Around 1995, Japanese animation (anime) began pouring into North America, Europe and across the globe in video form. Most of these titles were unknown outside of Japan and never covered by animation journals. Whether a title is highly popular or very obscure, a high quality theatrical feature or a cheap and unimaginative direct-to-video release, they all look the same on a store shelf. Therefore, Animation World Magazine will regularly review several new releases (including re-releases not previously covered) that have merit.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex continues the challenging sci-fi storyline that started with the feature film. © Bandai Ent. and Manga Ent.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. V.01 - 07.
TV series (26 episodes), 2002-2003. Director: Kenji Kamiyama. V.1-5, four episodes/110 minutes; v.6-7, three episodes/85 minutes. Price & format: DVD bilingual $24.98. Distributor: Bandai Entertainment/Manga Entertainment.

The CGI-intensive Ghost in the Shell (Kokaku Kidotai) feature (Japan 1995; U.S. 1996), along with Akira, was largely responsible for setting anime's theatrical reputation during the 1990s as top-quality cinematic sci-fi for the art-theater market, with enough action for the general public. The manga established author/artist Masamune Shirow as a specialist in intellectual cyberpunk sci-fi; the movie made the reputations of studio Production I.G and director Mamoru Oshii. Seven years later, Production I.G produced a double-barreled follow-up. The TV series, Kokaku Kidotai: Stand Alone Complex, ran from 2002 through 2003. The theatrical sequel feature, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, was released in 2004. Now the TV series is coming to the U.S., on 7 DVDs scheduled bi-monthly from July 2004 through July 2005, and on The Cartoon Network's late-night Adult Swim starting November 6.

S.A.C. was produced for the unusual animation market of pay-per-view TV. The 26 episodes ran on Japan's SkyPerfecTV satellite channel with two new episodes on the first of each month from October 1, 2002 through October 1, 2003. Ratings were so good that a 52-episode sequel started production before it ended. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - 2nd Gig debuted on SkyPerfecTV on January 1, 2004 and is still running. It is expected that The Cartoon Network's broadcast will segue smoothly into 2nd Gig.

Both movies are written/directed by Oshii. The TV series is by Kenji Kamiyama, who explains in a DVD interview that it was decided to keep the movie and TV storylines as "parallel world" versions. The TV adventures are more of a sci-fi police/detective TV series. It focuses upon 2030 A.D.'s Public Security Section 9 of the nationalized police force, in charge of national security and cybercrime. The movie(s) concentrates almost completely on just cyborg, super-detective Motoko Kusanagi and her partner Batou, and the intellectual questions of whether a person (the mind, the soul, the ghost) can remain intact if transferred from their physical body into the Internet, and whether advanced Artificial Intelligences can achieve self-awareness and personalities.

The TV series explores individual crimes, and humanizes Section 9 by focusing upon a larger cast of detectives and their social interactions. The "stand alone complex" is young Detective Togusa, who is the least cybernetically enhanced. He "stands alone" in comparison to his teammates who casually plug themselves into the global electronic Internet for mind-to-mind communication and to gain instant information.

Each adventure is a smooth blend of action and a clever crime involving futuristic computer/cybernetic technology. For example, Section 9's detectives suspect that a foreign government has implanted the mind of one of its agents into the body of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for espionage, but they have to prove it. The opening credit animation is superb CGI work; the rest of the episode is inferior but still better than most TV animation. The score is by top anime composer Yohko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop). Stand Alone Complex shows what TV animation should be.