Back to Sasse.co.uk

 

Ghost in the Shell [GITS], was the next generation of anime when it was released at cinema's in the early 90's. The basic premise is that machines are in wide use, these machines, or androids are in the police force, general labour...pretty much everywhere. However an entity is needed to make these machines work, the 'Ghost' so to speak fills the machine or 'Shell'. Elsewhere something known as the 'Puppet Master' is beginning to cause chaos and is causing many of these machines to go on killing spree's and carry out increasingly society crippling plans. Major Motoko Kusanagi is the main character who we follow through the adventure. She works for Section 9. Section 9 is the arm of the police force that does dirty, special forces-type operations. Their main target is the Puppetmaster, a cyber-terrorist creature of unknown age/sex/race. To go into detail about the plot would seriously ruin it for those yet to see the anime, as like Akira and Jin-Roh this is an excellent example of adult story telling.

Sound wise you get both the Dolby Digital 2.0 Japanese audio track and the Dolby Digital 5.1 English tracks are crystal clear without distortions. Although there is not too much of a difference between the DD2.0 Japanese track and the DD5.1 English track, the action sequences and the opening sequence in DD5.1 will blow you away.

The anime is shown in widescreen that is anamorphically enhanced. The picture quality is sharp with little pixellation and no color oversaturation.

Extra's come in the shape of a behind the scenes documentary;the original theatrical trailer, and an in-depth character and plot analysis section.

Overall Ghost in the Shell is a very competant DVD and should belong in any film lovers collection.