Selling 'Ghost in the Shell' • Hacker News Board

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#61

Post by livueta » Fri, May 10, 2024, 6:53 PM UTC

mauvia wrote: post #31

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…

On Kon, Paranoia Agent is also excellent. And if we're taking 2000s shows into account, I also have to mention Kuuchuu Buranko in that category of Paranoia Agent-reminiscent sociologically interesting shows.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#62

Post by YurgenJurgensen » Fri, May 10, 2024, 7:48 PM UTC

sterlind wrote: post #57

YurgenJurgensen wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All these people giving recs are doing it wrong. You can determine if an anime is worth your time by merely looking at the title and what the source material is and the following simple system: Candidates start with 5 points. If they have a positive score after applying the system, they're at least worth checking out (although they will not necessarily be good). If not, you are likely wasting your time. 1) Every word…

I'm amused that Hetalia: Axis Powers gets the highest possible score.

Only the first season. (And appropriately, I didn't think later seasons were as good when the novelty wore off.)

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#63

Post by YurgenJurgensen » Fri, May 10, 2024, 8:33 PM UTC

ojhughes wrote: post #51

YurgenJurgensen wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All these people giving recs are doing it wrong. You can determine if an anime is worth your time by merely looking at the title and what the source material is and the following simple system: Candidates start with 5 points. If they have a positive score after applying the system, they're at least worth checking out (although they will not necessarily be good). If not, you are likely wasting your time. 1) Every word…

I really enjoyed "Re:ZERO - Starting Life in Another World" despite it scoring -11.5 using your system (Isekai translates to another world)

If you hadn't seen Now and Then, Here and There, or Twelve Kingdoms, or read Red River, then maybe it'd seem fresh and interesting, but I dropped Re:Zero pretty early. Good genre fiction still has something to say about the real world, and Re:Zero felt like it was trying so hard to subvert genre expectations set by other fiction that it forgot that.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#64

Post by YurgenJurgensen » Fri, May 10, 2024, 8:58 PM UTC

msp26 wrote: post #56

YurgenJurgensen wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All these people giving recs are doing it wrong. You can determine if an anime is worth your time by merely looking at the title and what the source material is and the following simple system: Candidates start with 5 points. If they have a positive score after applying the system, they're at least worth checking out (although they will not necessarily be good). If not, you are likely wasting your time. 1) Every word…

Petty much yeah. Agreed on historical anime/manga generally being higher quality by default. The research required tends to filter hack authors. Have you read Magus of the Library?

I have not. I have a completely different set of criteria for choosing manga because their production process is so different than for anime. I have a tendency to only buy physical copies, so if something never catches my eye in a book shop, or never makes it into a book shop, I will probably never even know it exists if it's not by an author I already know.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#65

Post by The5thElephant » Fri, May 10, 2024, 9:08 PM UTC

cjk2 wrote: post #6

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…

There is good stuff out there. I watched Pantheon and Scavengers Reign recently, both excellent, but not old stable anime. Scavengers Reign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWQH8cMpWTU Pantheon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_HJ3TSlo5c

Not enough people know about Pantheon.

However both Scavenger's Reign and Pantheon feel distinctly different from Japanese anime. They have a much more Western aesthetic eye visually, narratively, and especially in terms of music I feel.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#66

Post by ranger207 » Fri, May 10, 2024, 9:09 PM UTC

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.

Ghost in the Shell was one of the first animes I saw, but while I quickly switched from dubs to subs, I only rewatched GitS subbed fairly recently. The subtitles are far better than the dubbed audio, and I'd encourage anyone who has only seen it dubbed to attempt watching it subbed instead

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#67

Post by mejutoco » Fri, May 10, 2024, 10:12 PM UTC

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.

What do you think about the matrix (the movie)?

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#68

Post by xorbax » Fri, May 10, 2024, 10:57 PM UTC

YurgenJurgensen wrote: post #43

Shinchy wrote: post #34

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.

That something is acetate.

This is why I think Akira can't be surpassed. Not just because it was done on acetate, but because of the level of skill and consideration required to animate that way. You can't just undo that brush stroke onto the cel and try something else.

As much as technology has democratized the field, I think it also lowers the heights. I desperately hope I'm wrong and just old, but I haven't met someone who puts up something that they think is better. Maybe it's just because we're in the transitory phase - but digital animation has been around for decades at this point. Maybe it's Ikea versus handcrafting, and the shift is in the expected quality rather than the art elevating itself to meet priors.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#69

Post by bellboy_tech » Fri, May 10, 2024, 10:58 PM UTC

GITS is amazing as a design universe. The more you dig into the manga or movies (even the SACs) the deeper you get sucked in to what could be. From the vision of mind interfaces to the dream of mind across the net. It was WAY ahead of it's time and still stands up today.

Every crevasse of the original Manga contains deep thought out design on what digital life could become. What constructs we become once we crossed that digital/biological line.

Love it. Happy to buy into the sell.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#70

Post by hdt91 » Fri, May 10, 2024, 11:40 PM UTC

I'm seeing quite a few recommendations for good shows in the comments, under an article about GITS and Mamoru Oshii, but surprisingly no one has brought up the two other fairly well-known (?) works: Angel's Egg and Urusei Yatsura 2. The first one just got the news about a 4k upgrade next year and first time Western release, while the other has few reasons to be a stand-alone movie of the same manga besides the main cast. Both are sometimes incredibly trippy and heady with the hypnotic 90s look, which seem to be much fewer in the modern anime but I haven't really kept up with new stuff these days as well as animation styles certainly evolve over time.