The Ghost in the Shell is a really long and confusing story. It starts out where a president or officer or someone who owns a company gets assassinated. Motoko shows up (she just kinda appears anywhere at anytime out of nowhere) and rips apart the assassins. She is on a mission to do something with a computer chip. (I think) and before long, a weird crime wave comes around. Someone, or something, that calls itself the puppetmaster, is hacking into people's ghosts. In other words, it is stealing their souls. Motoko obviously tries to track it down. There are some other people that try to track it down too, and show up at places at the wrong times, blah blah blah...
Oh, and by the way, Motoko is an android and she acts like a big jerk most of the time because she can't feel any emotions or something like that. I understood about 1/10 of that movie and the manga I found to be even more confusing and so therefore it was kind of boring. Oh yeah, and there is something to the effect of the human mind can be programmed or something and WHERE DOES HUMANITY AND COMPUTERY-PEOPLE END!?!?!??!?!?!? AHHH THE HORROR!!!!! (did you understand that? I didn't, and I wrote it)
Storyline
5/5 Looked and sounded so good but I'm too dumb for these kinds of shows.
Character Development
4/5 Who and the what? I only remember about three people.
Plot Depth
5/5 I'd say it was too deep for its own good. Maybe we should take out some of the confusing parts and make people dance around naked. Then we would all be happy, right? -_- ()
Music
5/5 I liked the music. Still couldn't understand the words, but hey, I'nm USED to that!
Sexual Content
5/5 Um... no I don't think so. I would have UNDERSTOOD that.
Nudity
3/5 Motoko is always nude. When she is being created she had to be nude. But when she fights crime, she does not have to be. When she rips things apart, to show off her steroid-bound arms, she could have worn a TANK TOP!
Violence/Gore
3/5 Pretty violent. More than your usual anime.
Animation
5/5 Very good! Lots of it was computer-enhanced and detailed.
Profanity
4/5 They swear quite a bit and say rather severe swear-words... something to the effect of it rhymes with "truck."
Overall goodness
5/5 Um... don't see this unless you are Einstein. The effects are fun to oogle over for the first half an hour, but that gets old. I was hanging upside down off of the couch because I was so bored. My brain hurt.
Totals: 44/50, pretty high but still, I didn't like it too much. I thought it looked really cool because I like science-fiction and computery things so much.
This is so confusing. I really recommend the manga BIG time. No offense, but it leaves so much out and you sit and go, "Blink?" It's good, though. But so much is left out that you probably, no matter HOW smart you are, could never understand it. Sorry about that. I just HAD to state that very fact. (as you can tell, it's confusing.) ON TO THE STORYLINE!
Motoko Kusanagi is a female android. She works in Section 9, I think. Wow. Sounds exiting. But there's a disturbing little crime wave going around. And it deals with Motoko in a personal way. A person, or THING is infiltrating people's "ghosts". Their souls. And implating false memories. This cannot happen. But no one knows who this thing is. So we call it "2501" or twenty-five-oh-one. We gotta get rid of it! But HOW? What is it? Human? Machine? The ultimate being? WHAT THE HECK IS THIS THING? What does it REALLY mean to be human? And are we really experiencing what we THINK we are?
Motoko loses herself slowly. She can't really experience her emotion in the same way. (this is MUCH better portrayed in the manga.) Even her thoughts are losing their personal feel. And ghost-diving seems to be it. You can reach into people's thoughts and feelings. But if you're aware that people are in your head, then you can BRAIN-BURN 'em! How fun! She loses the little bit of humanity left in her.
Storyline
5/5 Confusing. I know, this is so excellent. Maybe I'm stupid?
Character Development
3/5 Crappy. I'm sorry, but it was crappy. We knew NOTHING. A little, of you listen to 2501. (my thinkings are mostly manga-based.)
Plot Depth
5/5 Really, really deep. It deals with you on a personal level, because humanity is involved. And hey, we're only human, right? Or maybe that's just what we're thinking. We may not even be alive.
Music
5/5 There was music? (actually, there was, and it was good. But it's awfully hard to remember, there's so much ELSE going on.)
Sexual Content
5/5 None, really. Motoko loses her 'sexual' interests as well as her other stuff. (again, better portrayed in the manga)
Nudity
2/5 TOO MUCH NUDITY! You actually have to DEBATE whether Motoko's wearing a skin-tight outfit that shows FAR too much, or nothing at all! I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO DEBATE THIS!!
Violence/Gore
3/5 Lots of it. But mostly, just robots getting the crap beaten out of them.
Animation
5/5 Oh, excellent. Some of the best.
Profanity
4/5 The first and only time I have heard the "f" word in an anime. (oh, wait.. I think Rally said it, too. Never mind!)
Overall goodness
5/5 Good, but I still strongly recommend the manga over the tape.
Totals: 41/50, Really good, but still. The manga is better. (I like enforcing that, as you can tell.)
TOTALS: 42.5/50 Very nice, very goo.
***We really DO plan on buying it. Dubbed, of course! We saw it dubbed and UNCUT! Comic Junction, of course****