Ghost in the Shell - SAC 2045

[ctg]

In the year 2045, after an economic disaster known as the Simultaneous Global Default which destroyed the value of all forms of paper and electronic currency, the "Big 4" nations of the world are engaged in a state of never-ending "Sustainable War" to keep the economy going.

 

[ctg]

Stunning... and frustratingly annoying.

Why? Well, Ghost in the Shell has always pushed the boundaries. It came alive at the latter part of the cyberpunk golden age, and it was made to compete with the Akira. But unlike in the Akira, Ghost in the Shell never pushed the world ending apocalypse. It had already happened. The world had gone through the Nuclear Armageddon and humanity survived. Only to progress heavily towards the next evolutionary step through the cybernetics.

The Major became a full cyborg, with little humanity left in her shell. The armour she's wearing, meaning that the title has multiple meaning and the traditional AI angle were swooped out of the picture. Instead you can think the ghost as Major's soul hiding in the cybernetic shell that is capable of taking unbelievable amount of beating.

Over the three, four decades that the concept has been alive in the silver and in the small screen, it also has pushed our technology. With the latest evolution being the live action version with Scarlett Johnson as the Major. Sadly that version isn't as stunning as this one, which again pushes the limits in the screen and in the script.

The thing is, to me personally, Ghost in the Shell is hard to grasp because it goes way beyond our current level of understanding how the cybernetics and cyberspace works. The production teams tried their best to illustrate all that chaos in the previous SAC series that brought out the think tanks and fleshed out much of the cast through stories that were understandable, but yet at the same time dancing in the cybernetic edge, where the writers conjured future filled with hackers, AI's, cybernetic weapons, memory storages, networked cities and advanced humanity.

In their world, the people have a hard time understanding how it all ended so bad. The endless war that became known as the sustainable war broke everything. The normal people mostly cannot grasp the nature of the digital world. They are going through the winds of change, and everyone are in the turmoil. What is interesting is that there is no technological singularity.

The AI's haven't become overlords, and a lot of them shows emotions that render them incapable of preventing certain things from happening, where as in the singularity that would not happen. All the most prominent ghosts are therefore humans. Not machines or artificial intelligences. Although in this latest iteration that might not be the case. In fact, what is happening in their world is close to magic and that makes you wonder how?

It stuns you and you become perplexed by the magic, because there is no way to explain the physical manifestations. The faceless people that nobody can see. The augmented humans that are able to dodge bullets unnaturally. And then there is the disappearances that are close to abductions and cannot be explained, even though the invisibility is a real and explained thing in the world.

I really like that the production team didn't push the reset button, but instead pushed the boundaries real hard while retaining that Hard SF angle, mixed with in a cyberpunkish dark future. What I miss is the world that was shown in the first movie. The city that really felt like alive and real in every portion. To me, that city and imaginary felt closest to the famous BladeRunner's Los Angeles.

Funny as it is the Japanese never has ventured into that world. To show world ruined by pollution and weather change. The world in transition as the humanity pushes to the stars and "offworld locations" in the exoplanets. In a way I have thought for a while that their world is closest to Altered Carbon universe. Except they don't need stacks, because the soul can be digitised, its memories stored, and the old meat sack disposed or replaced by a fully cybernetic body.

So, you see, there are a lot of things that goes in this series and it is only sad that Netflix hasn't shown all of the previous SAC to let people a full understanding on this epic series. I wonder where it is heading and what we are going to see in the future. Whenever the next season comes out.

Can someone please help to understand what is going on at the background?

 

[Mon0Zer0]

Stunning... and frustratingly annoying.

Why? Well, Ghost in the Shell has always pushed the boundaries. It came alive at the latter part of the cyberpunk golden age, and it was made to compete with the Akira. But unlike in the Akira, Ghost in the Shell never pushed the world ending apocalypse. It had already happened. The world had gone through the Nuclear Armageddon and humanity survived. Only to progress heavily towards the next evolutionary step through the cybernetics.

The Major became a full cyborg, with little humanity left in her shell. The armour she's wearing, meaning that the title has multiple meaning and the traditional AI angle were swooped out of the picture. Instead you can think the ghost as Major's soul hiding in the cybernetic shell that is capable of taking unbelievable amount of beating.

