Ghost in the Shell Ver 2.0
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 4:16 am
I'm making another, official thread with a bit of my opinion on this beauty.
The Blu-Ray and DVD are officially out stateside, so if anyone hasn't gotten it yet, I HIGHLY recommend you do.
Watch this before you do anything else if you haven't seen any actual parts of the movie! This shows you a good deal of the new scenes and altered ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjcaNbO1KXA
Mind you, last year in December I bought the special edition Japanese triple Blu-Ray pack, so I've had this for well near a year now. It came with the original movie remastered, the special Making Of blu-ray with enough extras to use as a public library, and the actual Ghost in the Shell Ver 2.0.
I also bought the soundtrack instantly. Either way, the reason I'm telling you guys all this is just to let you know that I indeed am not just fanboying into this, I'm actually very much immersed in this.
And yes, I should be skinned for not doing this until now.
The movie is indeed spectacular. It's the same story that we all know and love, the same characters, and even the same compositions in terms of music. Now, the things that ARE different are the whole voicetracks have been re-recorded in both English, and Japanese.
The entire original Japanese cast of voice actors banded once more to produce a complete re-recording of the movie, also giving us a brand new American rerecording with the Stand Alone Complex cast coming in to fit the shoes (many of which were from the first dub to begin with). Along with that, the sound effects are completely redone, some so drastically altered that to a maniac like myself I still can't get used to not hearing what my ears have been accustomed to after thousands of views of this movie (no exaggeration, thousands.) The biggest difference in dubbing is the comprehensive and far more accurate dub that we get now, which really lends a bit more believable nature and intellect to the movie, as intended and done in the original Japanese voice work. The soundtrack was the last audio thing I wanted to mention because I simply adore the way it was redone. It does sound incredibly polished, and far clearer, which is something I never even acknowledged could be done better before I heard it here. The singers are the same, the instruments are the same, but the quality is different.
Again, only a nut like myself could detect the difference in a way a note's taken, or the way that the vibrato fluctuates isn't like it was in the original soundtrack. None-the-less, it's magnificent!
BIIIG Bonus for anyone that picks up the actual soundtrack - the song from the original american trailer is now a 12th bonus track!
This is the song in question:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVAl60Koako
As for the visuals, everything's completely intact, except for a few scenes that have been scrapped. Now, don't cry, don't strangle your child or parents in a violent rage, simply enjoy the fact that they are scrapped for nearly identically scripted and acted out scenes, that follow the originals frame by frame. The scenes are redone in 3-D animation, in a very starkly contrasting image compared to their original dark and aquatic counterparts. Instead we are treated to scenes far more akin to the first half of Innocence - very much near-black environments, covered in the warmth of the orange neon that spreads everywhere. Other scenes, while still being in their original format (about 70% of the movie) are left completely intact without much change, outside of having revisited once again all sound effects, and new lighting effects and visual modifications being done in terms of reflections, new colors, glow effects, and everything being touched up to look much crisper.
In total, I'm fascinated at how precise the makers were (one of course being Oshii, who overlooked and guided the entire project) to keep the feel of the original, while changing it in a way that demonstrated the strength of movie, and its flexibility. I think the one thing I enjoyed most was the comparison I drew between it, and Innocence. Both were comparative in color scheme, and while the atmosphere still greatly differed it still showed me the consistency between the two films. It let me realize what the links were, where the ties were (outside of the obvious music style and characters), and how the two movies truly are intertwined brilliantly.
This movie's been the epitome of total immersion for me for well over 14 years now, and I'm as always in love with it. To not get this, if you are in any way shape of the series, of the movie, or even of fine animation, or to a greater degree, ART, would be a shame. This movie's a splendid presentation of how even something redone needn't be redone beyond its necessity and efforts, and exactly how powerful a project was given to us back in 1995. The new polish and paint job certainly didn't hurt.
