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Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

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Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#31

Post by mauvia »

nanna wrote: post #4

I feel like I haven't seen an anime in years that's been in the same league as Akira or the great Miyazakis (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Totoro). Yes i'd be brutal and include Miyazakis following works in that list, from Howls Moving Castle to The Boy and the Heron. Ive seen lots of incredible animation, sure, but nothing like the cinematic depth. What am I missing? What should an old fart who's becoming convin…

Have you tried any of Satoshi Kon's movies?

Tokyo Godfathers is an amazing and deeply human christmas comedy about homeless people in the Tokyo streets, filled with magical moments of cinematography.

Paprika is a less lighthearted story about inner lives, dreams and ambitions set across a sci fi backdrop where people are learning to enter each other's dreams and link them together. It has gorgeous dreamscapes and an amazing soundtrack as well as a fascinating plot and interesting characters.

Thre's also Makoto Shinkai's movies, which have good cinematography and interesting themes and soundtrack, as well as somewhat interesting characters (though a bit samey). Your Name is excellent, with Weathering with You and Suzume being good but not great. 5 Centimeters per second is nice as well. Children who chase lost voices underground is his most Ghibli movie and I'd say it definitely gets the tone and aesthetics right for the Nausica/Mononoke era of Ghibli.

On the Ghibli side, I quite enjoyed Studio Ponoc's Modest Heroes, which was a collection of shorts by Studio Ponoc (which has some Ghibli Veterans in it as well as younger talent I believe). Kanini and Kanino has the adventure elements and aesthetics, Life ain't gonna lose has the small child PoV element, Invisible has the social elements.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#32

Post by windowshopping »

nanna wrote: post #4

I feel like I haven't seen an anime in years that's been in the same league as Akira or the great Miyazakis (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Totoro). Yes i'd be brutal and include Miyazakis following works in that list, from Howls Moving Castle to The Boy and the Heron. Ive seen lots of incredible animation, sure, but nothing like the cinematic depth. What am I missing? What should an old fart who's becoming convin…

"A Silent Voice" is the best anime film of the 2010s in my opinion and comes closer to matching Miyazaki than anything else I've seen, in terms of the power of storytelling. Miyazaki is still better, but it's extremely good.

I also enjoyed "Wolf Children" a lot. As others have said, "Your Name" is stellar too, and "5cm/sec" is pretty damn excellent.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#33

Post by flobosg »

austin-cheney wrote: post #8
nanna wrote: post #4

I feel like I haven't seen an anime in years that's been in the same league as Akira or the great Miyazakis (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Totoro). Yes i'd be brutal and include Miyazakis following works in that list, from Howls Moving Castle to The Boy and the Heron. Ive seen lots of incredible animation, sure, but nothing like the cinematic depth. What am I missing? What should an old fart who's becoming convin…

My favorite is Patlabor 2. Here is the Japanese cultural explainer (spoiler): https://youtu.be/ybLKmO5Kq5A?si=bzIEK436EeWF_o5s

I haven’t watched it yet, but reading this article a while ago got me interested:

'Patlabor 2: The Movie' has stunningly realistic aerial combat – https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/realistic-aerial-combat-m...

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#34

Post by Shinchy »

I'm not sure what others are saying, I re-watched Ghost in the Shell again recently and I had forgotten just how brilliant it is. There is something pure about it that you just don't find in modern anime, something that really resonated.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#35

Post by rekabis »

The author fails in their understanding of Animé’s history in North America.

While certain series such as The White Lion, Astroboy, Space Battleship Yamato (marketed over here as Starblazors) and Captain Harlock did see airtime first, it was Robotech - the Harmony Gold Frankenstein of three completely unrelated Animé series - that kicked off the process in 1984. It was Robotech that threw rocket fuel onto the burning embers of fandom in North America. Akira just helped the process along.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#36

Post by 0xDEADFED5 »

nanna wrote: post #4

I feel like I haven't seen an anime in years that's been in the same league as Akira or the great Miyazakis (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Totoro). Yes i'd be brutal and include Miyazakis following works in that list, from Howls Moving Castle to The Boy and the Heron. Ive seen lots of incredible animation, sure, but nothing like the cinematic depth. What am I missing? What should an old fart who's becoming convin…

Texhnolyze

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#37

Post by ngc248 »

gbuk2013 wrote: post #9
nanna wrote: post #4

I feel like I haven't seen an anime in years that's been in the same league as Akira or the great Miyazakis (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Totoro). Yes i'd be brutal and include Miyazakis following works in that list, from Howls Moving Castle to The Boy and the Heron. Ive seen lots of incredible animation, sure, but nothing like the cinematic depth. What am I missing? What should an old fart who's becoming convin…

This is heavily biased by my preferred genre of anime but here are some my favourite more recent anime series off the top of my head: Full metal Alchemist: Brotherhood https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullmetal_Alchemist:_Brother... Attack on Titan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Titan Mushishi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushishi Frieren: Beyond Journey's End https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frieren

Mushishi is so atmospheric and just amazing

Also for some madcap anime FLCL ... that is quintessential anime for me.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#38

Post by [deleted] »

chambers wrote: post #21

I rewatched Ghost in the Shell recently and I was struck by how poorly it aged. Its animation holds up but its story felt weaker than I remembered. Like the director reached for something deep, couldn't get ahold of it, and then covered his tracks behind wordy philosophy.

[deleted]

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#39

Post by pjc50 »

austin-cheney wrote: post #8
nanna wrote: post #4

I feel like I haven't seen an anime in years that's been in the same league as Akira or the great Miyazakis (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Totoro). Yes i'd be brutal and include Miyazakis following works in that list, from Howls Moving Castle to The Boy and the Heron. Ive seen lots of incredible animation, sure, but nothing like the cinematic depth. What am I missing? What should an old fart who's becoming convin…

My favorite is Patlabor 2. Here is the Japanese cultural explainer (spoiler): https://youtu.be/ybLKmO5Kq5A?si=bzIEK436EeWF_o5s

I didn't understand why people kept recommending this until I spotted that the director is Mamoru Oshii, director of GitS. It's perfectly reasonable as a standalone film without having seen 1. And it's good in the same ways as GitS; mix of action, political thriller, and lingering artistic set piece.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#40

Post by pjc50 »

XorNot wrote: post #2

Ghost In The Shell suffers from really dragging in the middle. There's a bunch a bunch of sequences which go on just way too long for the total amount of plot in the film, and there's a lot of missing context for the main character's motivation: we just kind of get a couple big exposition dumps, but no real feel for who the Major is or why the core conceit of the plot matters to her. The Stand Alone Complex series, c…

Now this is a matter of taste, but I love the slow moments where the film just pans over city scenes with no dialogue. Just a little time to breathe and look at the art in the middle of the action. It's a film that posits a bunch of questions about human vs machine and then declines to answer them in favor of letting you think about them.
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