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Anime

Ghost In The Shell TV Series 142

Posted by timothy from the wish-there-was-a-riding-bean-series dept.
Briareos writes: "Just found out over at animeondvd.com's forums (no link provided to protect the innocent...) that Production I.G. finally revealed quite some info about the GITS TV series they're currently working on. (I also thought it was a nice birthday present for me, by the way... :)"
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Ghost In The Shell TV Series More

Ghost In The Shell TV Series

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  • Do they have info on who's voice acting for it and such?
  • Is this to air in NA, or will it be import only for us westerners? Couldn't find it on the site.

    Obligatory "me too" props to the movie. I hope is the show is good.

    Now if only I could afford all the Cowboy Bebop episodes I might have to start collecting this stuff, but dam, between the computer parts, the games, the pron, and the consoles, who has money left over for anime imports? :P

  • Invisibility a la Predator (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Will she still have to take her clothes off to become invisible :)
    • Anybody selling the *uncensored* version of the comicbook, by any chance

  • Normally, my attitude toward turning a movie into a series is not enthusiastic, but if any film ended in such a way as to beg for more, Ghost in the Shell is it. Fingers crossed that they don't botch it up by losing sight of the themes and philosophical points of the film.

    In fact, it almost seems like it was ended in such a way as to lead intentionally in to a series. (or a sequel.) Does anyone know whether such a thing was planned originally or not?

    • Re:Makes sense (Score:5, Informative)

      by Apreche ( 239272 ) on Sunday July 21, 2002 @06:40PM (#3927298) Homepage Journal
      Ghost in the Shell was originally a Manga. You can buy the manga if you look around amazon or other books sellers. In the manga is pretty much the WHOLE story in detail. There is also Ghost in the Shell 2, which I'm not sure what happened to it. I can buy the action figures at Media Play for it, but I'm not sure if it was an anime or a manga. This series is pretty much the manga animated and not compressed into one hour, like the movie was. Remember most anime starts out as a manga. The manga usually has a lot more detail and a lot less plot holes, however it is also less shiny and requires you to read. It's also sometimes harder to get manga in English than it is to get anime in english. However, tokyopop (http://www.tokyopop.com) is helping solve this problem. Yay! ^_^
      • I've seen a preview of the first ep of GITS2 in manga form. From that I assume that it will be manga, and possibly anime afterwards.

      • Re:Makes sense (Score:5, Informative)

        by Tom Dunne ( 320684 ) on Sunday July 21, 2002 @06:53PM (#3927337)
        The manga of Ghost in the Shell is significantly more in-depth than the film. While most American fans love the anime (it is well done), I was always disappointed in it because it barely skimmed the surface of the printed story. The anime only followed the core plot that ran through the manga, neglecting some of the really interesting side stories that developed the characters. This was of course necessary to compact 300-some pages of work into a two hour film, but the end result wasn't quite as satisfying (not to this otaku, at any rate!). IMO, Ghost really needed to be done as a series from the beginning, and I'm thrilled to hear that it's being done. If you get into something like Cowboy Bebop, you can really appreciate the depth of storytelling that can go into an animated limited series.

        Regarding Ghost in the Shell 2, the creator (Masamune Shirow) has already finished and released the new series in Japan, and is in the process of converting it for an English-speaking audience. The first issue is hopefully due in October of this year, but don't hold your breath - Shirow is notorious for taking his time with these things. To keep an eye on how the manga translation is going, check out www.studioproteus.com and the fan feedback section in particular. Toren Smith updates more or less monthly, and almost always with news regarding GitS2.

        • Re:Makes sense (Score:2, Interesting)

          by randombit ( 87792 )
          The manga of Ghost in the Shell is significantly more in-depth than the film. While most American fans love the anime (it is well done), I was always disappointed in it because it barely skimmed the surface of the printed story.

          I agree that a movie would have been a better format for this. Most of the anime movies I've seen tend to be like that, particularly Akira and Ghost in the Shell. Though doing a whole series of Akira, and keeping the level of visual quality would have come at an outragous cost, I'm sure.

