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Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

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Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#141

Post by warcher »

xorbax wrote: post #68
YurgenJurgensen wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Watch into the spider verse sometime if you want to see what modern tech can be when it’s fully unleashed, versus kept under budget.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#142

Post by cjk2 »

ethbr1 wrote: post #132
cjk2 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the way. Arrr.

Anime piracy and subtitles, even with globalization, is on a different level. Especially with the detail and effort that goes into some fansubs.

Yeah exactly that. I had a crunchy roll subscription but shitcanned it in the end because the quality of the releases is an order of magnitude better from the pirates.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#143

Post by chaostheory »

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.

Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex is much better. Movies don’t have enough time to tell the story when there’s a lot of political intrigue.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#144

Post by giuseppe_petri »

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

I've not seen Pantheon, but from the trailer it seems very close to Neal Stephenson's "Fall, or Dodge in Hell".

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#145

Post by giuseppe_petri »

xorbax wrote: post #68
YurgenJurgensen wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> You can't just undo that brush stroke onto the cel and try something else.

That's why you animate with pencil on paper first.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#147

Post by AlotOfReading »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #109
maxglute wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every part of GiS has been, per article "endlessly ripped off, referenced and remixed". Whatever one liked about original GiS, there's a derivation out there that turns dial to 11 and makes the original feel basic in retrospect. But that's testimony to GiS greatness.

The "Lord of the Rings" novel is that way too to anyone not steeped in fantasy. It might be hard to imagine for many people these days that "elves" and "dwarves" strictly meant children's fairytales before Tolkien. Magical rings, wizards, dragons with tunnels of gold ... seems so cliche now it is easy to see why someone would wonder what the big deal about Tolkien is.

Elves and dwarves didn't strictly mean children's fairy tales prior to Tolkien. There's plenty of semi-popular prior art where they feature, like the Worm Ouroboros or The King of Elfland's Daughter. Poul Anderson also published The Broken Sword the same year as LOTR, which shows a lot of the same influences as written by a very different author.

Tolkien's importance is that the specific kinds of creatures he wrote became the default for virtually all subsequent authors and the popularity/quality of the works were pivotal in establishing fantasy as a "proper" genre.

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#148

Post by BoingBoomTschak »

hapticmonkey wrote: post #125
BoingBoomTschak wrote: post #44

Just a notice that all Blu-Rays of the 95 GITS are completely and hopelessly mangled (cropped, blurred and black crushed). The only "good" version is an old HDTV rip that was hand-remastered by Judgment; but with heavy smoothing in the process, a film grain shader to mask this is recommended. BD: http://comp.judging.it/content/Koukaku%20Kidoutai/1080p-3/BD... HDTV: http://comp.judging.it/content/Koukaku%20Kidoutai/10…

The 4K Bluray copy I have seems to be an improvement over both? Note: This is the HDR screenshot so colours look wrong unless tonemapped to a SDR display. https://i.imgur.com/PFVzuYi.jpeg

Still some cropping and way too much DNR, but not as bad as the 1080p BDs indeed. Some people recommend it over the HDTV source (which was a bitstarved WMV3 encode) for its better handling of action sequences (i.e. without horrible macroblocking).

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#149

Post by BoingBoomTschak »

SuperNinKenDo wrote: post #71
BoingBoomTschak wrote: post #44

Just a notice that all Blu-Rays of the 95 GITS are completely and hopelessly mangled (cropped, blurred and black crushed). The only "good" version is an old HDTV rip that was hand-remastered by Judgment; but with heavy smoothing in the process, a film grain shader to mask this is recommended. BD: http://comp.judging.it/content/Koukaku%20Kidoutai/1080p-3/BD... HDTV: http://comp.judging.it/content/Koukaku%20Kidoutai/10…

That's beyond heartbreaking. Everything is somehow getting worse but I'd held out hope that something universally considered a masterpiece might get better treatment. Do you know if a better release exists in Japan?

If you want another known bad case: https://sephirotic.wordpress.com/2015/10/11/neon-genesis-eva...

Re: Selling 'Ghost in the Shell'

#150

Post by sbarre »

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.

How old were you when you first saw it?

I know when I go back to movies that "blew my mind" when I was a teenager or in my early 20s, now 30 years later, they're rarely as incredible as I remember them being..

I'm older, wiser and with more life experience, and it's therefore much harder to "blow my mind" as they say..

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