Ghost in the Shell: SAC Volume One

I got my grubby little hands on the first Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex DVD late last week. My wife had a brief scare where she thought that the entire series was rendered. Rest assured that the series itself is still cell-style anime, with supporting 3d elements blended well into the finished product.

The character design was mostly spot-on Shirow, but Veronica did grumble that the Majorspent all of her time in her battle teddy. It was true, but somehow I didn’t really mind all that much.

Actually, I don’t recall anyone changing clothes between the four installments, but I’ll chalk that up to the pressures of serial animation. Except for that one small gripe, these episodes were everything I could have hoped for from a Masamue Shirow production. The visuals, the story, the action, the dialog (English, I’m afraid) all came together for what is shaping up to be an awesome run.

One note of caution, however: the bizarre little mechanical tanks — Tachikomas — are probably going to annoy you at first… unless you’re a parent.

New DVDs are scheduled for release every two months through July 2005 — that’s 7 in all. The Cartoon Network will begin playing the eps on November 6th in the [adult swim] block, but can you wait that long?

Posted on Monday, August 2nd, 2004 by Jeff in Television.