          Compared to the differences between the movie and print versions of Akira, the changes in GiTS are absolutely trivial. Not to say the Akira movie didn't rock (it still is about the best animation I've ever seen), but the manga has so much more detail it's insane.

          I only read the manga after seeing the movie (GiTS was the first 'real' anime I ever saw), so I've never felt too disapointed by the movie. Actually, it enhanced reading the manga a lot, because I would read sections that cleared up some obscure reference or statement in the movie, and think 'Oh, so that's what they meant!', which was kind of cool.
          • Compared to the differences between the movie and print versions of Akira, the changes in GiTS are absolutely trivial.

            Akira and Ghost in the Shell both sufferend from typical compression that all movie adaptations go though. But in GitS, they completely changed the main character. I wouldn't call that trivial.

            • Well, I had the feeling the GiTS movie was supposed to only be based on the Manga, not a direct adaption of the storyline. To be honest, the manga wanders around a lot and it would have made for a rather long and boring movie. Print media is different than film, you can't always do the same thing in both and have it work.

              That said, I hope they go into depth about the Fuchikomas in the TV series. I was really disappointed they didn't even make a cameo appearance in the movie. Maybe the TV series will take a minute at some point to explain why you need a full cyborg body if you want to enhance your strength and why you can't just replace your muscles with super strong servoes[1].

              [1] Arm bends as commanded.
            • But in GitS, they completely changed the main character. I wouldn't call that trivial.

              OK. Maybe it's just because I was up all night, but am I missing something? Yes, Motoko kills quite a few less people in the movie, and she's much less of a smartmouth. But I re-read the first half of the manga last night (up to the fight with the guys in Section 1), and I don't think she was completely changed. But given that two responses were made to that effect, maybe I'm wrong, so please clarify.

              Even if we agreed on this point, I would still think the delta between Akira(manga) and Akira(movie) is far larger, given that the movie basically is the first 3 (or 2?) volumes, then it skips ahead to the very end of volume 6.

              • Something worth a mention about, Akira and Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, was that the manga was far from being complete when the anime was made. In addition these are multi volume books as well. Akira, six, and if I recall, Nausicaa seven or eight.

                The same could not be said of Ghost in the Shell. Could the GiTS anime faithfully follow the manga, possibly, but even still would be looking at a two movies.

        • Dammit. I love GitS, but my REAL love is Appleseed. Where's my Appleseed 5? :)

        • I have been getting more into Manga even if my main habit is still Anime. The stories are typically much better (Akira: Manga vs. Akira the Movie - the movie loses big time to the the manga in story quality and depth).

      • Re:Makes sense (Score:2, Informative)

        by SageLikeFool ( 547462 )
        Ghost in the Shell 2 is Manga, but hasn't been officially translated to english yet. That is why it isn't for sale over here yet. If you are interested in more manga by Shirow Masamune, check your local comic book shop. Before Ghost in the Shell, he also did Dominion: Tank Police, Appleseed, Orion, Black Magic, and so on.

        GITS2 will eventually make it over to here (probably through a translation by Dark Horse if that isn't already happening), and I believe in Japan a movie based on it is already being made, though I could be wrong.

      • The Ghost in the Shell 2 manga was released last summer in Japan. around 1500 yen, with a tiny little mousepad, to go with it.

        I'm not sure when/where it was serialized.

        I tried reading it, but DAMN....DAMN. That's hard stuff. (And I've translated some damned hard shit)
  • This might be the reason for me to get a dvd playback device. ;-) (If it comes out on dvd, which i hope it does.) I really don't know which story I like better, Ghost In The Shell or Battle Angel Alita... I suppose I should just count myself lucky to have found both.

  • weekly vs. cenimatic (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Back in the early 80's, when I was about 7...my absolute favorite activity was getting up Saturday morning to watch anime. I didn't know it was called anime, but I liked it anyway.

    As I grew older tho, I turned into a snob *grin* and decided that I needed a minimum level of artistic quality in order to enjoy anime. I still shake my head in disbelief every time I watch Akira.

