Ghost in the Shell

The difference between cartoons and film in Japanese culture has never been great. The country's most popular series by far, Lone Wolf and Cub, about a masterless samurai and his young son (in Swedish in the magazine Samurai 1988-92), has been adapted for the screen several times. Those cartoons - mangas (among the flood which have become so popular in the West during the 90s) - which were not based on comic strips, have since received comic strip sequels. French man Christophe Ganz has recently, for the American producer Brian Yuzna (Reanimatoretc), made a successful adaption of one of the most popular manga characters, Crying Freeman. It has earlier been adapted for the screen in Hong Kong with the title Killer's Romance. We can expect more in the future. In the meantime, we may as well point out that manga films have a reputation which does not correspond to the grim reality. Stereotypical stories, bad animation and in the long run a lack of imagination which is very tiring. The exceptions are few: the post-apocalyptic futuristic vision Akira and the fascinating aviator epic Wings of Honneamise. And Ghost in the Shell. Superficially, Ghost in the Shell is not particularly original, with many influences from Robocop, Terminator and political conspiracy thrillers of the last twenty years. However, when watching the film you quickly overlook this. The story of a group of police - people or robots, where is the dividing line? - who are trying to track down an experimental creature which has gone astray, is told in a way that draws you into the events of the plot. Director Mamoru Oshii has understood what, for example, the Disney productions Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame seem to have forgotten, that animated film should be used to show that which for various reasons - e g cost- cannot be shown in an ordinary feature film. Breath-tailing tracking shots through a futuristic megacity mixed with claustrophobic glimpses of shady state authorities, provide a rarely beheld sense of presence. When will we get to see films like this at a Swedish cinema? J E

Orig. titel
Koukado kidoutai: Medverkande
Animation: Producent
Yoshimasa Mizou: Manus
Kazunori Ito, based on the original Manga by Masamune Shirow: Musik
Kenji Kawai: Talat språk
English