Ghost in the Shell II: Innocence is the sequel to the classic Ghost in the
Shell movie created by Masamune Shirow.
Continuing shortly after where the first left off, the focus of this movie has
shifted a bit from the first. This is mainly due to the fact that the Major has been missing since the
events that transpired at the end of the previous film, leaving Batou, her old
partner, in charge in lieu of her absence.
Continuing his detective work for section 9, Batou teams up with Togusa to
work on a new case, one not very fitting of their anti-terrorism title.
A couple of sex dolls have gone haywire and killed their masters, and
subsequently themselves. This is nothing all that important looking from the outside, but as they delve
deeper into why this is happening, they end up uncovering much more than they
bargained for.
Review: Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is one of the best animated and most mind numbing anime features I
have watched.
Removing most of the comedy that fills the previous movie and the subsequent
series, Innocence ends up as a very serious and rather pretentious movie.
What makes this movie pretentious is a combination of too much complex
dialogue along with a never ending stream of “quotes”.
These conversations usually touch on the usual Ghost in the Shell questions concerning
dolls, their ghosts, whether they are really alive, what makes a person alive,
what makes them real, at what point does a person lose their humanity,
etcetra.
I think you get the picture. Now, exploring this fascinating world that Masamune Shirow has created is one
of the most intriguing parts of the Ghost in the Shell franchise.
Except when a 90 minute movie is almost entirely taken up with these long
dialogues and quote battles, which makes it all just seem rather tiresome.
That isn’t to say the conversations aren’t interesting, they are thought
provoking and well thought-out as one would expect, but one can only take so
much.
This time around, with the Major MIA, the story focuses on the newly formed
partnership between Batou and Togusa, the problems they face as a team, and
their mission to figure out why sexaroids are killing their masters.
The actual storyline is not that complex; it just seems complex due to the
psychobabble being spewed almost continuously. It almost seems like the storyline took a backseat to having philosophical
conversations about the storyline, if that makes any sense.
Though I may make it seem like there is nothing but talking that wouldn’t be
wholly correct.
Action, while spare, is present throughout the movie, but is never really long
enough or engaging enough to satisfy action junkies like myself, and with such
stunning animation, those fights could have been such a beautiful thing.
Considering that Innocence was released in 2004, one can only be thoroughly
impressed with the quality of its animation.
It achieves a very dark and intense look and feel missing from the other Ghost in the Shell 2004 incarnations.
Maybe they wanted to match the more serious tone of the movie with its
animation, but the effect is quite apparent.
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However, with such beautiful animation it would have been nice if they would
have used it to do more action scenes, rather than wasting it on watching
people as they talk to one another.
Sadly, for whatever reason, Innocence did not receive an English dub in the
United States. It did get an English dub in the United Kingdom, so I really don’t know what
the problem was.
Supposedly they are going to release a version with an English dub at some
point, but I do not know when.
On a happier note, the old Japanese dub crew is back to reprise their roles
from the original movie and they are more than adequate for their respective
parts.
Also reprising his role is Kenji Kawai, who did the music for the first movie
and now Innocence.
Using a number of chorus scores with the haunting melody of children singing
to the backdrop of such a serious feature is quite a combination that I found
worked very well together.
In addition to these haunting melodies, we have a number of songs sung in
English with a jazz vibe to them for the slower, more relaxed moments in the
film.
Ghost in the Shell 2 Innocence anime is a fine follow-up to the classic Ghost in the
Shell movie, with spectacular animation and a wonderful music score.
However, while the technical merits shine, Innocence suffers from a lack of
action and an overall feeling that the movie finds itself a little too
important for its own good.
Miscellaneous: Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
The US release does not include an English Dub, but might be released with one
in the future.
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence | |
| Genre | Action |
|---|---|
| Episodes | 1 |
| Status | Finished Airing |
| Aired | Mar 6, 2004 |
| Producers | Bandai Visual, Dentsu, Kodansha, d-rights, Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network |
| Studio | Production I.G |
| Rating | R - 17+ (violence & profanity) |
| Themes | Adult Cast, Detective, Mecha, Military, Psychological |
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