Let's Talk About Netflix's GHOST IN THE SHELL: SAC_2045
In a world of remakes and reimaginings, another Ghost In The Shell was bound to have yet another anime/movie come out. Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 is a brand new series taking place years after previous installments. The new anime series takes the main characters on some new adventures with a brand new look but doesn’t do a great job of it.
The show as a whole works fine, but it does the source material a bit of a disservice. Let’s first talk about the plot. The series is only 12 episodes long, which is fine, but the real plot doesn’t develop until episode four or five. Even then, by the last episode, it doesn’t have a major culmination or climax with the story and characters. There are some interesting plot points and reveals, but they never feel nearly as impactful or meaningful as anything from the original Ghost In The Shell.
Another big thing is the shift from 2D animation style to 3D animation. As much as the animation looks really good compared to other 3D anime on Netflix, it still has many issues. The facial animations are as stiff as rocks; the details and textures look nice but too clean to be believable. The show looks like a cutscene from a PS3 game, but with a lot less movement and passion. As I said, it looks clean and nice, but the artistic and gritty nature of the original is lost in this new style. Last note: some background characters look like NPCs from a bad RPG, doing the same two movements every three seconds.
Lastly, the characters here are both very interesting and yet one dimensional. They bring some of what we love about them from the past, but they never get to that power or depth that we feel from the original anime. Other new characters are also fairly bland. However, the spider tanks have crazy amounts of personality, and I would frankly be a little more interested in watching a series about them instead of this version of Section 9.
SAC_2045 isn’t bad, but it isn’t all that great either. The original anime explores and discusses various ethical and existential ideas while having a fantastic story. So it is pretty disappointing to see this new series become a basic Sci-Fi anime with mostly underwhelming visuals.