It’s a sad day in the world of Japanese animation in the United States world. I JUST heard this moments ago, but Cartoon Network has cancelled, after 11.5 years of running, the Toonami block. I don’t know about you all, but a little bit of me just died inside. Toonami was, quite frankly, my [... Read more here]]]>

It’s a sad day in the world of Japanese animation in the United States world. I JUST heard this moments ago, but Cartoon Network has cancelled, after 11.5 years of running, the Toonami block. I don’t know about you all, but a little bit of me just died inside. Toonami was, quite frankly, my childhood, and I grew up watching almost every show on there. Yes, eventually, when Tom, the host, started becoming different, and the shows they provided became more lame, I stopped watching, but I always had a place in my heart for the entire setup.

Tom was voiced, starting with Tom2, by Steven Blum, and stayed in that position to this day. The original Tom, which you see pictured in the banner above, was voiced by the famous Sonny Strait. Both of them were famous for their roles, not only as Tom, but in many other English dubbed animes.

Even as I write this, I am still truly upset. It still bothers me, even though I know it shouldn’t, and this happens with all of these types of things. But Toonami is really what got me onto the path that I’m on right now. There was so much there that kept me interested, like their Total Immersion Events, which started with “The Intruder” in 2000.

I’ve decided to change my desktop picture in memory of this event, and I shall leave you with a picture of the original Tom, convieniently with a somber look to him. You can find much more information on Toonami on their Wikipedia page, or if you’re interested in seeing ancient videos of the original Toonami and beyond, you can visit Toonami Digital Arsenal.

Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society

Director: Kenji Kamiyama Producer: Production I.G Release Date: July 3, 2007

Solid State Society takes place two years after the second season of their television series, so if you aren’t looking to read something that may spoil parts of the show for you, then consider this your SPOILER [... Read more here]]]>

Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society

Director: Kenji Kamiyama
Producer: Production I.G
Release Date: July 3, 2007

Solid State Society takes place two years after the second season of their television series, so if you aren’t looking to read something that may spoil parts of the show for you, then consider this your SPOILER ALERT.

In this movie, Major Motoko Kusanagi has left Public Security Section 9 to do some investigations on her own. But that’s not the only change to happen. Togusa, who finally decided to get cyberized, now uses a standard issue gun, and is the leader of the Section 9 squad. Batou upgraded his vehicle from the classic to a brand new sports car, still in his famous yellow. Section 9 has also gained a handful of new recruits, but they really don’t come into play much in the entire movie.

Major Motoko Kusanagi in Solid State Society.

Throughout the movie, both the Major and Section 9 attempt to hunt down a character called the “Puppeteer”, or seems to be able to make people commit suicide to be able to stop them from doing terrible things. Much of it has to do with children being kidnapped from their real parents, and sent to live with a “Noble Rot Senior Citizen”, a group of seniors who live off of a special health care monitoring network. The movie continues as they attempt to find these kidnapped children and unravel the mystery of the Puppeteer.

Unlike the other two older movies, the animation style of this movie is exactly the same as the television series, making it a familiar sight to those who have watched them all the way through. The music is, once again, created by the famous Yoko Kanno, and is just as good as the TV show was. Yoko Kanno has done the music for many Japanese animations, and is extremely reknown around the world for it.

Chief Aramaki and two cyber screens.

Just like the series, it is definitely recommended that you have some brainpower, because this movie will lose you if you don’t pay enough attention to it. The tangents that they can go on can be confusing at first run-through, so you may need to watch it a second time to make sure that you understand it all. And of course, it is highly recommended that you watch the Ghost in the Shell series, both seasons one and two, before you watch the movie, because they do follow along with the storyline that was set up already. Overall though, I thought this movie was a great continuation of the series, and while I’d rather see another season made, they did a good job of keeping with the GitS universe in this movie.

Weasel’s Score: 92%