    Anyway I wrote this post because GOS had fabulous artistic merit...and there's no way to reproduce that in a weekly. It just takes too much time to hand draw all those frames.

    • Early 80s had very little anime.

      Hell, Gundam was just picking up steam in Japan.

      Mid to Late 80s more stuff was coming over, albeit in the form of stuff shown on Nickelodeon given the shaft by DiC and Nelvana.

      And actually, many series are done on a weekly basis. Sure, they can't match movie quality artistry on a week by week basis (too expensive), but they can come close. Most stuff these days is done entirely digitally after storyboards are constructed.

      No cels, no ink. All digital.
      • Most stuff these days is done entirely digitally after storyboards are constructed. Odd. I was under the impression that, while it is slowly picking up steam, studios in Japan are deprecating digital as too costly. Granted, I could be wrong....

        • They're deprecating cel based animation because cel inking, and outsourcing all the inbetweeners is very expensive, never mind the need to shoot each cel one by one with minor, almost totally by hand alterations to make it animated.

          Digital just simplifies everything, and makes it cheaper.

          But it won't make a bad story better.
          • Hmm... point. Just something in the back of my head, though - while I concur that it won't make a bad story better, I still have images of (say) Mononoke Hime being done on computer. There's just a lot of places that hand worked art is something you want.

            On the other hand, I don't think Miyazaki would be caught dead doing (say) Lara Croft. =^_^=

          • Don't bet on digital being cheaper - I remember reading something written by an ex-celpainter in Japan, where he said that no-one made enough money from celpainting to live on, so they all did extra work on the side. The pay per cel is very, very cheap.
      • "Early 80s had very little anime."

        ARE YOU CRAZY!

        Dude, seriously...were you under a rock or something?!

        I used to watch Robotech, Voltron, Galaxy Rangers, and G-Force every afternoon in the early 80's, no cable either. That was all anime. I'd never even heard of Gundam, until I saw a commercial for those suit models a couple months ago. I still don't know the difference between Manga and Anime?

        In fact, Galaxy Rangers is the first cartoon I can remember that used Computer Animation in with the drawings, and that was like '84.

        DBZ just fuckin' rocks!

    • I had nearly the same experience. Didn't know it was anime, but I loved the stories and the animation style. Starblazers (Yamato) was the first that I remember watching as much as I could.

      I suppose I turned into an anime snob too, but more against dubs (ya, dubs suck), and genres (I have no time for pokemon, dragonball, ninja scroll, etc).

      I find myself watching less and less anime though, I don't know if that's because I'm getting older, or because everything is going domestic and just isn't as cool as it used to be when it was obscure and exciting (the golden age of fansubs).
  • The series Rahxephon [rahxephon.com] has been picked up by AD Vision [advfilms.com]. For those that don't know, it's a series similar to Eva. The series is just finishing up its run in Japan, but it's almost impossible to find the subs now. I'm always hoping someone like Cartoon Network or Sci-Fi will pick up some of these better Mini-Series. That's the problem though, they like stuff like DBZ that they can rerun to death.
    • Actually a lot of stuff has been picked up and was announced at Anime-Expo two weeks ago. I think they picked up many much better series than Rahxephon. Rahxephon is just a bad NGE ripoff.
      Pioneer announced "Mahoromatic", a nice and entertaining series from the creators of NGE, Gainax. They also announced "Chobits". Bandai announced "Argento Soma", a nicer NGE ripoff and "Infinite Ryvius".
      If you want to know why it has become hard to find Rahxephon subs now, you should check this node [everything2.com] explaining the ethics of fansubbing. If you don't know what fansubbing is all about, you may check this node [everything2.com] or the homepages of Animeco [animeco.org] or Elite Fansubs [elite-fansubs.com]. Two of the larger fansub groups. Look at "Jungle wa itsumo hale nochi guu" for an example why fansubbing is still usefull.
      • a bad NGE ripoff.

        Ripoff maybe, but bad is an opinion. I personally think it is more likely to be aired in the US than Eva, but I still think it's a half-way decent show. I would have to agree that the design style is similar.

