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| Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Vol. 2 |
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| Starring: Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Richard Epcar,
Crispin Freeman, Osamu Saka Directed by: Kenji Kamiyama |
Original Broadcast Date: 2004
DVD Release: 2004
Released by: Manga Video Dolby
Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
Widescreen (anamorphic) |
| Ever Stranger Animé If Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex proves too linear
for you, then you might like Production I.G.'s Dead Leaves, a show that revels in
its insanity. Our two heroes wake up naked in a field with no memories of who they are or
how they got there: Pandy, a girl with a strange circular marking over her right eye, and
Retro, a boy with a TV for a head. They proceed on a crime spree to gather food, clothes
and transportation, but get pinched by the law and are sent up to the lunar prison colony,
where all sorts of strange genetic experiments are taking place. It's up to Pandy and
Retro to engineer an escape and try to figure out just what's going on, all the while
getting down to some funky lovin'.
American animé fans are no strangers to some of the
weirder Japanese exports, like FLCL, but Dead Leaves creates a new level of
unabashed oddity. The characters in the prison are all freaks, pure and simple. One of the
prisoners is Dick Drill, an auger-bearing inmate who is just one of the many willing to
lay his life on the line for the newcomers. In fact, most of the prisoners -- oddballs
with descriptive names like Purple Turnip, Easter Island Guy or Hippopotobull -- seem to
view Pandy and Retro in a messianic light.
There's a big showdown with the prison guards, two genetic
mutants named 666 and 777, and with the prison's warden, the mysterious Galactica.
Something's going on, but it's somewhat hard to pick out the story elements from the
stylized violence and general lunacy. This isn't about plot; it's about being a crazy
cartoon.
Dead Leaves is a one-shot story rather than a
continuing series, and there are lots of extras on this disc: documentaries, premiere
parties, video diaries, trailers, photo galleries and what may be one of the strangest
extras ever: a half-hour drinking game called "Truth or Doubt." Yeah, I'd never
heard of it, either.
The inclusion of the extras is mainly due to the fact that
the disc has Dolby Digital 5.1 instead of DTS. Thank you! The sound is bombastic all the
way through, and it is reproduced well. Dead Leaves is presented in anamorphic
widescreen, and the image quality is great, with none of the errors found in GitS:SA.
...Josh Barber
joshb@hometheatersound.com |
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Set in the year 2030, Stand Alone Complex is a
separate reality from the world of the film. Most of the characters are the same that were
seen before, but the whole plot has been largely ignored.
Major Motoko Kusanagi is a cybernetic operative for Public
Peace Section 9, a government agency that polices Japan's growing robotic population. In a
time when anyone can be an android, it falls to Section 9 to deal with all manner of cyber
crimes.
Though the episodes are now more typical police stories
than a large-scale tromp through philosophy, none of the movie's distinctive feel has been
lost. The crimes that Section 9 deals with are way out there: a tank that comes to life,
murderous geisha 'bots, mass android suicides; but these "problem of the week"
episodes are interspersed with a larger, continuing story arc. This is about a hacker
calling himself the Laughing Man, who was responsible for a series of attacks on
nano-machine companies but had dropped out of sight for six years.
Stand Alone Complex began airing in the US in
October on Cartoon Network, but judging by some of the things that happen in later
episodes, odds are good that it's going to be edited for content. If you really want to
experience this show, DVD is the way to go. Volume 2 collects episodes 5-8, including two
standalones and two Laughing Man stories. There is a brief segment at the end of the show
featuring semi-comic interaction between Section 9's fleet of Tachikoma tanks. These
segments have also been cut from the Cartoon Network broadcasts.
There is a lot of CG used in this series, and for the most
part, it blends well with the traditional animation. However, the hand-drawn lines often
get jagged around the curves, particularly during movement. It is not a terribly
distracting flaw, but it is noticeable. There are some problems with color transitions,
leaving uneven blocks instead of smooth gradients.
The sound is very strong. Its good dynamic range and
isolated tracks work well to envelop the viewer. The English and Japanese audio tracks are
both very good in terms of dialogue and sound effects, so whichever language you chose to
listen to will be fine. The music, by Cowboy Bebop composer Yoko Kanno, comes
through clearly.
There are extras listed on the back of the packaging, but
they are only on the Dolby disc. Since DTS always takes up obscene amounts of space
(without offering any substantive audio advantage), the disc I received for review had no
extras. I can't find anything on the packaging to tell whether you have the Dolby or DTS
version, just on the main menu, so be careful. |
