Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex-Official Log 1 (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	Main Menu Audio & Animation Trailer-Ghost In The Shell: Special Edition Trailer-StandAloneComplex2nd Gig Vol 1, Stand Alone Complex 01 Trailer-Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence Booklet-148 Pages
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	90:19
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Kenji Kamiyama
Studio Distributor	Production IG Madman Entertainment	Starring	Atsuko Tanaka Akio Ôtsuka Kôichi Yamadera Tamio Ôki Tesshô Genda
Case	Slip Case
RPI	$49.95	Music	Yôko Kanno Junichi Uematsu

    Masamune Shirow's cyperpunk manga classic Ghost in the Shell appeared for the first time in 1989 and has since gone on to inspire video games, two highly successful animated films (Mamoru Oshii's 1995 classic and its recent sequel, Innocence) and two seasons of an animated television series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (or GitS: SAC for the acronym enthusiasts out there). Shirow's characters live in a future, post-war Japan where advances in cyber-prosthetics and internet technology have shaken the line between humans and machines. Human consciousness can be uploaded into new, synthetic bodies able to connect to worldwide networks. The philosophical complications arising from such a situation need a little gunpower and rapid-fire action to spice things up and SAC follows the adventures of Major Kusanagi, Bato, and the armed task group Section 9 as they respond to terrorist acts in both the physical world and online.

    GitS: SAC has played recently on SBS as part of their Cult line-up and if you've caught any of the episodes you'll be aware that the series doesn't spell things out for its viewers - a positive in my opinion. To help you fill in the gaps, Madman have released a highly detailed behind-the-scenes package analysing the characters, plot, development and design of the SAC's first season, or 1st Gig, and the history of Shirow's manga.

    GitS: SAC: Official Log 1 (the titles just get longer and longer!) comes in the form of a glossy hardcover booklet with an attached DVD. The packaging is a little flimsy and the glue used doesn't look like it will hold up, but it's the contents of the package that are important. The disc includes around 90 minutes of material on 1st Gig. Highlight Flash (37:23) shows a series of clips from episodes 1 to 19 revealing each of the characters, their weapons and armoury, the jobs that Section 9 is called on to complete, and an overview of the Laughing Man plot. The Interview Archive (32:40) lives up to its name: director Kenji Kamiyama, cast and crew chat about their individual contributions and the series' development and success. 9th Studio Digital Works (20:16) takes us behind the scene at SAC's Tokyo studio to show us the work that goes into animating the series, a combination of hand drawn and 3D animation. The process is detailed from storyboarding, design, colouring & lighting, to the final product. The disc is rounded out by trailers for GitS in all its incarnations. Most of the narration is text based (in Japanese with English subtitles) but the interviews are well done and highly informative. This is detailed coverage with very little in the way of fluff.

    The booklet (it's hard to say which is the extra feature - the DVD or the booklet) is similarly packed with all sorts of information. A full list would be too long, but it includes numerous interviews with animation and design crew, essays on the comics and films, summaries of episodes 1 through 19 of 1st Gig, design images, character profiles and much more. Much of it is in colour.

    Official Log 1 (expect another log for 1st Gig and others for 2nd) is one for the fans and completists: unless you're in love with the GitS universe, this release is relatively pointless, although it does give a decent overview of 1st Gig if you missed it. But for fans, the set is worth every penny. Call it an exercise in marketing if you will, but the information and trivia is extensive and reasonably in-depth and the levels of fluff are kept in control for most of the proceedings. It's hardly academic, but highly recommended for GitS fans of all persuasions.

    (The star rating for plot is based on the set's value to GitS fans).

Video

    The video transfer for the included DVD is acceptable, although compared to the video on the series' individual releases, this transfer is a little weak. All features are presented full-frame 1.33:1, letterboxing footage from the series at 1.85:1. The series' original aspect ratio is 1.78:1.

    Sharpness and detail are good, although interview footage can be a little soft. Low level noise is visible throughout. Colours are rendered well throughout. 1st Gig began broadcasting with subdued colour contrast but went for a brighter look as the series progressed.

    Some pixelisation, macro-blocking and colour banding are visible and a little distracting. Horizontal lines break up the image at times. I noticed a touch of aliasing and the Japanese text tends to shimmer. No film artefacts are present.

    White English subtitles at the top of the screen translate onscreen text and yellow subtitles at the bottom translate audio. The image often looks crowded with two sets of subtitles covering the Japanese text.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio is presented in Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0, surround encoded. The transfer is executed well enough, but not quite as good as the 5.1 tracks available on the 2nd Gig DVD release, for example.

    Dialogue is clear and audible. Interview footage includes constant hiss. The audio track is music heavy and no hiss is audible outside of the interviews. The music bounces around the sound-stage nicely, sending effects to the rears and including enough bass information to keep the subwoofer involved a little.

    The music appears to have been culled from the series and works fine with each of the feature.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The whole package is really a set of extra features. See the plot synopsis above.

    Region 1 and Region 4 releases are identical.

    Every self-respecting GitS: SAC fan already has this in their hot little hands. If you're at all interested in the series, this release is highly informative on every aspect of the series and is well worth the price.

    Audio and video are acceptable: good enough but not stellar.

    Extras? The whole set is a stand alone package of extras for GitS.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall