Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

**Ghost in the Shell 2:  Innocence** is a 2004 action, adventure, science fiction, cyberpunk,  psychological Japanese anime film.  It

    was written and directed by Mamoru Oshii, musically composed by Kenji Kawai, cinematography by Miki Sakuma, edited by Sachiko Miki, Chishiro Nakano, and Junichi Uematsu, distributed by Toho, produced by Matsuhisa Ishikawa, Toshio Suzuki, and Studio Production I.G, and it starred Akio Otsuka and Atsuko Tanaka.  It was based on a three volume manga series of the same name which was written by Masamune Shirow.  It was a sequel to Ghost in the Shell (1995), and was later followed by a 52 episode anime series called Ghost in the Shell:  Stand Alone Complex, and then another movie called Ghost in the Shell:  Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society.

## Plot

The story is loosely based on *Ghost in the Shell* manga chapter "Robot Rondo" (with elements of "Phantom Fund"). Opening in 2032, Public Security Section 9 cybernetic operative Batou is teamed with Togusa, an agent with very few cybernetic upgrades, following the events of *Ghost in the Shell*.

After a series of deaths due to malfunctioning gynoids—doll-like sex robots—Section 9 is asked to investigate. As the gynoids all malfunctioned without clear cause, the deaths are believed to be premeditated murders; Batou and Togusa are sent to investigate possible terrorist or political motives. Additionally, the most recent gynoid's remains show they all contained an illegal "ghost". Section 9 concludes human sentience is being artificially duplicated onto the dolls illegally, making the robots more lifelike, and possibly acting as a motive in the murders.

Called to a homicide scene, information warfare/technology specialist Ishikawa explains the victim is Jack Walkson, a consignment officer at gynoid company LOCUS SOLUS, who may have been killed by the Yakuza. A previous Yakuza boss was recently killed by a gynoid, so Ishikawa concludes Walkson was held responsible and killed in an act of revenge. Batou and Togusa enter a Yakuza bar to question the current boss, only to be threatened by the bar occupants. Batou opens fire, killing and wounding numerous gang members, including the cyborg that murdered Walkson. The current boss then admits his predecessor was somehow involved in LOCUS SOLUS, but insists he doesn't know how.

Entering a store on his way home, Batou is then seemingly warned by the Major and shot in the arm by an unseen assailant. Caught in a firefight, Batou nearly kills the store owner in confusion, but is subdued when Ishikawa appears. While having his damaged arm replaced, Batou is informed by Ishikawa that his e-brain was hacked, causing him to shoot himself and attack the store occupants. Ishikawa explains that Batou was hacked to try and cause further scandal following his Yakuza assault in an attempt to stop the Section 9 investigation.

Batou and Togusa then head for the mansion of Kim, a soldier-turned-hacker with an obsession with dolls. Seemingly dead, Kim soon reveals he "lives" inside the shell of a human-sized marionette, and discusses philosophy with his visitors. Kim admits ties to LOCUS SOLUS, divulging that the company has secret headquarters in international waters. Warned again by the Major, Batou realizes that Kim has secretly hacked into his and Togusa's e-brains, and is currently trapping them in a false reality. Resetting Togusa's brain, Batou subdues Kim, noting he knows Kim hacked his brain in the store.

Resolved to gather material evidence, Batou infiltrates the LOCUS SOLUS headquarters ship while Togusa remotely hacks its security systems using an unaware Kim as a proxy. The ship's security becomes aware of the hacking and retaliates with a virus that fries Kim's cyberbrain. Simultaneously, a hidden virus loads a combat program into the production-line gynoids, causing them to attack everyone aboard. As Batou fights to the ship's center, the Major then appears by controlling a gynoid remotely, helping Batou fight the gynoids and hack the ship's security.

Taking control of the ship, the Major then reveals to Batou the truth about the gynoids. Hiring the Yakuza to traffick young girls, LOCUS SOLUS duplicated their consciousnesses into the gynoids, giving them human "ghosts" to make them more realistic. Batou rescues a young girl from a "ghost dubbing" machine, and she explains that Jack Walkson, learning the truth about LOCUS SOLUS, promised to save the girls by tampering with the ghosting process; this caused the gynoids to murder their owners, allowing Walkson to attract police attention and indirectly kill the Yakuza boss. Despite Walkson's actions saving the girls, Batou objects that he also victimized the gynoids as well, causing them severe distress by giving them damaged ghosts. Having solved the case, Batou asks the Major if she's happy now, and she notes that she'll always be beside him on the network, before disconnecting from the gynoid.

## Why It Rocks

1. The English Dub in this movie is much better than in the original film.  They even brought in two of the best dub actors out there, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Major Makoto Kusanagi, (during the few scenes that she's actually in), and Crispin Freeman as Togusa.
2. Excellent animaton.
3. The character Batou is really fleshed out in this movie a lot more than he was in the first, and is considerably more deep and interesting.
4. Very appealing character designs.
5. While this film is called Ghost in the Shell 2, it's more of a spinoff of Ghost in the Shell rather than a true sequel.  This means that you don't have to watch the first movie to enjoy this one.
6. Good soundtrack.
7. While there is still a lot of philosophical talk in this movie, the density of it was dialed back quite a bit, which makes it a lot more accessible for people to get into.
8. Great voice acting.
9. All of the other side characters are also more interesting in this movie than they were in the original, not just Batou.

## Bad Qualities

1. The movie has a lot of uneccesary CGI in  places, which doesn't blend very well at all with the hand drawn animation.
2. Major Makoto Kusanagi, the primary character of most of the Ghost in the Shell franchise, is abscent throughout the entirety of this movie.

## Reception

*Innocence* ranked 28th at the US box office earning $317,000 on its opening weekend in September 2004.[11] Honored best sci-fi film at the 2004 Nihon SF Taisho Awards,[12] the film was in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival,[13] only the sixth animated film to be featured at Cannes ever.[14] Along with *Persepolis,* it was the only animated film to be screened in the official selection, competing for the Palme d'Or award that year. (The eventual winner was *Fahrenheit 9/11*.)

The movie was praised by Manohla Dargis of the *New York Times*, who wrote "*Innocence* doesn't just reveal a wealth of visual enchantments; it restates the case that there can and should be more to feature-length animations than cheap jokes, pathos and pandering."[15] The movie holds a 65% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[16] Criticism of the movie rests upon a mixture of reasons. It is cited to be overly heavy on philosophical dialogue and thus hard to follow,[17] and its ending has been described as weak and unmeaningful in the arc of character development.[18] Helen McCarthy in *500 Essential Anime Movies* praises the quality script and direction, stating that "it's a challenging film, but it's one of the best anime ever".[19]