that you caught in the first half hour, and not enough badass action sequences. the action stuff that's there is really badass, though. definitely worth watching.

Karaden, watch Solid State Society.

Kage, i think it's fair to call GitS cyberpunk. the main characters may spend all their time upholding society, but that society spends almost all its time trying to corrupt itself--from the top down, from the bottom up, and from the inside out.

[kigmatzomat]

I will heartily recommend the GitS TV series, both for entertainment value and SR (particularly SR4) material. The stories are well written. They tend to repeat certain things over and over, which is really only noticeable if you watch the eps back to back on Tivo or DVD, rather than weekly.

One neat thing is they tend to identify which eps are core to the plot and which are tangents. Side plots will be marked "Standalone" in the title. They still have impact on the over all story but are not involved in the crux of the seasonal plot.

If you want to use GitS for SR, keep in mind that everyone in GitS has an implanted cyberdeck/comm with a full simsense interface. Of course, everyone in SR4 has a comm with optical/audio gear (glasses/contacts, earbuds, etc) and probably some non-hot Simsense so you can still hack people's glasses even if you don't hack their eyes.

[Moon-Hawk]

[Sir_Psycho]

You can't go past Innocence for homicidal anthroform prostitute drone inspiration.

[martindv]

It's hardly original inspiration.

[Daddy's Litt...]

One of the early episodes of 2nd Gig has a great back drop. The team is providing security for a corp party where powerful men show off the sex androids. These are their robotic mistress' that they keep secret, because they are considered perverted by the general population..

[Siege]

If you have the chance, watch AD Police Files.

It was a spin-off from the "Bubblegum Crisis" anime with some seriously creepy episodes.

-Siege

[Stahlseele]

and while we're at it, whyx not put in akira and patlabor too? or appleseed? but i digress . .

[Karaden]

[MaxHunter]

I watched them all. I really enjoyed the first movie, liked a lot the animation of the second though it's too philosophic. The tv series are great, I really enjoyed the 2nd Gig. I also have to absolutely recommend Akira.

And as it seems I am not adding much new to the discussion, I would also like to suggest watching Denno Coil, a cute anime series about hacker children. It's really great.

Cheers,

Max

[Stahlseele]

nah, dennou coil wasn't that good i'd have to say . .
it's a nice idea of how to view the AR in SR4, but nothing more . .

[Kagetenshi]

Akira's a pretty solid recommendation, especially for Chicago-like situations, but that's a pretty big series to read through just for inspiration (though it's totally worth it for its own merits).

~J

[PBTHHHHT]

[Stahlseele]

[nezumi]

So which of the bubblegum crisis animes is best?

[PBTHHHHT]