I find it no better, no worse, but immensely different. You won't feel alienated by it if you were close to the movie and its themes, everything's there, simply in a new way to captivate you.
mm
The Blu-Ray and DVD are officially out stateside, so if anyone hasn't gotten it yet, I HIGHLY recommend you do.
Watch this before you do anything else if you haven't seen any actual parts of the movie! This shows you a good deal of the new scenes and altered ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjcaNbO1KXA
Mind you, last year in December I bought the special edition Japanese triple Blu-Ray pack, so I've had this for well near a year now. It came with the original movie remastered, the special Making Of blu-ray with enough extras to use as a public library, and the actual Ghost in the Shell Ver 2.0.
I also bought the soundtrack instantly. Either way, the reason I'm telling you guys all this is just to let you know that I indeed am not just fanboying into this, I'm actually very much immersed in this.
And yes, I should be skinned for not doing this until now.The movie is indeed spectacular. It's the same story that we all know and love, the same characters, and even the same compositions in terms of music. Now, the things that ARE different are the whole voicetracks have been re-recorded in both English, and Japanese.
The entire original Japanese cast of voice actors banded once more to produce a complete re-recording of the movie, also giving us a brand new American rerecording with the Stand Alone Complex cast coming in to fit the shoes (many of which were from the first dub to begin with). Along with that, the sound effects are completely redone, some so drastically altered that to a maniac like myself I still can't get used to not hearing what my ears have been accustomed to after thousands of views of this movie (no exaggeration, thousands.) The biggest difference in dubbing is the comprehensive and far more accurate dub that we get now, which really lends a bit more believable nature and intellect to the movie, as intended and done in the original Japanese voice work. The soundtrack was the last audio thing I wanted to mention because I simply adore the way it was redone. It does sound incredibly polished, and far clearer, which is something I never even acknowledged could be done better before I heard it here. The singers are the same, the instruments are the same, but the quality is different.
Again, only a nut like myself could detect the difference in a way a note's taken, or the way that the vibrato fluctuates isn't like it was in the original soundtrack. None-the-less, it's magnificent!
BIIIG Bonus for anyone that picks up the actual soundtrack - the song from the original american trailer is now a 12th bonus track!
This is the song in question:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVAl60Koako
As for the visuals, everything's completely intact, except for a few scenes that have been scrapped. Now, don't cry, don't strangle your child or parents in a violent rage, simply enjoy the fact that they are scrapped for nearly identically scripted and acted out scenes, that follow the originals frame by frame. The scenes are redone in 3-D animation, in a very starkly contrasting image compared to their original dark and aquatic counterparts. Instead we are treated to scenes far more akin to the first half of Innocence - very much near-black environments, covered in the warmth of the orange neon that spreads everywhere. Other scenes, while still being in their original format (about 70% of the movie) are left completely intact without much change, outside of having revisited once again all sound effects, and new lighting effects and visual modifications being done in terms of reflections, new colors, glow effects, and everything being touched up to look much crisper.
In total, I'm fascinated at how precise the makers were (one of course being Oshii, who overlooked and guided the entire project) to keep the feel of the original, while changing it in a way that demonstrated the strength of movie, and its flexibility. I think the one thing I enjoyed most was the comparison I drew between it, and Innocence. Both were comparative in color scheme, and while the atmosphere still greatly differed it still showed me the consistency between the two films. It let me realize what the links were, where the ties were (outside of the obvious music style and characters), and how the two movies truly are intertwined brilliantly.
This movie's been the epitome of total immersion for me for well over 14 years now, and I'm as always in love with it. To not get this, if you are in any way shape of the series, of the movie, or even of fine animation, or to a greater degree, ART, would be a shame. This movie's a splendid presentation of how even something redone needn't be redone beyond its necessity and efforts, and exactly how powerful a project was given to us back in 1995. The new polish and paint job certainly didn't hurt.
I find it no better, no worse, but immensely different. You won't feel alienated by it if you were close to the movie and its themes, everything's there, simply in a new way to captivate you.
mm