Cheap Ghost in the Shell [Region 2] (DVD) (Mamoru Oshii) Price

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Customer Reviews of Ghost in the Shell [Region 2]

Meditative viewing
This film suffers from the comparisons it attacts. It was heavily plagiarised by the Matrix films in terms of its visual presentation and some thematic elements, but differs to it in all other parts. Where one is a very slick adolescent action film which pretends to be philosophical, the other is an entrancing audio-visual feast which engages your subconscious in a very unexpected way. Ghost in the Shell fits better next to films like Kubrick and Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Scott's Blade Runner, in which the story, although interesting, is ultimately secondary to the experience of the film itself. <
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>From its opening credits, with its sparse pounding percussion, haunting Japanese choir, and subtle electronic tone, set against the dream-like and utterly entrancing android 'birth' on screen, engages your eyes, ears and mind in an entirely primal way. <
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>The animation, in a word, is astonishing. The combination of digital imagery is truly subtle and masterful, rather than bashing you over the head with its digital achievement. The film revels in its details, small things which go unnoticed but register with the subconscious. The main character, in her android 'shell', never once blinks throughout the film, her inanimate 'doll-like' elements managing to de-sexualise her often nude body/shell. The gorgeously rendered reflections and lights, as well as imperceptible movements of backgrounds create an entirely dream-like world which has lost its sense of human identity through its merger with the machine. The viewer feels the same mental detatchment throughout the film, and engages in an almost spiritual experience, which is thematically social as well as personal. <
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>It won't be everybody's cup of tea. If you came to this film from the Matrix, there's a good chance you'll hate its lack of constant action sequences. If you come to it from a purely anime-loving background, you'll love it if you enjoyed mentally stimulating and willfully experimental anime like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Mindgame, Catsoup, Memories, or Akira. You'll definately hate it if you're a fan of the empty genre-anime such as Naruto, Final Fantasy or Full Metal Alchemist. But if you're looking for a filmic experience which transcends its genre and demonstrates some unsurpassed animation of the highest possible calibre, look no further. <
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>This dvd release is good, though not excellent. The 5.1 surround-mix in English is fantastic in its scope and enhances the experience but the english dub actors are atrocious. I don't know what it is, but english dub actors cannot emote, and speak with the same monotone 'i'm-reading-a-script' voice that anime-watchers have come to know and despise. The Japanese 2.0 stereo is okay but really could have benefited from a 5.1 mastering, especially considering the Japanese voice-actors are excellent. There is a relatively satisfying 'Making of' featurette on this dvd, including interviews with most of the creators/actors/artists involved on the project, as well as a decent overview of the technology and techniques used in the films creation.

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Bluntly said Ghost in the Shell is ok. It's not spectacular. The premisis is normal for cyberpunk, the art is brilliant at times horrible at others, the voices are ok but far too quiet, and the nudity felt too tacked on and there was much too much of it. You should check out Stand alone complex before you resort to this. BTW for a special edition they don't put that much special stuff in, and the packaging is horribly annoying and impossible to handle.