        Then again, BGC is technically a ripoff of Blade Runner, so it's all relevant.

        from the creators of NGE...

        And you'ld be refering to those SOBs who couldn't leave well enough alone and gave us "Death and Rebirth". The series was great until that.

        First, I know why it's hard to find the fansubs...I know all too well about the ethics behind it, and you CAN still find fansubs, they just aren't as easy. And it's really up to the group that's doing it. Some will stop releasing the fansubs as soon as the title is picked up, and some will not stop until the first commercial sub/dub is released. On the other hand, some of the lesser known groups pick up the remaining episodes if there are only a few left...in the case of Rahxephon there are 6 (I think) left...and another group has started doing the subs.

        As for fan subs, you're preaching to the choir ... After seeing the subs of BGC (the origonal), the dubs are laughable. (Pris with a valley girl accent) :)

        So, I can say that I know why they are hard to find, but that doesn't make one happy when I am following a series and right at the climax it's picked up by a commercial house and I have to wait a year or longer just to pick up where I left off.

        And I also realise why the dubs are necessary (mass market appeal)....
      • Ethics of fansubbing is a contradiction. Fansubbing IS piracy. The "rules" that fansubbers follow are simply a way to justify that piracy.

        For the record, let it be known that I download fansubs. For the things I greatly enjoy, I buy the DVD's to have a high-quality archive copy. For the things I don't greatly enjoy, I delete the files to make room for more fansubs.

        I used to be very "straight-edge" and would only buy R2 DVD's or Laserdiscs. This was especially true when US localizers who did things I didn't agree with (like ADV and the Nadesico overlays). I would import R2's to spite the American companies. Recently though, I have realized that R2's are in general a waste of money.

      • > Rahxephon is just a bad NGE ripoff

        Objection, sir.

        First, the "ripoff" part. Practically, you can reduce every story so much, so that it is practically a rip off of another story.
        (NGE is certainly not the first "Boy Fights Aliens in Robot"-Anime)

        Some minor details, which RahXephon contains in contrast to NGE and Argent Soma: RahXephon tells much more about the opponent, who is quite different from NGE and Argent Soma. Ah, and the Time in RahXephon is a bit more twisted.

        Second, the "bad" part. This is certainly a personal opinion, but I find the series well drawn and told, not to mention that the soundtrack is by Yoko Kanno. Have a look at her discography [jameswong.com]. I guess, she can choose the projects she works on.

  • I've been reading slashdot for years and have never figured why anime keeps cropping up here. Does computer geek = anime geek or does the vocal minority here simply make it appear as such?

    I ask this question as a computer geek. I hate anime and know very few other computer geeks that really like it. I've known a few anime geeks in my time and sure, they used computers, but they were far from reaching the geekdom truly deserved of the title "computer geek" (whatever that means).

    Basically, I'm ranting. I can sort of see how anime is "News for Nerds", but it would be quite a stretch to consider it "Stuff that matters".

    • Chance coincidence.

      I know many people not terribly savvy with computers that love anime.

      I also know a LOT of people who do a lot of work who like anime. I also know a lot who don't like anime at all.

      Taco and a number of the /. crew seem to as well. That's all.
    • anime matters becuase it is quickly becoming very popular. It is the second time that somethign geeky has become mainstream thus decreasing the nerdiness of nerd-dom. The first time was when "normal" people started using computers in their homes. One of the main reasons for animes increase in popularity is peer to peer file sharing and divx ;-). Fansubbers are taking dvd rips of japanese shows, subtitling them before they are licensed and putting them up on the net for free download. They stop distribution when the show goes pro, and then everyone runs to media play to buy the anime on dvd. Not all computer geeks are anime geeks, and not all anime geeks are computer geeks. However, I go to RIT, the Rochester Institute of Technology. Our school consists of 60% IT/CS/Engineers, 40% Photo/Printing/Art, and NTID (National Technical Institute for the Deaf). The Anime club is one of the largest clubs on campus. The only club I can think of off hand that is larger is the F1 racing club.
      A lot of geeks like anime. Some like it too much, they are known as fanboys. If you want to know more about anime fandom, go to Otakon, if you dare. www.otakon.com
    • Animation is just another format, like film or games. Anime is moreso, because much of it is already of a more mature nature than say video games and is generally Sci-Fi or Fantasy related. Most computer geeks are "into" Sci-Fi or Fantasy (for what ever reasons) ... as well, most "Computer Geeks" play games of some sort and are therefore more open to the idea of watching animation ("it's not just for kids").

