Individual Eleven
May 18th 2008 22:53
Category: Videos
Based on the Manga by: Shirow Masamune.
Director: Kenji Kamiyama.
Written by: Kenji Kamiyama.
Producers: Mitsuhisa Ishikawa & Shigeru Watanabe.
Starring:
Produced by; 2006- 2007 Shirow Masamune – Production IG/Kodansha.
Released by: Madman Entertainment.
Running Time: 162 minutes. Rating: M.
Technically the official title of this particular anime is Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig Individual Eleven, but I felt that was just a tad bit unwieldy and decided to shorten it to Individual Eleven. It would have to be the winner of the longest sequel title ever, certainly pipping Knights of the Old Republic II; The Sith Lords by some distance. This is a movie version of the original second season of the GITS (Ghost in the Shell): Stand Alone Complex, for some reason the makers of the show have elected to present this particular story arc as a movie length feature rather than various individual episodes on several DVDs. A similar thing has been done with the main story arc of the first season of GITS: Stand Alone Complex, the Laughing Man.
Strangely when I initially started watching this I just couldn’t get into it, unusual considering that I have been a fan of this whole franchise right from when I saw the first Ghost in the Shell feature way back when in the halcyon days of my youth. The reason for this was swiftly made apparent, when I turned the film off then restarted things by going into the scene selection area of the DVDs main menu I picked the credits. No doubt by now you’re sitting there reading this and thinking what a decidedly odd thing to do, maybe, but it allowed me to get some very pertinent information and that is this…it’s a completely different voice cast from the first initial series of GITS: SAC and as a result I just couldn’t get into it. Perhaps there was a valid reason for doing this, but for the life of me I can’t think of one.
So what do think the answer to this dilemma was? Did I run screaming from my room GITS: SAC 2nd Gig Individual Eleven running on my lap top? Did I seek solace in green tea and herbal incense? Did I chant and listen to whale songs whilst trying to tune into my inner wahooni? No I knew exactly what the answer was once I realised that it wasn’t the original English voice cast; watch it in Japanese with English subtitles. A strange solution I’ll admit but frankly it worked, once I’d made the relevant selections in the main menu I simply sat back, relaxed and let the whole thing flow over me. And frankly I feel that it was the right decision to make, though if you’ve not seen any of the other Ghost features feel free to listen to it in English.
Moving away from this hiccup what precisely is the Individual Eleven all about? The year is 2030 AD; Japan is undergoing some internal political turmoil after absorbing a large population of refugees into its home islands as a result of the most recent global conflict. Many of these refugees have managed to bolster a declining Japanese economy by become part of the labour force but they do not have the same rights as those of natural Japanese citizens or even the same privileges. The bulk of these refugees live in five enclaves scattered around the main islands, one on Kyushu, two on Honshu and two on Hokkaido. Part of this problem also stems from the fact that the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been diverting flights of refugees to the island of Dejima which lies in the harbour of Nagasaki.
It is probably for this very reason that a Chinese embassy is taken over by a group of hitherto unknown terrorists and those who were working in the embassy at the moment of the attack are taken hostage. This is the scene onto which the drama of the movie unfolds, we see the Japanese police gathering to storm the building in which the embassy is located. As they do so Public Security Section 9 is making its own preparations to engage in taking out the potential threat, strangely though they are being hampered by procedural difficulties. Eventually though their chief, Aramaki, is able to get things in place so that Section 9 can do their thing as swiftly as possible.
Once the Major gets the go ahead from her chief she immediately deploys her teams into two men cells who rapidly storm the building before the SWAT teams to try and bring a swift end to the crisis. There is a certain element of repetition and reminiscence with this opening sequence, you get a scene where one of the terrorists makes a declaration and then suddenly he is shot in the head by the Major who is then seen floating down the side of the building ala the opening of the original Ghost in the Shell feature. It’s almost a kind of trade mark, the Major using her thermo optic camouflage whilst shooting some bad guy. When the dust finally settles and the police take charge of the scene Section 9 find that they are warmly praised by the Japanese Prime Minister and their supplementary budget is swiftly approved by her. Friends in high places, though as the Major remarks to Aramaki the prime minister looks like the kind of woman who keeps her pet dog on a short leash.
