The Movie:

The follow up to Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex Second Gig, director Kenji Kamiyama's Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society is, like the rest of the series, set in the future. In the year 2034, the biological and the technological are becoming closer and closer to the same thing, with humans having put together with various cybernetic bits and pieces. A prime example is Major Motoko Kusanagi, who heads up Japan's Section 9, a group of special operatives who are tasked with taking down terrorists, that is, until she quits. Terrorism in 2034 is more than just suicide bombers, however, as there are those who have taken full advantage of what new technology has made available to them.

Things get complicated for Section 9 when some Siak refugees start launching suicide attacks within Japan's borders, and they wind up chasing down the son of the exiled General Ka Rum, Colonel Ka Gae, who tells them that the Puppeteer is trying to kill him. Section 9 operatives Batou and Togusa do a little digging to try and figure out just who this Puppeteer is and what he's up to and while doing so stumble upon a scheme in which some Siak refugees plan to unleash a deadly virus in retaliation for what has happened to Ka Rum. While all of this is going on, Motoko's behavior becomes increasingly erratic to the point where Batou is unsure where her loyalties lie. In fact, he's not entirely unconvinced that Motoko isn't the supposed Puppeteer herself. Eventually Motoko joins up with her old teammates to figure out the truth behind the Puppeteer's identity once and for all, and hopefully before the Siak's unleash the virus on the unsuspecting Japanese populace.

A worthy follow up to the earlier entries in the series, Solid State Society once again combines impressive and stylized animation with interesting and well thought out characters in a story that will genuinely keep you guessing until the end. There's no shortage of suspense here and with everyone basically a suspect, Kamiyama and his team do a great job of keeping things interesting throughout the feature's hour and forty three minute running time. The series' themes of man and machine slowly but surely coming together in a way that would give Philip K. Dick nightmares are dutifully exploited to offer a chilling glimpse into a possible future completely worth exploring. As is typical with all of the Ghost In The Shell TV series and feature films we've been given so far, Solid State Society delves into fairly philosophical territory, so expect a heady mix of thought provoking political allegory and musings on where modern society's obsession with technology seems to be heading, but it's wrapped up in such a beautifully cold, slick cyberpunk package that your eyes will get just as much of a kick out of this as your brain.

A familiarity with the storylines that have come to pass before Solid State Society will certainly help viewers get more out of this than those dipping their toes into Motoko's world for the first time, but this storyline is more or less self contained. While it certainly can't hurt to see the earlier entries first, if you're willing to invest enough of yourself into the movie and pay attention you won't have too much trouble at all figuring out what's happening and why. We're given enough insight and background information into the various characters here that there's no shortage of hints and clues as to who is who. The movie does go at a good pace, but not at the cost of character development and it's nice to see Togusa get more time in the spotlight here than he has in the past and to see the writers fleshing out his character more than they've been able to in previous storylines.

Slick, smart and sexy, Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society is a worth addition to the series and if it's not quite on par with the top notch quality of the first film, it comes pretty damn close at times and will certainly please fans of the series both old and new.

Video:

The AVC encoded 1.78.1 1080p high definition transfer for Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society looks quite good. The transfer can only bring out the detail that is in the original animation and so this doesn't offer quite the same level as some more recent anime offerings but those who have seen the title before on DVD should be pleased with the improvement in picture quality here. Lines are well defined, there are no problems with anything but the slightest of shimmering while there are no issues at all with print damage, dirt or debris. Colors are bold and crisp while black levels remain fairly strong from start to finish. The only issue worth noting is some minor banding - aside from that, this is a well encoded high definition presentation of some very nice looking source material.