Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex: 1st Season, Vol. 1 (DVD)

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Video:
The video is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. The back of the DVD case claims that the video was encoded directly from high-definition masters, and I believe it. Everywhere colors are perfect, animation is smooth, and edges are sharply defined. I tried, but I just couldn´t find any errors. There´s some CG, but with the exception of the opening animation sequence, it was so cleverly cel shaded (coloring a 3D image to look 2D) that it´s hard to tell. This quality easily matches that of a contemporary theatrical animated film.

Audio:
In the standard version, one can listen to the show in either Dolby Digital 5.1 English, DD 5.1 Japanese, DD stereo English, or DD Japanese. The special edition´s first disc is the standard edition. The second disc contains DTS 5.1 English, DTS 5.1 Japanese, or stereo English. Both editions offer English subtitles. Although there´s no such option in the menu, I found that there are two subtitle options. The first translates just the dialogue. The second translates dialogue and screen text. When you select English subtitles from the menu, you get the second option. I watched the episodes in DTS 5.1 Japanese with English subtitles, and checked some spots in DD 5.1. I highly recommend the DTS 5.1 audio, it just sounds better to me. However, the Dolby Digital 5.1 was excellent, too. Sound effects, like helicopters flying by, make good use of the channels. Sub-vocalized communications seem to come from all sides at once, lending a neat effect.

Extras:
There are no extras on the DTS DVD, so there´s no difference here between the special and standard editions. There´s a Textless Opening and Textless Closing, which are just what they sound like. There´s a lengthy Interview with Director Kenji Kamiyama. It was interesting to me because Kamiyama explained a lot about how they approached the differences between doing a TV series instead of a movie. One of the things that he pointed out that I had somehow missed in both the film and TV series was that vertical motion was Motoko´s trademark- most of her action is taken leaping up or down buildings, and her fighting style emphasizes aerial maneuvers. Finally, there´s an Interview with Atsuko Tanaka, the voice actress of Major Kusanagi Motoko.

--Miscellaneous--
The second DVD fits inside of a thin double keepcase. There´s a four page insert with stories about the staff that worked on the series. Also included with the special edition is the first soundtrack. As the music was composed by Yoko Kanno, it´s simply the best. I would recommend that you save as best you can to buy the special edition for the soundtrack alone. The special edition comes in a black sleeve with slits cut in the front. It is wide enough to hold both the DVD case and the soundtrack. My problem with it is that, if you´re like me, you keep your CDs on one rack and your DVDs on another. Without the CD in the sleeve, it´s pretty flimsy. I actually took an empty CD case and put it in the sleeve just to hold it up.

Film Value:
I was initially uncertain how a "Ghost in the Shell" TV series would work. It didn´t seem like a sequel to the movie would make much sense in a TV series, and I always thought the manga wasn´t as good as the movie. However, Production IG took their work seriously in "Stand Alone Complex", and the effort paid off. I could have gone on for twice the length I did about the subtleties and nuances that were packed into each episode, but I think it best for the viewer to see it for himself. "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" is a definite must-see.

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