After the mission at the Chinese Embassy an incident occurs during a Self Defence Army exercise in an abandoned urban zone near the Niihama Refugee sector. A Jigabachi (helicopter gunship) pilot suddenly dies from a cardiac arrest, though it seems that the trigger has been a nano machine within his blood stream. From this point on things descend into chaos and even though the exercise is called off the Jigabachi’s AI manages not only to take control of his Jigabachi but also those of the others involved in the exercise and several others waiting offshore on an aircraft carrier. For some reason it believes that the pilot’s cyber brain is still active and when a recall order is given it interprets it as an external attack and enacts certain steps, namely taking control of various other craft in the vicinity. Cyber terrorism? That is certainly the thinking behind it all and Section 9 are dispatched to deal with the matter, this is when a mysterious individual known as Gohda makes his first appearance. Gohda sounds a bit like Gouda; the famous town in the Netherlands noted for its cheese, this isn’t the only Dutch connection within the story either. Gohda works for the Cabinet Intelligence Service (CIS) Strategic Influence Investigation Commission. For some reason it seems that the commission is very interested in what is going on with the exercise in the Niihama Refugee district.
It seems as if these two incidents though seemingly unconnected have been designed to provoke conflict between the refugees and the Japanese people. But who is behind it all? It also seems that the incident at the Chinese embassy was not the first incident of action begin taken by a group known as the Individual Eleven. After a mass suicide by a group calling itself the Individual Eleven the operatives of Section 9 discover that there has been a plethora of incidents, it also seems that one of the people involved in the mass suicide was a man who attempted to assassinate the current prime minister, he was also the only member of the suicide pact that did not die; opting instead to flee the scene. As expected with any Ghost in the Shell feature things thus begin to get complicated and more elements are added to the plot to leave you wondering what exactly is going on here. Which means that it’s very crucial to watch this without any interruptions, as it goes on for two and a half hours my advice is take the phone off the hook, lock your doors and sit back to enjoy.
Certainly there is plenty of action in this film, lots of guns and missiles being thrown around like nobody’s business as well as the looming threat of nuclear strikes. But the story is complex and if you do miss just a mere moment of the unfolding plot you loose out. This isn’t just simply a story of ‘good’ guys versus ‘bad’ guys its also very much a critique of Japanese politics, of mass media and communications, of Marxist ideology, revolution, international politics, manipulation along with the issues of nuclear terrorism, the status and treatment of refugees along with the nature of responsibility, both individual and societal. Throw in a dose of spirituality for good measure and you have a complex plot that does provide a cohesive, intelligent drama.
It’s also interesting that the locale that becomes the focus for much of the drama which unfolds in Individual Eleven is the Nagasaki – Dejima area. Dejima was the area from which the Dutch East India Trading Company conducted its trade with Japan from 1641 until 1859. Nagasaki as well as being one of the two cities bombed by atomic weapons during the Second World War, was also a major centre of Japanese Christianity and was also involved in an uprising against the Shogunate over the issue of Christianity in Japan. So these two areas have a certain resonance within Japanese history for a variety of reasons that also resonate within this film. Dejima is the major nexus for the refugees in Japan and during the film its ‘leader’ seeks to make it an independent nation. It seems that the American’s fearful of the events that are unfolding in the region of Dejima-Nagasaki have sent one of their nuclear missile submarines to a point off Okinawa and are planning to launch a nuclear missile on the area.
All in all I have to say that Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig: Individual Eleven is well worth taking the effort to watch, but like I say you definitely want to do this with out any interruptions, or if that isn’t possible be sure you’ve got your remote at hand to pause things should anything crop up.
Director: Kenji Kamiyama.
Written by: Kenji Kamiyama.
Producers: Mitsuhisa Ishikawa & Shigeru Watanabe.
Starring:
Produced by; 2006- 2007 Shirow Masamune – Production IG/Kodansha.
Released by: Madman Entertainment.
Running Time: 162 minutes. Rating: M.
Technically the official title of this particular anime is Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig Individual Eleven, but I felt that was just a tad bit unwieldy and decided to shorten it to Individual Eleven. It would have to be the winner of the longest sequel title ever, certainly pipping Knights of the Old Republic II; The Sith Lords by some distance. This is a movie version of the original second season of the GITS (Ghost in the Shell): Stand Alone Complex, for some reason the makers of the show have elected to present this particular story arc as a movie length feature rather than various individual episodes on several DVDs. A similar thing has been done with the main story arc of the first season of GITS: Stand Alone Complex, the Laughing Man.
Moving away from this hiccup what precisely is the Individual Eleven all about? The year is 2030 AD; Japan is undergoing some internal political turmoil after absorbing a large population of refugees into its home islands as a result of the most recent global conflict. Many of these refugees have managed to bolster a declining Japanese economy by become part of the labour force but they do not have the same rights as those of natural Japanese citizens or even the same privileges. The bulk of these refugees live in five enclaves scattered around the main islands, one on Kyushu, two on Honshu and two on Hokkaido. Part of this problem also stems from the fact that the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been diverting flights of refugees to the island of Dejima which lies in the harbour of Nagasaki.