      So, it makes sense that alot of computer geeks, especially those that play video games will be likely to like Anime.

      I like Anime (wouldn't call myself an Anime geek), but I own DVDs of Akira, Bubblegum Crisis, and Eva ...

      And I would call myself a "Computer Geek" (I won't go into this, as it would be quite involving) ...
    • I've been reading slashdot for years and have never figured why anime keeps cropping up here. Does computer geek = anime geek or does the vocal minority here simply make it appear as such?

      To directly answer your question -- A year or so ago, Rob got into anime, started posting about it and soon gave it its own topic. (Partly because all the anime haters complained when it showed up in Movies or TV.)

      As you say, it _is_ arguably News for Nerds but mostly it's like the Pete Townshend news that gets posted periodically. Hey, you're an old-timer -- don't you enjoy seeing Rob's fingerprint on the site sometimes? For the most part, it seems like he posts stories out of obligation but his heart hasn't been in the site for years.

    • Many of us "nerds" also have interested in science fiction, sword & sorcery / dungeons and dragons, animation (computer and anime), electronic toys (gadgets and gizmos aplenty)... etc

      It's all part of our shared, socially maladjusted heritage. While you may or may not share all of these interests, it shouldn't be too difficult to be able to understand why Slashdot covers them...
    • I wish people would stop critisizing anime. If you don't want it on slashdot, just use the nifty preferences page. These posts are really useless and I'm very tired of them. The posts before mine answer your question very nicely I think. The what "computer geek" means is like an unwritten law. No two geek are alike.
    • The central theme in a lot of anime, at least the ones of interest to Slashdot denizens, is concerned with human-technology interaction.

      e.g. Ghost in the Shell - involves AI, cybercrimes and robots.

      Nerd enough for ya?

      Personally I'm more partial to Miyazaki Hayao's productions and the manga of Akira Toriyama (Early Dragon Ball, Dr. Slump)
    • I completely agree. Anime and Star Wars. Who gives a rats ass. This crap keeps cropping up and takes the place of what could have been something interesting. If I wanted to hear about movies I'd go to movienews.org or grab a newspaper.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Have you ever taken the time to read any of the other threads just like yours in every other anime article ever posted on Slashdot?

        Actually, no. As I stated in the parent, I hate anime, so I never really read them. And yes, I can disable the anime topic in my settings. I mean to nearly every time I see an anime post, but I always seem to get caught up in something else.

        But... have no fear. Someday I'll disable. I mean to as soon as I finish this post. Hopefully the phone doesn't ring or something.

        Just because it doesn't matter to you doesn't mean it doesn't matter to anybody else.

        Damn. It's not like I'm demanding anime be done with on slashdot. Please. I was asking a question. Why so hostile?

    • I think anime appeals to a lot of computer nerds simply because its rather esoteric - just like computer programming is to most folk. Of course now anime has gained wider acceptance so I guess that's not true any more. But I can offer this to anyone who has never seen the more sophisticated anime (Pokemon doesn't qualify), the story lines and character development is often far superior to any live action drama you're likely to see on prime time TV. It's much more imaginative, it's often science fiction set in the future, but not so far as to be unfamiliar which gives it nerd appeal, and the chicks are damn sexy. What more could you want?

      ====
      Jim: I know, if we don't tell you, you're going to turn into an animal.

      Aisha: Who are you calling an animal?!?!

    • And since when does "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters" exclusively equal to a computer geek?
    • Anime is part of geekdom in general. Another reply pointed out that also part of this heritage is DnD-style medieval fantasy stuff and the like.