Over the three, four decades that the concept has been alive in the silver and in the small screen, it also has pushed our technology. With the latest evolution being the live action version with Scarlett Johnson as the Major. Sadly that version isn't as stunning as this one, which again pushes the limits in the screen and in the script.

The thing is, to me personally, Ghost in the Shell is hard to grasp because it goes way beyond our current level of understanding how the cybernetics and cyberspace works. The production teams tried their best to illustrate all that chaos in the previous SAC series that brought out the think tanks and fleshed out much of the cast through stories that were understandable, but yet at the same time dancing in the cybernetic edge, where the writers conjured future filled with hackers, AI's, cybernetic weapons, memory storages, networked cities and advanced humanity.

In their world, the people have a hard time understanding how it all ended so bad. The endless war that became known as the sustainable war broke everything. The normal people mostly cannot grasp the nature of the digital world. They are going through the winds of change, and everyone are in the turmoil. What is interesting is that there is no technological singularity.

The AI's haven't become overlords, and a lot of them shows emotions that render them incapable of preventing certain things from happening, where as in the singularity that would not happen. All the most prominent ghosts are therefore humans. Not machines or artificial intelligences. Although in this latest iteration that might not be the case. In fact, what is happening in their world is close to magic and that makes you wonder how?

It stuns you and you become perplexed by the magic, because there is no way to explain the physical manifestations. The faceless people that nobody can see. The augmented humans that are able to dodge bullets unnaturally. And then there is the disappearances that are close to abductions and cannot be explained, even though the invisibility is a real and explained thing in the world.

I really like that the production team didn't push the reset button, but instead pushed the boundaries real hard while retaining that Hard SF angle, mixed with in a cyberpunkish dark future. What I miss is the world that was shown in the first movie. The city that really felt like alive and real in every portion. To me, that city and imaginary felt closest to the famous BladeRunner's Los Angeles.

Funny as it is the Japanese never has ventured into that world. To show world ruined by pollution and weather change. The world in transition as the humanity pushes to the stars and "offworld locations" in the exoplanets. In a way I have thought for a while that their world is closest to Altered Carbon universe. Except they don't need stacks, because the soul can be digitised, its memories stored, and the old meat sack disposed or replaced by a fully cybernetic body.

So, you see, there are a lot of things that goes in this series and it is only sad that Netflix hasn't shown all of the previous SAC to let people a full understanding on this epic series. I wonder where it is heading and what we are going to see in the future. Whenever the next season comes out.

Can someone please help to understand what is going on at the background?

SAC and Mamoru Oshii's GitS are set in alternate universes - for me as much as I love SAC, Oshii's movies are next level. That period where he produced Patlabor, GitS and Jin-Roh really are the absolute height of anime, for me.

It's a year or so since I watched it, but I think 2045 starts off taking place in the USA where the major and Batou are working as PMC's after section 9 was disbanded following the individual 11. Realistically, I think the production team just wanted to assemble the backgrounds from stock assets they could get off turbosquid, lol.

As much as I disliked the production style in 2045, the story did pull me in and by the last episode it felt good to be back in SAC territory, I wish they had produced it in 2D rather than looking like a PS2 cut scene, and I suspect this might have put some people off.

 

[Please Be Nice]

Stunning... and frustratingly annoying.

Why? Well, Ghost in the Shell has always pushed the boundaries. It came alive at the latter part of the cyberpunk golden age, and it was made to compete with the Akira. But unlike in the Akira, Ghost in the Shell never pushed the world ending apocalypse. It had already happened. The world had gone through the Nuclear Armageddon and humanity survived. Only to progress heavily towards the next evolutionary step through the cybernetics.

The Major became a full cyborg, with little humanity left in her shell. The armour she's wearing, meaning that the title has multiple meaning and the traditional AI angle were swooped out of the picture. Instead you can think the ghost as Major's soul hiding in the cybernetic shell that is capable of taking unbelievable amount of beating.

Over the three, four decades that the concept has been alive in the silver and in the small screen, it also has pushed our technology. With the latest evolution being the live action version with Scarlett Johnson as the Major. Sadly that version isn't as stunning as this one, which again pushes the limits in the screen and in the script.