It is probably for this very reason that a Chinese embassy is taken over by a group of hitherto unknown terrorists and those who were working in the embassy at the moment of the attack are taken hostage. This is the scene onto which the drama of the movie unfolds, we see the Japanese police gathering to storm the building in which the embassy is located. As they do so Public Security Section 9 is making its own preparations to engage in taking out the potential threat, strangely though they are being hampered by procedural difficulties. Eventually though their chief, Aramaki, is able to get things in place so that Section 9 can do their thing as swiftly as possible.
Once the Major gets the go ahead from her chief she immediately deploys her teams into two men cells who rapidly storm the building before the SWAT teams to try and bring a swift end to the crisis. There is a certain element of repetition and reminiscence with this opening sequence, you get a scene where one of the terrorists makes a declaration and then suddenly he is shot in the head by the Major who is then seen floating down the side of the building ala the opening of the original Ghost in the Shell feature. It’s almost a kind of trade mark, the Major using her thermo optic camouflage whilst shooting some bad guy. When the dust finally settles and the police take charge of the scene Section 9 find that they are warmly praised by the Japanese Prime Minister and their supplementary budget is swiftly approved by her. Friends in high places, though as the Major remarks to Aramaki the prime minister looks like the kind of woman who keeps her pet dog on a short leash.
After the mission at the Chinese Embassy an incident occurs during a Self Defence Army exercise in an abandoned urban zone near the Niihama Refugee sector. A Jigabachi (helicopter gunship) pilot suddenly dies from a cardiac arrest, though it seems that the trigger has been a nano machine within his blood stream. From this point on things descend into chaos and even though the exercise is called off the Jigabachi’s AI manages not only to take control of his Jigabachi but also those of the others involved in the exercise and several others waiting offshore on an aircraft carrier. For some reason it believes that the pilot’s cyber brain is still active and when a recall order is given it interprets it as an external attack and enacts certain steps, namely taking control of various other craft in the vicinity. Cyber terrorism? That is certainly the thinking behind it all and Section 9 are dispatched to deal with the matter, this is when a mysterious individual known as Gohda makes his first appearance. Gohda sounds a bit like Gouda; the famous town in the Netherlands noted for its cheese, this isn’t the only Dutch connection within the story either. Gohda works for the Cabinet Intelligence Service (CIS) Strategic Influence Investigation Commission. For some reason it seems that the commission is very interested in what is going on with the exercise in the Niihama Refugee district.
It seems as if these two incidents though seemingly unconnected have been designed to provoke conflict between the refugees and the Japanese people. But who is behind it all? It also seems that the incident at the Chinese embassy was not the first incident of action begin taken by a group known as the Individual Eleven. After a mass suicide by a group calling itself the Individual Eleven the operatives of Section 9 discover that there has been a plethora of incidents, it also seems that one of the people involved in the mass suicide was a man who attempted to assassinate the current prime minister, he was also the only member of the suicide pact that did not die; opting instead to flee the scene. As expected with any Ghost in the Shell feature things thus begin to get complicated and more elements are added to the plot to leave you wondering what exactly is going on here. Which means that it’s very crucial to watch this without any interruptions, as it goes on for two and a half hours my advice is take the phone off the hook, lock your doors and sit back to enjoy.
Certainly there is plenty of action in this film, lots of guns and missiles being thrown around like nobody’s business as well as the looming threat of nuclear strikes. But the story is complex and if you do miss just a mere moment of the unfolding plot you loose out. This isn’t just simply a story of ‘good’ guys versus ‘bad’ guys its also very much a critique of Japanese politics, of mass media and communications, of Marxist ideology, revolution, international politics, manipulation along with the issues of nuclear terrorism, the status and treatment of refugees along with the nature of responsibility, both individual and societal. Throw in a dose of spirituality for good measure and you have a complex plot that does provide a cohesive, intelligent drama.
It’s also interesting that the locale that becomes the focus for much of the drama which unfolds in Individual Eleven is the Nagasaki – Dejima area. Dejima was the area from which the Dutch East India Trading Company conducted its trade with Japan from 1641 until 1859. Nagasaki as well as being one of the two cities bombed by atomic weapons during the Second World War, was also a major centre of Japanese Christianity and was also involved in an uprising against the Shogunate over the issue of Christianity in Japan. So these two areas have a certain resonance within Japanese history for a variety of reasons that also resonate within this film. Dejima is the major nexus for the refugees in Japan and during the film its ‘leader’ seeks to make it an independent nation. It seems that the American’s fearful of the events that are unfolding in the region of Dejima-Nagasaki have sent one of their nuclear missile submarines to a point off Okinawa and are planning to launch a nuclear missile on the area.
All in all I have to say that Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig: Individual Eleven is well worth taking the effort to watch, but like I say you definitely want to do this with out any interruptions, or if that isn’t possible be sure you’ve got your remote at hand to pause things should anything crop up.
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