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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rated by buyers Unrated
Type of bind: DVD
Brand: STARZ HOME ENTERTAINMENT
EAN num: 0669198252655
Format: Animated, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
Label: Manga Video
Manufacturer: Manga Video
Quantity: 7
Publishing house: Manga Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: October 31, 2006
Running Time: 750 minutes
Sale Popularity Level: 8733
Studio: Manga Video
Theatrical Release Date: November 07, 2004
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Description:
The Smash First Season Anime Extravaganza in one complete set! Major Motoko Kusanagi is a beautiful but deadly cyborg that is squad leader of Section 9-the Japanese government's clandestine unit assigned to battle terrorism and cyber warfare Surrounded by an expertly trained team, Motoko faces her ultimate challenge- the Laughing Man- a terrorist who orchestrated a kidnapping and extortion plot many years ago and has suddenly reappeared. In order to discover the identity of this enigmatic criminal, Motoko and Section 9 are drawn into a deadly labyrinth and they’ll have to use all their expertise to survive This acclaimed anime series is from Production I.G (Kill Bill) and features the amazing music if Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Behop) with stories by Kenji Kamiyama (Blood, Jin-Roh) and Dai Soto (Eureka SeveN)
Amazon.com:
The 2002 broadcast series based on Mamoru Oshii's landmark film Ghost in the Shell (1995) takes place in a parallel world, where Major Motoko Kusanagi didn't vanish into The Net. Although its production values are lower, and director Kenji Kamiyama never matches Oshii's inspired camerawork, Stand Alone Complex does an impressive job of recreating the setting and characters. With the help of the other officers from Public Security Section 9, Kusanagi moves through a deadly city of mecha, cyborgs, humans, and human-prosthetic hybrids. Batou emerges as a more complex and compelling character in the TV series than he was in Ghost in the Shell II: Innocence: He engages the other characters, instead of endlessly quoting philosophers.
Politics and cyber-espionage collide in a somewhat tangled plot that centers on the pursuit of The Laughing Man, an über-hacker whose pseudonym is linked to J.D. Salinger's 1949 story of the same name. The master cyber-criminal leads Kusanagi and Batou into a web of murder and deceit involving bogus cures for 'cyberbrain sclerosis' and corrupt government ministers. In the secondary story, the Tachikomas, crab-like robots used by Section 9, develop personalities and an awareness of their existence. The Tachikomas recognize some of the implications of their growing consciousness, but their childish voices--modeled after the performance of Japanese actress Akiko Tamagawa--sound odd discussing philosophical questions. Not surprisingly, the story ends with Kusanagi, Batou, et al. tackling a new case that leads into the 2nd Gig. (Rated 13 and older: considerable violence, violence against women, grotesque imagery, nudity, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I love this series - look at all the other reviews for more information on that. The box for this particular collection doesn't work so well though. It is flimsy cardboard. I'm afraid it is going to wear badly. The box for the second season is much, much better.
Rated by buyers 
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The series based on the hit movie in 1997. It has one of the most detailed stories I have ever seen, anime or not. I saw this on tv and I literally couldn't keep up with quite a bit. I bought this DVD set and it's quite the marvel. You've got your audio options, 5.1 english or japanese, or 2.0 of either, and subs on or off. This has everything any anime fan could want, action, story, and humor. Oh did I mention extras? Interviews with actors and the makers!
Rated by buyers -
Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex Committee is one of the best anime series I have seen in a long time. After watching a few anime series that were good but too shallow, Ghost in the Shell really packed the punch and makes you think, a lot! Just take your favorite police against terrorist show, shake in some sci-fi and over lay it with Japanese anime artwork and you get Ghost in Shell!
I very first shall this series back when it was very first released on Adult Swim in 2005. I tried to watch re-runs of the series but they currently stopped showing it and only showed episodes from both series here and there. So I went out and bought the entire box set for full price. I certainly know that I will not spend that much money again on the second box set, but don't feel shy about spending that much on the first, its well worth the buy.
I won't go into details of the plot of this anime series, since a lot of people have already done so. This box set contains the entire very first season, all 26 dazzling episodes on 7 DVDs. This is a series you can't possibly afford to miss, an anime of the ages!
Rated by buyers -
Contrary to what the editorial review says, SAC is not an offshoot of the Oshii film but a complete reimagining from the original Shirow Masamune manga. In mid 21st century Japan and after wars which have splintered the world and the people, complete cyberization is now possible thanks to technological advances and cyberbrains and memory/sensory augmentations are commonplace.
SAC manages to be an excellent thriller/police procedural in a future that we can recognise. In a society where most people have acess to cyberisation, this man-machine meld opens a wide horizon of possibilities but it also beckons hackers, intrigue, agents opposed to established power and plain old sadistic criminals. Humanity, in a word, is still humanity. This is the world cyber-crime specialists Section 9 move in daily.