The thing is, to me personally, Ghost in the Shell is hard to grasp because it goes way beyond our current level of understanding how the cybernetics and cyberspace works. The production teams tried their best to illustrate all that chaos in the previous SAC series that brought out the think tanks and fleshed out much of the cast through stories that were understandable, but yet at the same time dancing in the cybernetic edge, where the writers conjured future filled with hackers, AI's, cybernetic weapons, memory storages, networked cities and advanced humanity.

In their world, the people have a hard time understanding how it all ended so bad. The endless war that became known as the sustainable war broke everything. The normal people mostly cannot grasp the nature of the digital world. They are going through the winds of change, and everyone are in the turmoil. What is interesting is that there is no technological singularity.

The AI's haven't become overlords, and a lot of them shows emotions that render them incapable of preventing certain things from happening, where as in the singularity that would not happen. All the most prominent ghosts are therefore humans. Not machines or artificial intelligences. Although in this latest iteration that might not be the case. In fact, what is happening in their world is close to magic and that makes you wonder how?

It stuns you and you become perplexed by the magic, because there is no way to explain the physical manifestations. The faceless people that nobody can see. The augmented humans that are able to dodge bullets unnaturally. And then there is the disappearances that are close to abductions and cannot be explained, even though the invisibility is a real and explained thing in the world.

I really like that the production team didn't push the reset button, but instead pushed the boundaries real hard while retaining that Hard SF angle, mixed with in a cyberpunkish dark future. What I miss is the world that was shown in the first movie. The city that really felt like alive and real in every portion. To me, that city and imaginary felt closest to the famous BladeRunner's Los Angeles.

Funny as it is the Japanese never has ventured into that world. To show world ruined by pollution and weather change. The world in transition as the humanity pushes to the stars and "offworld locations" in the exoplanets. In a way I have thought for a while that their world is closest to Altered Carbon universe. Except they don't need stacks, because the soul can be digitised, its memories stored, and the old meat sack disposed or replaced by a fully cybernetic body.

So, you see, there are a lot of things that goes in this series and it is only sad that Netflix hasn't shown all of the previous SAC to let people a full understanding on this epic series. I wonder where it is heading and what we are going to see in the future. Whenever the next season comes out.

Can someone please help to understand what is going on at the background?

Have you read the manga? its all adapted from manga. If you read it then it all makes sense, its all dapted pretty well. I've seen everything ghost in the shell. the netflix series is a sequel series to another series which was a sequel series.

this may be why you felt confused about it.

 

[Jeffbert]

I just started watching it on NF when it was pulled from circulation!

 

[HareBrain]

I just started watching it on NF when it was pulled from circulation!

SAC 2045? That's still on Netflix. (It's a Netflix show, so where else would it be?)

 

[Swank]

2045 looks like that last, horrid 'reset' of Appleseed - also set out in the desert with people driving around. One suspects this is easier to animate or something. Given the reviews and the look of this version I will likely skip it.

Overall, I love the original film and the Arise series. SAC struck me as a little crudely animated and didn't care for the 'sexy' character design. All the on screen versions are very different from the manga which has a lot of humor.

 

[HareBrain]

Given the reviews and the look of this version I will likely skip it.

You wouldn't miss much. I remember thinking season 1 ended well, but I can't now recall anything about it apart from a ... cabin? And season 2 was a mess. I'd claim back the time if I could.

didn't care for the 'sexy' character design

This hits increasing levels of low in season 2. In the worst example, a young female character escapes naked from a scientific institute, and is picked up by a guy in a VW campervan. The only clothing she can find to borrow from him (apparently) is a shiny form-fitting catsuit the guy explains he bought for cosplay "in case he got a girlfriend"(!). She then wears this for the rest of the season, presumably for the benefit of the young male audience. Nice to see such artistic integrity at work.

 

[Swank]

This hits increasing levels of low in season 2.

I meant the design of SAC. Big boobed Major.

 

[Jeffbert]

SAC 2045? That's still on Netflix. (It's a Netflix show, so where else would it be?)

"This title will appear in my list when it becomes available"