Netflix adds more anime to their excellent collection with this new Ghost in the Shell series, the first to be animated in full CG, for better and worse.
Ever since Masamune Shirow's 1989 manga was released, filmmakers have been looking for ways to bring the ideas to the Big Screen - The Wachowskis' cited it as inspiration for ideas in The Matrix, Cameron for ideas in Avatar - but the source material proved elusive to an actual live action adaptation, brimming with cerebral metaphysical hard sci-fi ideas of soul and cyber-soul, eventually leading to an atmospheric but ultimately abortive Hollywood origin thriller with Scarlett Johansson in the lead, hoping to be picked up for a full franchise.
Faring much better was Japanese studio Production I.G., who have been delivering iconic animated adaptations for 25 years - two primary films: Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, then two seasons of the excellent TV show Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, a spin-off feature film, Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society, a sort-of reboot series Ghost in the Shell: Arise, and a spin-off from the reboot, Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie.
Keeping up with the whole Ghost in the Shell saga can be quite... complicated, particularly with this latest entry, which doesn't really follow the Arise soft reboot / prequel story, but instead continues the preceding - and arguably far superior - Stand Alone Complex story (hence the SAC_2045 name) albeit pushed forward to a point in time where things are a little different.
All the pieces are in place for an excellent return to form
In the future, technology determines the natures of not only society but war itself, with the world creating a so-called 'Sustainable War' following the end of the climactic events of Solid State Society. This War is supposed to fuel the economy, but soon gets out of control, with society once again teetering on the edge of techno-anarchy.
Formerly an elite Government group of cyber-warriors, The Major's loyal team have since joined the private sector, working as mercenaries assigned to keep the peace as pockets of troublesome revolutionary gangs rear their heads across the globe. When their former boss, Aramaki, wants to put together the old Section 9 team for the mission of the utmost importance, he dispatches the last remaining, estranged, teammate - Togusa - to find The Major, Batou, Saito and the rest, who have gotten themselves in something of a tricky situation with a shady, heavily armed unit that are holding them accountable for a peacekeeping mission gone awry
Stand Alone Complex was devastatingly - at times painfully - complex. Split into separate chapters - the 'standalone' episodes, and the ones part of a greater, overarching story 'complex' - it was much more than that, interlinking its way across over 50 hefty episodes, many of which relied more on complex political machinations, tech warfare and philosophical discussions than pure action. As a result, it was also beautifully satisfying, when you forged your way through to the heady, superbly intricate masterplan beneath it all (something which the later-crafted 'movie' version of The Laughing Man and The Individual Eleven attempted to simplify with some success).
SAC_2045 does not necessarily follow the same style, which is probably a good thing, and certainly a necessary one for popular modern productions, instead ditching the Stand Alone from its name to tell one long story arc that reintroduces you to this world and the characters that inhabit it, and then sets them off on one of their hardest missions yet. It's strong narrative work, even if it eschews some of the complexity of its forebears in favour of a (relatively) more straightforward plot. It also ups the ante on the action front, albeit more than happy to deliver it in savoured salvos, rather than consistently, building up the tension over one episode and then going all-in for the next. The opening chase sequence might be a little inconsequential, but when the drone arrives, it leads to a whole second episode of mayhem.
For every video game shot, there's a subsequent moment which wows in its intricacies, but it's really quite a mixed bag, and watching Ghost in the Shell: The Video Game can be distracting
Running at half the length of the previous Stand Alone Complex shows (12 episodes - although they've greenlit a second season already), the more straightforward narrative pays dividends here too, running closer to one long feature-length movie, and remaining engaging across the runtime. And with the original cast returning (both US and Japanese voice actresses for The Major return to the role they've held for some two decades after being AWOL for Arise - it's nice to have Mary Elizabeth McGlynn back as Motoko even if Netflix are taking their time loading the English dub), all the pieces are in place for an excellent return to form.
Unfortunately, despite these strong - key - elements, this is Studio I.G.'s first attempt at a wholly CG Ghost in the Shell animation and the results are jarring at best. It was bad enough that 2015's Arise series reimagined The Major in such a creepy fashion - basically too child-like, particularly in her face - but SAC_2045 threatens to go even further, and the odd CG look doesn't help either, impressing in intermittent bouts of detailed shots and sequences, and in the action, but also more often than not drifting into pure video game territory (particularly when anybody gets into a vehicle and just cruises around the landscape, like a cut scene in GTA). Dolby Vision helps, and for every video game shot, there's a subsequent moment which wows in its intricacies, but it's really quite a mixed bag, and watching Ghost in the Shell: The Video Game can be distracting.
If you can move past this, however, SAC_2045 remains a strong production which has the legs to deliver a combination of the threat-based action and the cerebral thoughtfulness of both the source material and the Stand Alone Complex series' before it, only in a streamlined package which some might find somewhat more accessible. It's also a great addition to Netflix's impressive catalogue of original animation following Love, Death and Robots, and Altered Carbon: Resleeved. Fans should jump right on it, and newcomers should see what they can find on streaming in terms of a starting point - there's no better time to investigate this rich and compelling future-tech universe.
