Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man Blu-Ray Review

Director: Kenji Kamiyama

Starring

JAPAN: Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Otsuka and Koichi Yamadera

ENGLISH: Alison Matthews, David Kaye and Trevor Devall

Released: September 23^rd 2005

Based on the Manga by: Shirow Masamune

Like I said in my Wolf Children review, I had one other anime film that I had purchased off of Amazon. This film did not have a theatrical release but instead was a special re-release of an anime series that is pretty close to my heart. If you read my Ghost in the Shell review then you already know that this particular franchise has a special place in my heart much like Evangelion. Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex originally aired October 2^nd of 2002 and ran until October 3d of 2003, the series has nothing to do with Oshi’s original cyber punk classic and hardly any relation with the original source material. Instead Stand Alone Complex featured Section 9 taking on cyber crime throughout a futuristic Tokyo, think CSI meets robots.  Of course within each season there is one over arching story/case that Section 9 has to solve. The first season had Section 9 facing off against the mysterious corporate terrorist and hacker known only as the Laughing Man. Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man is the first season of the show, however all the filler episodes-episodes not pertaining to the Laughing Man case-have been omitted thus creating a film entirely based off of the first seasons main case.

The Laughing man pertains to case that went under way on February 3^rd 2024 (six years before the events of the film). The Laughing Man originally assaulted the CEO of a major micro-machine corporation known as Serano Genomics. Using his hacking abilities to hide his face with a logo of a “Laughing Man” he was able to escape the authorities never to be seen again. The logo that was used by the hacker quickly became a cultural phenomenon used in films, band logos, and even became the symbol for certain anonymous users on the net, the police were never fully able to track down the hacker and the case was dropped. Six years later a new development in the case opens and Section 9 is sent on the trail for a Hacker that they can’t even find, whose abilities can manipulate every facet of their minds, and while on the case they discover a dangerous conspiracy that could possibly go all the way towards high government officials.

The first thing one will probably notice is that there are some similarities between the Laughing Man case and the Puppermaster case. Of course the identity of the two criminals is completely different and their goals are also on two completely different grounds, but the use of their abilities is almost the same in almost every way.  I found this to be quite a nice medium between the film and the television series. Director Kenji Kamiyama is a very big fan of the original film so the similarities are obvious on purpose. However just like the first Ghost in the Shell film viewers are going to have to use 100% of their attention span to understand the film. Just like Oshii’s original film The Laughing Man has deep philosophical discussions on the human condition and what it means to be machine and human. Also a fair warning to anyone who wants to watch this, if you have yet to watch the original series don’t worry this film was designed for new viewers to watch, however you must be prepared to commit to this movie because it is almost three hours long.  If you are willing to commit three hours of your time than you won’t be disappointed, The Laughing Man is a very fun ride that I think any crime and science fiction fan can enjoy. However although this is a pretty good movie it is the first season show and some scenes have been cut in order for this film to have a more fluent presentation and feel.

This is a double edge sword for the film, because although you have some of the greatest episodes in the series presented in film format you also are missing out on some really excellent episodes from the series. One of my personal favorite episodes, episode 15 in which the Tachikomas begin to develop individuality has been completely removed. I have a serious problem with this episode being omitted; yes I understand that if a whole other episode was included the movie would be three and a half hours long. That being said, the Tachikomas side story was actually a crucial part, not only for the whole first season as a whole, but really played into the climax of the case. Their individuality is mentioned during the course of the film; however the reason for them getting kicked out of Section 9 is completely different from what was presented in the show. Other episodes that were omitted made sense like the chat room episode, the episodes only purpose was to go over the Laughing Man case and retouch on some points, in a series this would have been fine but for a film this would most likely seem dull and repetitive. Small new scenes have been added as well to the film, these scenes are just segue’s to other parts of the case, like I said above this is in order to give the movie a more natural feel.

Seeing this film on Blu-Ray is a real nice treat, anime always looks its best when being watched in HD but unlike its film predecessor Stand Alone Complex is first and foremost a television series and that means there are budget constraints on the animation, so don’t expect the Laughing Man to look as polished as the original movie. Like all anime series sometimes the animation can look stellar, episodes where Batou has to face off against a tank look absolutely gorgeous, however most of the scenes in the film look pretty bad to say the least. Seeing as how almost all the good animation is saved for important segments of fight scenes the majority of this series does not look that good, and having it in HD makes every fault in animation more apparent. Although the animation isn’t as fluent as the film-thus is the case from series and films-the Laughing Man weaves a pretty good tale of corruption and science fiction.

