Kôkaku kidôtai: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society

Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, is probably the weakest in the Ghost in the Shell series of films and TV shows and is the third entry into the Stand Alone Complex series.

The anime is a good as any of the Stand Alone Complex series though doesn't quite match up to the two feature films. The drawing and shading has improved greatly over the series and is at its best here, there are moments when I noticed flickering but this is rare and again better than the two series of Stand Alone Society.

Where the story falls, compared to the rest of the Stand Alone Society is story, which I didn't find nearly as engaging as with previous efforts. Solid State Society is very slow to get going and really never builds the tension that it really should. Too much time seems to be spent on explaining what has happened over between the previous series and this film, which could have worked with a complete series but bogs the film down, with its much shorter running time.

Whilst I didn't hate the film, I must say that I was very disappointed, It is trying to be clever but for me was a let down in what is a very good series.

Not excellent, not mindblowing, but well done nonetheless. Some interesting points are made about the interconnection between the aging of the population and the exploitation of the youth by the ruling class, the action is interesting AAAAAAAND...Motoko finally is back to not being ashamed in the slightest of her body(ies?) (see the ending frame on that). It's also not required to watch the second gig so it's a plus, but I would recommend reading the GITS 1.5: human error processor before dwelling into this, or the first Stand Alone series.

I will never be the fan of those animated sequels, after the original "Ghost" animations, characters and the idea. But I have to admit that at least this one got back on track with a very deep humanity and society philosophical questions, character development as well and was better than everything before it. Glad to see where Kusanagi as a character went to and just how capable she is, and what kind of a character she is.

I'm quite a big fan of Masamune Shirow, though I haven't seen much of his recent work. I was first exposed to his intelligent and mildly titillating style in 1994 with Dominion: Tank Police. What was great about that series was the comedy, aesthetic genius and hot chicks. Ghost in the Shell came out the following year and was incredible work. Though a bit complicated for the youngster I was at the time, there were at least loads of tits.

This latest and third movie is pretty damn slick. I haven't watched the Stand Alone Complex series', but the story was engaging and thought-provoking regardless.

I'm really interested in concepts of the cyborg, and visions of the future. I'm not convinced by the idea of downloading a personality into a computer, but most of Shirow's work makes interesting observations of the social problems which would accompany such a move.

The story in this installment is particularly interesting, and follows an attempt by a person or persons unknown to solve political and social problems by manipulating cyber-brains through the global network. Far too complex to waste time explaining, it makes for a great 100 minutes.

The animation is superb, on the most part. The characters and backdrops are awesome, yet occasionally suffer from blatant CGI-ness. Smooth and beautiful it may be, but like the second Appleseed film, it just doesn't look right. Animation is not live action or CGI or any combination of the two, and a degree of difference is what makes each media interesting and fluent. For me, that aspect of this feature was whack, and distracting. Also, CSI-style shaky-cam in anime?? Rubbish.

The music is very good, though not quite as good as the first film, and there is a diabolical song in the first 10 minutes that made my arsehole close-over. Otherwise, the awesome Yoko Kanno (Macross Plus) goes beyond mood-music and achieves an awesome synthesis.

There's a reasonable helping of Shirow sexiness, though not enough. Needs more greased up babes. His trademark cool style in mecha and costume design remains strong, without succumbing to Matrix-style pansy over-styling. The film could have done with more comic relief, however. Shirow is a very funny guy, and this series of films has never really allowed that to find a place. Shame.

The direction is good, though makes obvious what an influence Mamoru Oshii's (Patlabor, Jin-Roh) personal style had on the direction and attitude of the films. That's no bad thing, as he is one of the all-time great directors. It would, however, have been nice to have seen some more impressive personal touches from Kenji Kamiyama.

Essentially very good, though perhaps too engorged with the intellect of the last two films, and trying just that little bit too hard to be cool.

I feel bad for not loving this movie. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely a good movie for me, but I just thought that the other entries were better. I was complaining about how the last movie was a bit hard to follow, but I think this film had the opposite problem. I think it was too clear and it took away a lot of the mystery. Of course, the animation is completely flawless as you would expect from this series. It's great to see a movie series that's been consistently good. I was disappointed that Motoko didn't appear more. Of course, Batou is still pretty entertaining on its own.

It's just that this film was lacking the action of the previous two films. I also wish that there was more philosophical dialogue. Still, they certainly had great voice work and good talking. If you're a fan of "Ghost In The Shell", you really should see this. The colors are just so gorgeous in this movie. We even get some pretty tender moments involving little kids. I guess if you want to make us care you have to have the lives of a children at stake. It certainly worked here. It was still pretty creative. ***