For those coming from the movie, SAC is lighter on the mood but doesn't lose the philosophical and puts it all in a contect of conspiracy. It can be quite a change of pace and it took me a few episodes to adjust. The GITS movie was an exercise in mood and ambience, much like the great Kenji Kawai music it has. Most of SAC's music is a mixture of rock/electronica and its driving beats establish the mood. Fortunately for us, the music is done by the amazing Yoko Kanno who is quite frankly one of the best, most innovative artists working in Japan today. If you've ever heard the quite different soundtracks to Cowboy Bebop, The Vision of Escaflowne, Earth Girl Arjuna, Wolf's Rain or even the one-off Magnetic Rose, you'll know what I mean. It's one of my favorite anime/movie soundtracks.
Philosophizing is just now mostly done by little-girl voiced sentient spider-shaped tanks. It's AIs pondering of what makes human human. It's also humans living in machine bodies and how weird (or how natural) it can be. Very interesting stuff.
On a final note, as a woman I couldn't help but notice that the world of GITS: SAC is violently a world of men. As a rule with very few exceptions, all people in power are men, all sex objects (whether flesh and blood, machine or both) are women. Most women who appear on the series are either victims, foils for the men or are there to play second fiddle. There is only one woman in power who appears on 2nd Gig (the second season) and she's widely held to be a puppet of her hawkish party.
There is, of course, Major Motoko Kusanagi, the focus of the series, prime hetero male eyecandy and main gal whom the camera loves to watch lounging around her workplace in leotards and thigh-highs but who can pull back a helicopter with her bare hands. She could be much more but GITS can't shake its seinen roots ("geared towards males 18-30 years of age") most of the time.
Still, it's a classic whom anyone interested in the current future of science fiction should watch.
Very recommended.
Rated by buyers -
This is one of my favorite series of all time. There is really nothing bad with the exception of the episode titled 'Chat, chat, chat'. The show starts with a bang and does not let up as Mokoto and team move feverishly from case to case. The three main characters are wonderfully voiced in the English dub, surprisingly the Tachikomas sound better in the English dub also.
I like the fact that the episodes are usually self contained with the exception of the Laughing Man arc. This is a cerebral, intelligent series that forces the viewer to expand their perception.
FYI: Ghost in the Shell which is based on the Latin Deus ex Machina, in this series refers to the true protagonists: the Tachikomas. In the movie it was the Puppet Master who gained a 'ghost' or soul; in this series the Tachikoma's with thier superior artificial intelligence begain to show signs of a ghost, Motoko admits as much to them towards the climax. (no spoiler really)
The only real beef with this season as opposed to 2nd Gig is the lack of a strong antagonist throughout the Laughing Man arc. There are plenty of beautifully written and protrayed secondary characters who are a delight to watch, such as Serano (of Serano Genomics) and Jameson (the fun guy in the small metal box). Many of the episodes serve to further develop the main chatacters with references to their past and/or their struggles in the present.
Motoko is a brilliantly written heroine. I do approve more of her wardrobe in the 2nd gig, not because I didn't like her unitard but because she appears too feminine in the very first series. The viewer is supposed to remember she is a woman, but in the 2nd gig you find yourself more involved with her character as the leader of section 9, not a chick in skimpy clothes.
Batou is actually my finacee'f favorite character. He is technically the second most important character in the series, though I argue that Togusa steals the show later. He seems so perfect and unflappable at times that I really enjoyed seeing him in his own story arcs such as in episode 16 'chinks in the armour heart'.
Togusa is my favorite and the only section 9 member without prosthetics. He also uses an antique revolver rather than the clip fed automatic pistol that is standard issue. His story arcs are much more involved and in depth and he actually 'stars' in more of his own episodes than any other character: episodes 4,11,20. In fact Togusa is who finally cracks the Laughing Man case and nearly pays the ultimate price as a result.
The subsequent major character is really a set of many, the Tachikomas. They are the true protagonists and the characters whom the anime is actually named for. They are childlike and curious with programming capable of expanding as they gain experience in the world. They each begin to develop singular personality traits despite their 'sharing' of all information (one always reads, one always uses a wrench as a horn...)
Yoko Kanno is simply one of the greatest modern Japanese composers and the soundtrack is among the best ever written and produced. I highly recommend the CDs (many are included with the separate special editions).
This review is rambling a bit, but let me also point out that my fiancee had never seen anime when I met her, on our third date we stayed in and she inquired about my disgustingly large anime collection. I played this and now she is an addict. So I recommend this to very first time anime viewers as well as die hard addicts like myself.
Pros: Masterfully written, great characters, lovely animation, stellar backdrops and scenery, music
Cons: Only the Special Editions have the DTS sound (it is pretty amazing)
Viewing Preference: English Dub - simply stated, this is the finest american voice cast I have encountered.
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