As Ghost in the Shell was Motoko’s story I found the Laughing man to primarily focus on Togusa. Togusa is the one who is the one who gains new Intel on the Laughing Man case when one of his close friends is killed while investigating the six year old case. Togusa’s journey tests him on almost every level, not only  his skills as a police officer are put to the test but his philosophies on life are drastically shifted as he goes deeper and deeper in the mysterious world of the Laughing Man. Of course there is plenty Motoko and Batou action for the movie but I found that out of all of Section 9 Togusa really shined in this film. Daisuke Aramaki also gets a lot more to do this time around compared to the film. Once he learns of the potential conspiracy in the government he dives head first into the political world of certain government officials. If you want to see more of the awesome cast than you are better to just watch the series, they are side characters in the series but are really pushed to the side for the film. Certain episodes in the series focus primarily on each individual member, it’s what made Section 9 such a likeable team, of course you hardly saw any of them in the original movie and they are given some things to do in this film but its mainly just taking orders, or just setting up road blocks, exciting stuff right?

The score to SAC is composed by Yoko Kanno, one of my favorite composers; she’s been responsible for some of the best anime tracks and themes. She is the woman behind the amazingly epic score for the Vision of Escaflowne and the very cool jazz sound of Cowboy Bebop, each one of her soundtracks sound completely different and you can never pick up on some distinct style (sorry Hans Zimmer, I love you but I know all your soundtracks are slowly sounding the same lately). Having the movie on Blu-Ray means that you get to hear Kanno’s score in awesome high-def, the sound for Ghost in the Shell is pretty unique in itself, Kanno does not try to replicate Kawai’s original score for the film so we get some pretty unique stuff in the Laughing Man case.

I did not watch the English dub for the film and I have no intention on watching it anytime soon. The entire English cast has been replace, yes that’s right; all of the amazing talent that went into the original series is gone. I think it’s because Manga entertainment produced the dub instead of Bandai, and seeing as how Bandai is now bankrupt…well you get the picture. However like I said in my other review I cannot picture anyone else providing the English voice for Motoko other than Mary Elizabeth McGlynn who has been replaced by Allison Matthews. Richard Epcar also does not provide the voice for Batou, which to me is complete sacrilege since he’s been the voice of the character since the original film.  Togusa is played by Trevor Devall who provided the voice of Mu La Flaga in Gundam SEED, now I have nothing really against him accept that he replaced Crispin Freeman! Who decided that, Crispin Freeman is one of the best voice actors working today and his portrayal of Togusa has been the best to date so far! Even Steven Blum who was the Laughing Man has been replaced, the original series had some grade A talent, it’s a pity they’ve been changed and I don’t think I could find myself to watch the dub. Heck Even the summary of Evangelion in Death and Rebirth just had the original audio just slapped on it, why couldn’t they just do that with this release? It was what I was expecting anyway.The Japanese audio of course has the entire cast reprising their roles, and like 2.0 some of the lines have been rerecorded. In my opinion this is the most superior way to experience the film, but of course if subbing isn’t your thing than the dub should ease your pain.

The special features on the disk are pretty decent, theres a special interview with director Kenji Kamiyama that is conducted by Atsuko Tanaka, the interview also goes into some of the creation of the series and the film. The entire feature runs about 24 minutes but it’s pretty entertaining. There is also all of the Tachikoma Days shorts, if you already own the entire series than you’ve seen all of these, they are just little comedic bits featuring the Tachikomas. Theres also an audio commentary and some trailers on the feature so it’s a pretty basic fare for special features but at least it’s something.

Like my other review for Ghost in the Shell 2.0 I am going to be giving 2 scores, one for the actual Blu-Ray which I’ve taken into account the picture quality, sound, and special features and another for the film.

The Blu Ray Itself I give a

7.5/10

The features are bare none but the sound quality is superb I will most likely be watching this again in the future.

For the film

7/10

Sure I will watch it again, but the series in my opinion is still the best way to watch Stand Alone Complex, with the cut episodes and added lines kind of makes this a very strange ride. Plus the large gaps in time that are never really addressed could through some people off. However The Laughing Man is still a very interesting story and if you don’t have the time to commit to the 26 episodes, I think this film should do you just fine.