in the shell

She's a soldier, a detective and officer of the law - so why is she wearing a swimsuit in the office?

Someone mentioned this before and I fobbed it off by comparing it to superhero comics where the protaganist wears skintight costumes because, like an athelete or gymnast, the physicallity of their character is central to who they are and the same is true here. But I watch (admittedly the first series does it more often) SAC now and I keep on seeing Motoko in a meeting in her bosses' office while mooning the camera through her thong-swimsuit-thing and I always wonder why she has abandoned the trousers/skirts/dresses that the rest of humanity in SAC still clings to.

Is it just fan service and would the series be better off without it?

It`s to show her individuality as a person and as a woman as well. It`s the way she wants to prove herself as an individual, not just a piece of prosthetic junk.

Unless I'm mistaken. Anime is in general aimed at teenage boys.

Since when did we have to be teenage

Hey, when your body is made up of artificial materials and circuit boards you don't really have any reason for dignity do you? The drawing of her body is pretty fine in SAC, but in the original film I found it less than alluring to say the least...

Still, it's only an anime...

I suppose if you bought a body rather than growing your own then it's like putting bodykit on an expensive car.

But I found it easier to take her character seriously in the film and in the second series where she discovers jeans, It's just odd to listen to someone talk about crime, life&death, philosophy and government corruption when they're just wearing underwear and a leather jacket.

maybe it's a technique for use when combatting teh baddies, she can shoot them while they're busy oogling & drooling.

Who are the three of you you who voted for #3? ::slaps the resident fanboys silly::

If she's really supposed to be representative of a strong woman she should put on some clothes already. It's all about the fanservice though, so I'm not surprised.

Considers himself 'well slapped about, innit'.

You gotta give em their due there isn't *that* much fan service in SAC, so a little exposed back porch isn't so bad. It's certainly a lot more subtle than the fan service in EVA

Of course it was fan service - try picturing a woman in reality in a pink panty suit that is in a secret government section philosophizing about what it means to be human. Seriously, would you call that woman as mature as you think of Motoko in the show?

It would be better if she wore less superficial clothes, cyberpunk or just individualistic would be reasonable still. I'm betting her looks in the anime made some people turned off to the show's potential for realistically being *adult* themed and mature, not just another violent near-pornographic sci-fi thrill for commercial gain.

Aoi wrote:Of course it was fan service - try picturing a woman in reality in a pink panty suit that is in a secret government section philosophizing about what it means to be human. Seriously, would you call that woman as mature as you think of Motoko in the show?

Which is the reason why a live action Ghost in the Shell would never work. ^_^

speaking of motoko's outfit...

http://hobby-channel.net/content/view/4329/68

FainaruFantaji wrote:It`s to show her individuality as a person and as a woman as well. It`s the way she wants to prove herself as an individual, not just a piece of prosthetic junk.

Does she really care about *proving* herself? Notice how in Solid State Society she spends all of her personal time doing what Section 9 couldn't - solving crimes even better. She was very professional in that, and did little else. She did not do anything for personal credit; she probably does it just because she can.

Perhaps her personality changed throughout SAC?
Maybe, maybe not.

Epiphany wrote:Unless I'm mistaken. Anime is in general aimed at teenage boys.

The anime that gets through to America, yes. Anime in Japan is just a another form of video presentation for viewers, of which there are all genres for all audiences.

Saito wrote:Hey, when your body is made up of artificial materials and circuit boards you don't really have any reason for dignity do you? The drawing of her body is pretty fine in SAC, but in the original film I found it less than alluring to say the least...

Still, it's only an anime...

She seems like one to keep to her own sense of dignity, definitely. She wasn't nihilistic and viewed superficial people (generally) as inferior to more thoughtful, contemplative, or honestly important people. Her lady friend who mysteriously appears twice in the series would be an exception, but her lady friend (hinting at the lesbian sexuality in the manga) seems to be analogous to the Major's clothes in terms of what might be "subtle" fanservice, or just loyalty to the manga.

Yes, this is only a show, but what we're talking about is not just a detail.

Also, Saito, the fact that the main character of the entire show looks like a cyberpunk prostitute is not subtle at all, in my opinion.

Elmo_Redux wrote:maybe it's a technique for use when combatting teh baddies, she can shoot them while they're busy oogling & drooling.

I first viewed it that way. But remember when the Major and Batou see who wins in a fight - and the Major hacked Batou to hit himself? The Major says she keeps a female body because she will keep her appearance however she wants it, and doesn't care about anything else when she can manipulate computer systems like a god and use other combat skills. I don't think her clothes serve a mainly functional purpose in SAC.

GhostLine wrote:speaking of motoko's outfit...

http://hobby-channel.net/content/view/4329/68

*head-desk*

Why do people buy these things? Not everything in the GITS universe is divine, you know. Prune from the media surrounding the GITS phenom to find what you think is meaningful; not everything about it is by default cool. And surely this toy is meaningless and dilute of the actual "cool" aura about SAC.

Saito wrote: The drawing of her body is pretty fine in SAC, but in the original film I found it less than alluring to say the least...

What do you mean? She had a perfectly fit, athletic, realistically proportionned body in the original movie and was actually quite HOT.

to be perfectly honest, i just think it was a case of trying to be closer to shirow's style in the first series of SAC - Shirow has always been a fan of the skimpiest outfits possible for his female characters. Prehaps after the success of the first series they no longer felt that they had to rely on that link so much and could support the series' popularity on the strength of the writing and animation instead of the shirow-alike eyecandy. The Major wears people clothes through most of 2nd gig.

simon's ghost wrote:

Saito wrote: The drawing of her body is pretty fine in SAC, but in the original film I found it less than alluring to say the least...

What do you mean? She had a perfectly fit, athletic, realistically proportionned body in the original movie and was actually quite HOT.

The problem I had was not how it was put together, but that it was drawn to be blatantly artificial, or at least I thought so, something about it makes it undoubtably human shaped but just... wrong. The artificiality of her body in SAC is less, lets say, 'obvious'.

In all honesty, it is fanservice at its core. However, being one of the fanboys it's so obviously aimed at, I can't really complain. I agree that her outfit is a little more natural in 2nd GiG, but I don't quite get the thing she has on which ends mysteriously above her breasts, as if to present the corset-thing. It's like they decided to give her a lower half of clothing, but decided they'd make the top half look odd instead. If they combined the jeans of 2nd GiG with the jacket of 1st, then she'd have a normal set of clothes.