Labranche Ghost in the Shell

Hey everybody! Welcome to yet another week of my anime blog. This week I'm going to do things just a little differently; instead of focusing exclusively on a single movie, I'm going to revisit some of the movies and themes from past blogs and relate them to today's movie. Don't get me wrong though, we will definitely get to thouroughly analyze this week's featured movie, which, by the way, is Ghost in the Shell.

Now, what could these three movies possibly have in common with one another other than being anime cult classics? How are a teenager granted with psychic powers, an insane celebrity, and a cyborg that works for a security force related. Well, what unites these three wonderful movies is one universal theme: identity.

In Akira, Tetsuo has much difficulty coming to terms with his identity; he is the baby of his motorcycle gang, but refuses to accept this. So, when he is given Akira's psychic powers, he becomes someone completely different, and by the end of the movie, Tetsuo's identity is unclear; is he Tetsuo or is he Akira?

In Perfect Blue, Mima, who is an ex-pop idol turned actress, also has issues with her identity. Because of her career change, her old fans are determined to make sure that she turns back into a pop idol. Also, it does not help that she doesn't like many of the roles and scenes that she is doing as an actress. However, she is determined to change her pop idol identity by taking on more mature roles. As a result of all this pressure, she begins seeing hallucinations of her former self, which confuses her even more. Even at the end of the movie, though all is dandy, she has to convince herself that she is real.

Now, time for Ghost in the Shell.

Major Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg and is part of a government security force called Section 9.
Well, actually, she is only 95% cyborg...and this is where things get a tad bit complicated. And I might add that to say that this movie get REALLY deep. No kidding though, it's definitely more of a philosophical-make-you-think-a-lot movie rather than your typical mecha anime, but I will try to explain a little bit.
Anyways, back to the Major.
So yeah, she is 95% cyborg, which means that she still has some humanity in her, albeit just a trace. Throughout the movie, she questions what exactly it means to be human. And then, there's the issue of "ghosts," which are the cyborgs' equivalent of a soul and conscience. So while the Major is already having identity issues, someone called the Puppet Master comes along and wants to fuse ghosts with her in order to become a single entity. While this is happening her body gets destroyed, so afterwards she is put into a child's body. Once again, identity is unclear by the end of the film; is she still Motoko Kusanagi, or has the fusion with the Puppet Master changed her?

Before I go, yall know me....I have to include something about the soundtrack. Kenji Kawai did this soundtrack, so I already know it's good. And just so yall know, he also did the soundtrack to Higurashi no naku Koro Ni, which is an AMAZING anime with an AMAZING soundtrack. So definitely check it out. Only if you like creepy choral horror music.