Shoji Kawamori: 40 years spent designing an anime future
If you've watched any robot anime in the past 40 years, there's a decent chance Shoji Kawamori had a hand in it. Kawamori, whose four decades in the anime industry were celebrated with a recent exhibition titled the Shoji Kawamori Expo, is best known as ...
Anime's aging but active artists: Mamoru Oshii on his latest project, 'Vladlove'
Writer and director Mamoru Oshii is best known for creating sci-fi thrillers that challenge orthodoxy with their philosophical musings and provocative, often nutty, imagery. His most famous film, the 1995 anime epic "Ghost in the Shell," features a stone-cold cyborg heroine who dives nude ...
The story behind anime localization
"The structure of Japanese storytelling does not adhere to a strict three acts. At times, the story meanders and takes the viewer on a seemingly unrelated path. ... Characterizations are richer, deeper, darker. Plots are often complex and convoluted, serving primarily as vessels to ...
Technological fun for the home
Gadget maker Cerevo has taken advantage of the hype surrounding this month's release of the Hollywood version of "Ghost in the Shell" by producing a 1/8 scale robot model of the original anime's AI combat-vehicle Tachikoma.
Creating a real ghost in the shell
Yasuo Kuniyoshi is a man with an extraordinary plan. Kuniyoshi, a professor at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, has been attempting to produce an utterly convincing artificial being for the past 30 years. "A robot," he says, "that has ...
Hollywood's 'Ghost in the Shell' remake misses the mark
After the online petitions, the countless think pieces and Twitter tirades, Hollywood's "Ghost in the Shell" was never going to have an easy passage. Rupert Sanders' film — a $110 million live-action movie based on a beloved manga and anime property — was ill-fated ...
Global ghosts in the shell of Japanese manga
Earlier this year, a major Hollywood studio announced that it was planning to produce a live-action remake of the Japanese manga and anime "Ghost in the Shell." The backlash from cultural critics in the United States and Europe was swift. They deemed that casting ...
But is it art? Anime in the 'post-cinematic' age
The past 15 years have seen a boom in academic studies of anime, ranging from thematic and cultural analysis such as Susan J. Napier's "Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle" to formal theory based on technical processes and the nature of two-dimensional images ...
'Ghost in the Shell' prequel fleshes out characters' origins
Internationally renowned sci-fi anime series "Ghost in the Shell" is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a new prequel, "Ghost in the Shell: The Movie." Originally written by Masamune Shirow as a comic, the series had a strong impact on the cyberpunk subgenre of sci-fi, even ...
