Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Border 1: Ghost Pain

For fans of the original film and the 2004 follow-up Innocence, this will be both impressive and disappointing. It seems to be intended as the first part of a TV series rather than a film, so it feels abrupt and under-developed. I may be biased as someone who deeply appreciates robot sci-fi stories but also has high expectations for them.

For first time viewers of any Ghost in the Shell animation, this may be as mind-opening and impressive as the other 2, although the animation style reverts to the original and may seem a little old to people used to more recent animation/cartoon advances. The essence of the science-fiction story remains, with some more modern realism thrown in to keep the story relevant.

The makers should either rebuild and expand this into a proper film or follow-up with another short film that fills in the gaps and then combine the 2. It would be sad to see a great film series like this turn into half-developed TV melodrama.

This was excellent (you can now leave to watch it)....and as a huge fan of the anime (not the manga) I loved it. I have all the other episodes and films and TV films and redux etc. and I love them all for being different but the same, well this is the same, but different.

It looks awesome (real sweet)and has signature cool GITS gadgets and crazy spy plots and Jap. madness and some awesome fight scenes with robot brilliance. Obviously watch in Japanese with Eng. subs if possible. As soon as I had watch it wanted the next instalment (Nov 2013).

Seriously anyone who moans about this (and there are many) because it looks a little different and has a few plot differences is an idiot, as the manga is very VERY difference to all the anime and eventually the comic became 'hentai'(arty porn) so be pleased with what we have here and what we have is excellent! The major is particularly cool and though slightly different than her past incarnations she is still her own woman / android and it is super cool how the team comes together and emotionally binds.

My only issue is the story is a little convoluted and confusing at times but so was the 2ng Gig and especially GITS2 at times due to language and cultural issues as well as poor writing.

Also if you love the films and the previous TV shows then you might have to 'readjust' but the new back stories and the shifted focus really make ARISE its own animal and by the end you simply don't care and just want to see hot robots kill each other! (and other stuff). Also good news....you do not need to know anything about the franchise or the films or manga or animes etc. as it stands on its own two synthetic feet. Go get the bluray version now and you will not be sorry.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate", Captain

Characters are completely destroyed for the purpose (I guess) to introduce this brand to "new generation" viewers and the plot line is recycled from previous GITS incarnations. Nope.

Positive:

• action
• Logicoma is cute & weird
• interesting plot: effects of technology (hacking, cyber terrorism)

Negative:

• confusing (storywise no prior knowledge required, but also no introduction to the Ghost in the Shell Universe)
• characters are neglected
• unnecessarily complex story
• visually very reduced / poorly detailed and somewhat cheap
• meaningless music
• playing time / substance of the story (could have been reduced to half the time)

Now If I am honest I went into this movie a bit sceptically due to the looks of the trailers. But upon pressing play I found the new visual design to be of little consequence and very soon I settled down to what I hoped would be an enjoyable watch. So where did it all go wrong! Well not graphically! I can tell you, graphic quality is not an issue in this production. In fact this is very much a spectacle rich movie in line with western blockbusters as far as that goes, but just like western blockbusters the brains have left the building! It's all flash and no bang, the plot is both boring and stupid, the pacing of the non action moments are so poor you find yourself drifting and thinking about shopping lists and laundry! The things that made GITS so special above its setting its look and even its main characters, was it depth and intelligence! You will find little of either in this film. It is not bad, it is just no where near a 7 out of 10. It is a mediocre 5, watch it and forget it.