paul_m_haakonsen

Having just sat through the 2005 "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man", I continued my marathon with this 2006 entry in the franchise titled "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society". While I was familiar with the "Stand Alone Complex" being a part of the franchise, I have never actually seen any of them. So this was my first time to delve into them.

The storyline in this 2006 foray into the franchise is good. Sure, there are large shoes to fill out, but the writers managed to pull it off well enough, and the script proved to be entertaining and enjoyable.

The version of "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society" that I stumbled upon was, unfortunately, a dubbed version. I generally do not enjoy dubbing versions of anything, be it movie or animation. I prefer the original language, so this was a little bit annoying. But thankfully the dubbing by the voice actors and actresses were fair, so it helped cushion the blow.

I have to say that I am enjoying that it is fully drawn Anime, and not a God awful abomination of a mixture between drawn animation and CGI animation.

Thankfully this 2006 foray into the franchise was only running at 108 minutes, and I say "only" here because the previous one ran for 160 minutes.

My rating of director Kenji Kamiyama's 2006 Anime "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Right, well as part of doing a "Ghost in the Shell" marathon, I came across this 2005 addition to the franchise. I was aware of the "Stand Alone Complex" titles vaguely, but I had given up on Anime at that point in time, so I never saw it back in the day.

The storyline in the Anime was good. It was actually a rather well-written and interesting narrative, and a much needed step up from the pompous 2004 "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" Anime. I was genuinely entertained here throughout the 160 minutes that it ran for, so thumbs up to the writers for that accomplishment.

I definitely liked the return to full-out drawn animation, where as the 2004 "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" had heavily incorporated CGI animation as well. When I sit down to watch Anime, it should be one of the two; either fully drawn or fully CGI, not a strange abominable mixture of the two. So "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man" was a good return to original form for me.

Running at 2 hours and 40 minutes, you're in for a partial all-evening entertainment event here. I was a bit surprised to find out that it was running at such a length. In my opinion, the Anime could have benefitted from a trim in post-editing, as 160 minutes was a bit too long.

My rating of the 2005 Anime "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man" lands on a seven out of ten stars.

Now, oddly enough, I actually don't think I've ever watched this 2004 sequel to the 1995 classic. So as I had the opportunity here in 2025 to sit down and watch "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" after having just watched the original 1995 Anime again, of course I did.

Writers Shirow Masamune and Mamoru Oshii put together a fair enough script, but it just wasn't as memorable, outstanding or entertaining as the 1995 script was. Now, I am not saying that "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" is bad or boring, not at all, it just paled a bit in comparison to its predecessor.

The art style and animation was good, and that definitely helped add to the overall enjoyment of the Anime. Visually it looks nice, a bit pretentious at times, but hey...

Thankfully I sat through "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" in its original Japanese language. I do prefer the original language over a dub any day.

While this 2004 sequel certainly was watchable, it just never reached the same heights as the 1995. But then again, it had some really, really big shoes to fill. I was adequately entertained, sure, but I didn't at any time feel like I had been missing out on a grand Anime moment here.

My rating of director Mamoru Oshii's 2004 Anime "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" lands on a five out of ten stars.