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Ok, let's set the record straight here; Japanese animation can be pure CRAP. As a wee lad in Hawaii, I was fortunate enough to be raised on the stuff during the early '70s, and nostalgia aside, the stuff can be crap. This was kiddy stuff, so it was choppy animation, horrendous story lines, blah, blah, blah. Ah, but when it was GOOD, when anime trancends being just for kids, when it becomes FILM, you just sit there and go 'whoa'. Great anime' goes beyond even work like 'Monster's Inc.' because it's not just 'safe' material. Safe is great for the kids, and is at times a welcome change of pace.
However, there are times when you do want to stretch your mind, when you want to see something that is waaaaaay beyond the usual and mundane... and in the case of animation, you will NOT find it in the US, not even from the talented hands of Dreamworks and Pixar. Yes, their stories are original and fun, very well done, entertaining, blah, blah, blah. But as far as making you THINK, to really consider the world around you, to question what is reality, forget it. Why have animation do that? Because only with CGI and hand-drawn animation can you push the envelope of what is reality. Matte-paintings are pretty, and 'Star Wars' Eps 4-6 prove stop-motion special effects are still gorgeous, but 'The Matrix' showed that CGI used to the limit cerats worlds that will blow you rmind.
Just as 'The Matrix' isn't JUST a martial-arts film with bells-and-whistles, so 'Ghost in the Shell' isn't just another cartoon set in the future. The first film was 'just' a detective in the far-future (Yes, 'I Robot' stole a few ideas. But then again, what movie doesn't.) where robots run amok... but the problem isn't the generic one of 'controlling' humans for our 'protection'., it's a question of what is REAL, what is LIFE, what is CONSCIOUSNESS. Yeah, you're wondering where the heck this came from, aren't you? Great art isn't only about entertainment, it's about opening your mind. Be prepared to open like a can of chili, brothers and sisters. Bwahahahahahahahahaha!
In the first film The Major (A robot who is frighteningly human) and her partner Batou (Who's a cyborg) are on the case to figure out why 'bots are suddenly running wild and becoming sentinet. This is the world Azimoz envisioned and feared; morally amibiguous, major corporations taking over, and techonology surpassing any magic we could imagine. Ah, welcome to a whole new world... and welcome to 'Ghost in the Shell 2'.
Do you NEED to see the first one? In many ways no. Only Batou returns for the second time around and the stories aren't THAT intertwined from first to second. This is less a 'seque'l in the sence of an on-going story. It's more like the Bond films in that the characters are the same, but the story is completely differnt. The only reason you will want to watch the first film is to understand what happened to the Major, and how she appears in 'Innocense'. Ah, but I won't spoil that for you. Bwahahahahahahhahahahaha! Anyway, on to 'Innocence'.
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