Ghost in the Shell Ver 2.0

Discussions about the first film (Ghost in the Shell) and the second (Innocence)

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marto_motoko
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Ghost in the Shell Ver 2.0

Post by marto_motoko »

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

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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. :P 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
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Who are you? Who slips into my robot body and whispers to my ghost?
StuckInTheShell
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Post by StuckInTheShell »

Considering the condition of the original source material and the flawed transfer used for the original DVD release, they did a pretty good job cleaning up the video for 2.0
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Freitag
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Post by Freitag »

StuckInTheShell wrote:Considering the condition of the original source material and the flawed transfer used for the original DVD release, they did a pretty good job cleaning up the video for 2.0
I read this as saying that the original source material was lost and that only DVD copies remained?

Is that so?
People tend to look at you a little strangely when they know you stuff voodoo dolls full of Ex-Lax.
StuckInTheShell
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Post by StuckInTheShell »

Freitag wrote:
StuckInTheShell wrote:Considering the condition of the original source material and the flawed transfer used for the original DVD release, they did a pretty good job cleaning up the video for 2.0
I read this as saying that the original source material was lost and that only DVD copies remained?

Is that so?
No that's not what I meant. The source used for the DVD release was in pretty bad condition and that was reflected in the video quality of the DVD. There is extensive color banding, color bleeding, grain and lack of focus throughout the film and it generally lacks detail. 2.0 is a giant leap forward.
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GhostLine
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Post by GhostLine »

i say say that i've finally purchased the DVD ver. after all this time. it's not necessarily a huge change...it still retains the original flavor. i like how we at least can see a better sense of motoko merging with the puppetmaster.... I enjoyed it...it doesn't really shatter my universe however, but i think they did a good job of cleaning up somethingthat we all already love.
StuckInTheShell
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Post by StuckInTheShell »

GhostLine wrote:i say say that i've finally purchased the DVD ver. after all this time. it's not necessarily a huge change...it still retains the original flavor. i like how we at least can see a better sense of motoko merging with the puppetmaster.... I enjoyed it...it doesn't really shatter my universe however, but i think they did a good job of cleaning up somethingthat we all already love.
I agree. I think if they made it over the top you would hear a lot of complaints
alfonso2501
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Post by alfonso2501 »

Here's someone's YouTube review along with some contrast & comparison of some scenes. And for the record, I still have the VHS version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQeRSp_0wOw
Storm
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Post by Storm »

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).
I'm 99.9% sure that there isn't an American re-recording, the english dub is still the original. Motoko is still played by Mimi Woods rather than Mary Elizabeth MyGlynn (anime)
I'm actually very glad they didn't, the original dub is superb in my opinion. Also The original films atmosphere does owe a lot to Mimi Woods portrayal of Motoko, I don't know about anyone else here... but although I love both S.A.C and the films, Motoko seems far more like a soul trapped in a robotic body in the film, where as in the anime you could often mistake her for an ordinary woman. This is down to the animation style (check out her eyes in the movie, they often look like glass/dolls eyes just staring into the distance) and the voice portrayal.

This is my first post by the way! Hi everyone!
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Freitag
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Post by Freitag »

Storm wrote:This is my first post by the way! Hi everyone!
Howdy!
People tend to look at you a little strangely when they know you stuff voodoo dolls full of Ex-Lax.
John_234
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Post by John_234 »

Though I still haven't seen the entire thing, after a few montages I have to say the CG sequences could... be a lot more tasteful, IMO. Random, obviously CG scenes tend to really break the immersion and beauty of the whole thing.
"If I believe I have a ghost, I will." Is this true? That's quite a controversy.
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