Blog Archives

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – The Laughing Man (2005)

(from , dir: )
Posted on April 6, 2008 by Samson

The Laughing Man tells the story of the entire first season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, regarded by many people to be one of the best anime series ever, as a 2 and a half hour movie. It is a compilation of only the material from the 26 episodes of the series that is related to the ‘Laughing Man’.

It is AD 2030. Six years have passed since a super-class-A hacker known as the Laughing Man … (read more)

Comments Off on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – The Laughing Man (2005)

Kyo Kara Maou! (2004)

(from , dir: )
Posted on March 11, 2007 by Deni

I can be shallow and I’ll admit it freely. I like my dramas, the serious, thoughtful works exemplified by Kon or Abe or Ooshi. I also like my action, titles like Fullmetal Alchemist or Gungrave or Yukikaze. But occasionally I like a little brainless entertainment – entertainment that at least doesn’t involve a lot of explosions or bloody deaths or deep-seated angst – which is a large part of the reason why I started watching Kyou Kara Maou!. … (read more)

Comments Off on Kyo Kara Maou! (2004)

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2003)

(from , dir: )
Posted on January 25, 2006 by Andy

If you haven’t seen the Mamorou Oshii’s 1996 masterpiece, Ghost in the Shell, then you can go and sit in the corner of anime class and face the wall. In a lot of ways, Ghost in the Shell was the heir to Otomo’s Akira. At times explosive action, at others a meditation on what it means to be human, Ghost in the Shell presented a fully realised world of rapidly advancing technology set against a backdrop of decaying … (read more)

Comments Off on Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2003)

Ghost in the Shell (1996)

(from , dir: )
Posted on November 25, 2005 by Andy

Having hit the ball out of the park with the superb political-thriller-featuring-giant-robots, Patlabor 2, Mamoru Oshii moved onto Masumune’s Shirow’s manga future populated by cyborgs and humans with cybernetic enhancements — Ghost in the Shell. Ghost, with its blurring of man and machine, presented the perfect vehicle for Oshii to explore the question what it means to be human. (The titular ghost is a ‘soul’ cyborg’s soul equivalent).

Like a Christmas present, Oshii wraps this theme in … (read more)

Comments Off on Ghost in the Shell (1996)

Ghost in the Shell: Innocence (2004)

(from , dir: )
Posted on November 25, 2005 by Andy

Ghost in the Shell: Innocence is a unlike anything you have seen before. The viewer is lost in a sea of lush visuals that seamlessly blend a Blade Runner noir future with traditional Japanese iconography. The level of texture detail is astounding with even the wood grain of a door frame revealing varnished depths. CG is integrated seamlessly. A set piece in a convenience store simply has to be seen to be believed — then confirmed by a friend. Anime … (read more)

Comments Off on Ghost in the Shell: Innocence (2004)