Erik's Favorite Things: Ghost In The Shell: SAC

There seemed to be a time, back in the early to mid-2000s, that animation and comics coming from Japan was huge.  It was overwhelming non-major cable channels, book stores had to completely reorganize themselves for floods of manga about the most mundane and ridiculous subjects coming in, and there were loooooooooooooong debates on the Internet about whether or not downloading anime was okay as long as a) it wasn't licensed for release in the United States yet, and b) it was taken from the Japanese broadcast and had subtitles added on by fans.

I'll freely admit, I watched some fansubbed anime.  Okay, I watched a lot of fansubbed anime, but what started as simply trying to soak it all in like some bizarre sponge that needed speed lines and wacky hijinks to survive instead of water, I slowly found myself becoming more and more choosy about what I watched.

It wasn't that the shows that were coming out weren't still good.  It's just that I realized there were certain formulas for stories that I could predict as a series went on.  It's the same reason I fell out from your standard hour long crime dramas, I didn't need evidence to solve the case, I just had to figure out the formula.

Plus, I kept feeling that there were some really great ideas that Japan seemed scared to explore further than I ever got to see.  Every now and again a series would touch on something that I really wished it explored further, because it seemed like a great idea for a culture to explore itself and its own social issues in a way that audiences could understand.

I mean, look at shows like The Simpsons, South Park, The Boondocks, and so many others that are able to address controversial issues in a way that the audience can understand, and while it might feel ham-fisted at times, they can often approach it in such a way as to leave you thinking about it afterward.

Sadly, whether it was an exploration of how modern society further encroached on their traditions, an attempt to understand specific cultural matters from their perspective, or even a simple explanation of things that people in other cultures might find strange and/or bizarre (say, the sheer number of sex clubs devoted to specific fetishes, or simply just why so many things are sold in vending machines).

But my discussion of series that I don't think really got a fair shake is a story for another time.  For now, let's look at one that I think did manage to do just what it intended to and explore social issues that would affect both now, in the future, and even explain some of the past.

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex might just be my favorite animated series of all time.  Ever.

It's one I can regularly watch and always spot something new in.  It's one I've watched in both Japanese and English because you can get different facts depending on different translations.  It's one of the very few programs that I loved so much that I even bought figurines of some of the characters.  They still sit on one of my shelves, even if there is a bit of dust on them.

Taking place in the year 2030, the line between person and technology is remarkably thin.  Most people in the world seem to have some kind of cybernetic enhancement, whether it's simply a new set of eyes, a prosthetic limb, or a complete cybernetic body, with just the person's brain and spinal cord residing within.

That last one is the case of the leader of Motoko Kusanagi, the female leader of Section 9.

If you can see her smiling, it's too late to run.

Public Security Section 9 is a counter-terrorist organization that specializes in cybercrime, search and rescue, and anti-crime.  They are essentially the best of the best that the Japanese government forces have to offer, and their involvement in crimes range from stopping a man who downloaded his mind into a tank to tackling corruption within their own government.

For the most part, the first series is an extremely well done political thriller with some great action sequences.  You have the mystery of the "Laughing Man," a political activist who seems to be tied to a huge conspiracy that reaches across the entire country.  However, the series isn't above reaching out to touch further upon the world outside of Japan and the delicate politics at work, whether it's an agent of the "American Empire" or the British Empire at work within their borders or simply exploring the workings of the international drug trade, the series isn't afraid to tackle some extremely tough topics.  You also have a series-long storyline involving the "Tachikomas," lovable little tanks with bubbly personalities that start to explore deep philosophical issues and ponder whether or not they're "alive."

However, most of the social commentary comes in the second series, appropriately titled "2nd GiG."  There have been four world wars by this time period (brief ones, apparently), and Japan is dealing with a huge refugee influx that arrived during wartime to serve as labor, just like they did after the first and second world wars.  However, post-war the jobs are drying up and the refugees are starting to threaten riots, terrorist activities, and outright war to keep themselves alive, healthy, and with the basics for living.  The series again winds up exploring a huge conspiracy that threatens the lives of many of the people across the nation, but also takes the time to explore the political, social, and economic ramifications of just what happens when a nation is trying to rebuild itself as well as take care of a constantly growing population of outsiders that need help.

The graphics and animation are absolutely gorgeous throughout the series, and some of my absolute favorite CG graphics can be found in certain episodes.  Watching characters "dive" into the Internet or watching how stealth technology gets used is great, and the animators didn't skimp on any of the details.  You don't have pieces of paper just sitting in place when a helicopter passes overhead because someone forgot to animate them.

Also, the two soundtracks for the two series are two of my absolute favorite soundtracks of all time.  There are songs on each that I play for myself to hype myself up for difficult tasks, and others I play to help myself relax.  Sure, I don't understand most of the lyrics, but for reasons I don't quite understand, the Japanese are particularly fond of putting English lyrics in some of their songs, so I am able to hum and sing along to a few.

Then again, I'm pretty sure they put Russian into one of them, and there's no way I can sing along to that accurately.

I highly recommend this series for anybody who likes their animation to have some real intelligence behind it.  There are very few problems that are simply "black and white," even if the good guys wind up having to ignore the grays for the greater good.  It's one part Blade Runner, one part The Matrix, one part The West Wing, and I love every minute of it.