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Notes -
I think you might be right on Cowboy Bebop, though I still like it because I grew up with it. It wasn't until I watched Samurai Champloo as an adult that I realized that Cowboy Bebop was as you say, because I found that Samurai Champloo was superficial in the same ways that Cowboy Bebop was, though Samurai Champloo's case was more severe, I think.
I definitely agree with you on Ghost in the Shell, the movie. I watched it and just could not understand at all how it was so popular and influential as a 90s anime movie. Akira was way better.
I had the reverse reaction from you. I saw GitS and thought it was good (the series is better though), but can't understand why people rate Akira so highly. That movie is equal parts boring and confusing, I really didn't care for it.
It took me a while to figure out but I think essentially it's film noir in a sci-fi costume. It's the keyhole effect where you only see small parts of what hints at a much larger and unresolved/unresolvable story occurring off screen.
That's a defence which is open to charges of cope, but it fits. The trouble is you come out at the end confused and wondering wtf is going on, but, like hating Skylar White in Breaking Bad, it's possible that was exactly what the creators wanted you to feel, and it worked as intended because they executed it so well.
That aside it's visually fantastic which makes it very watchable in spite of the narrative issues.
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For me personally, Akira was like Fallout 1 in a lot of ways due to its ultra brutal ultra sci-fi setting. The real problem with Akira for me is that it is a little directionless, and gets a lot worse once the final part of it begins. I preferred the scenes before Tetsuo started duking it out with the entire city. Also I really liked the colonel character. Overall, it felt like a lot was happening and the animation was amazing, you could tell that a lot of effort was put into each shot and that nothing before or after Akira will ever look like it.
GitS, on the other hand, had a ton of still shots where people were monologuing, and I hated those. Nothing they were saying felt interesting in any way, and even if it was interesting, how is that the correct format to say it in, shot after shot of people talking long-windedly like it's a Dostoyevsky novel? That goes for when the protagonist is getting briefed for the mission, for when the android thing is talking to the scientists, and for when the minimally augmented guy is talking to the rest of the crew. I can't say I felt any real tension during any part of the film, either. And everyone praised the animation, but I can't really say I ever felt like it was particularly exceptional.
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I will defend GitS the movie: it's ultimately a tecno-thriller action movie with great visuals and music. there's a little bit of mystery-conspiracy to drive the action scenes forward, and little bit of philosophy to ponder about during the slow scenes. While ultimately not too deep, by standards of action movies the philosophical ponderings are actually pretty great.
The Wachowskis say it inspired the Matrix, and I think GitS -- and also the first tv anime series-- beat the Matrix in internal coherence.
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