      These things are part of geekdom. You're a geek for collecting hundreds of Magic:TG cards, or for camping out in wait of Star Wars, or going to a Comic-Book con, or watching anime.

      We all have different interests, but one of the most popular right now is anime, which happens to be popular with my age group (15-20). My father also reads Slashdot. Does he give a hoot about anime? Of course not. He rarely even cares about "His Rights Online."

      That's why the categories exist. For exmaple, I loathe Katz. I could complain about him until I'm blue in the face, or I could block him. Mind you, I don't, because once in a blue moon he'll have a good point and exposition often ends up funny as heck, but if I wanted to badly enough, I could.

      Heck, up to about a year ago, I hated DnD and the like. Now my tastes have changed. Slashdot doesn't carry much on the subject, but maybe it did help show me a bit.
    • see http://cmdrtaco.net/

    • Obviously you're not a computer geek either. If you were, you'd know that should be "Why does computer geek == anime geek"!
  • Anyone know if the series will follow the movie or the manga?

    • Re:Question: (Score:3, Informative)

      by mj_sf ( 585835 )
      The series is based upon the manga. The movie was just a compilation a certain aspects of the manga, put together in such a way that, to a first time viewer, it would seem to make sence (well, maybe after a few viewings) but to someone whos had the manga for years now and read it cover to cover far too many times (me for 1) it ended up slightly dissapointing and fairly confusing on first view. This has (now) changed for me as even with the dissapointment, it is still a technically outstanding piece of animation and CGI.

      From what i have seen in the captured cells on Production I.G the series is looking fairly true to the manga, especially now that they have re-intruduced the Fuchikoma's (robots similar to spiders, som ewith their own personalities such as Batou's) that were criminally left out of the film adaption.

      I'm very much looking forward to this series, be it dub'd or sub'd. It will certainly fulfill alot of angst left by the poorly cut-and-pasted plot line of the film.
  • I love the Adult Swim concept at CN and I look forward to it each Saturday. But I'm really getting pissed off by their mid-stream programming changes. They got to episode 24+/- of Outlaw Star and dropped it. (It only had 2 more episodes to go to finish the story.) The same thing happened with Tenchi Muyo OAV, Tenchi in Tokyo, and Pilot Candidate. ARRGGHHH!! YOU ASSHOLES!!!!

    I tried to find some contact information on their website in order to scream at their programming director, but they seem to have strategically omitted it (or maybe I was just too pissed to see it).

    But I think a network that featured the more adult anime on a regular basis (and would actually finish a series) would be great.

    FYI: The best of Cowboy Bebop is supposed to be on CN next saturday (6 episodes).

    ** I'm not going there to die, I'm going there to see if I am still alive. **

  • Of course, this wasn't online yesterday when I submitted the story, but since the Production I.G. site linked to Bandai Entertainment for licensing outside of Asia anyway, it's not *that* surprising:

    Bandai Entertainment Announces Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex [bandai-ent.com]

  • The TV series looks way more faithful to the manga at least in style... which already beats that Manga-Entertainment-fanboy-whore of a movie. Can't wait to see how it turns out!
    • 1) This series is being created by Production IG. The film was created by Production IG. GitS film, GitS series, same studio.

      2) Manga Entertainment had nothing to do with the film beyond its distribution. The GitS movie was an entirely Japanese production. If you want to call the director, Mamoru Oshii a fanboy-whore, that's your call.
  • There is no way this won't suck :/

    I've got GitS on every major media format from the past 20 years sans Betamax and RCA CED, though I doubt it came out on CED ::shrug::
  • I hope they get Hiroyuki Kitakubo to direct it, instead of Mamoru Oshii. Kitakubo directed the Playstation GitS videogame opening, which IMHO looked way cooler than the movie and was more 'true' to the series. Oshii's a great director, but he's better off not screwing with someone else's story. His stuff is never faithful to the original.

    --
    Dave
  • I can finally wander round saying things like "What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror. Then we shall see, tace to face." and not get looked at quite as odd as usual...

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