I'm not talking about the British insult, "You stupid git!", rather I'm referring to Ghost in the Shell, the classic manga turned anime movie turned anime series turned live action movie. I saw the original movie back in '95 and was astounded by its depth. The remake with Black Widow Scarlett Johansson was not well received stateside yet Japanese audiences seemed to enjoy it. (That link is to an article in which Japanese praise the movie.) There are many stories to be told in the GitS universe, this is just another tale. Scarlett was a tad stilted but, hey, she was playing an android/cyborg policewoman. One of her fellow cops, Batou, was played by Pilou Asbæk who also starred with Scarlett in her first solo effort as an action heroine, Lucy.I liked the rest of the cast as well and you just can't beat Beat Takeshi for entertainment. All in all, don't listen to the naysayers, go see it and judge for yourself. You may enjoy it even more if you know nothing about GitS-World.
Here are a couple of Clear Files I picked up.
The book on the right is an adaptation of the original movie. The one on the left is an English translation (with footnotes!) of the original manga. Unfortunately the movie adaptation is a little bit naughty (you never catch Scarlett baring her breasts) so I'll focus mainly on the manga.
Finally, here is a picture of a Tachikoma. I came across this cutie at a pizzeria next door to I.G. Productions which showcases many posters, goods, and signatures of their artists.
I have other GitS goodies around, I'll try and locate them and show them off later.
I trekked out to Fukushima City to do some nerdy shopping and upon arrival espied a Giant Godzilla atop a hotel. I snapped a pic from the car and did some cropping, this is what transpired.
Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the name of the hotel is Bikuri Gojira (Surprise Godzilla) and it is not affiliated with the Godzilla Hotelin Shibuya.
Cool, it lights up at night.
The other side of the hotel has a few lights burnt out.
Upon really close inspection, it is indeed a Love Hotel and I would have suggested we stay the night if my companion weren't named Dan. I like ya, just not in that way.
Across the street is a Mandai-clone called Mansai (NO idea why the name change) and it was pretty good yet not as good as others I've been to.
I did grab a full set of Arise: Ghost in the Shell A4-size clear files (3 for 200, so I got two sets. One for a pal in Toronto.)
I also picked up this on spec. I have no idea what it is but Universal Monsters stuff is hard to come by. It may just be a set of iron-ons, I'll have to open it up to see. (Hmm. Nothing on the web, I really will have to open it up.)
Check out that CAUTION. Lots of Jinglish (or Chinglish or Kinglish) there so it may be an Asian product.
That's fairly illegible so:
(1) It cannot be used for the cloth over which an iron is not covered. (2) What was printed at once cannot be removed. (3) Please do not cover an iron over the printed portion by any means. (4) Depending on wash frequency, there are discoloration and a case where it fades, a little. (5) If it is used for cloth other than white, a color will not be expressed correctly. (6) Please use a print sheet as early as possible.
That last one concerns me, they may be unprintable.
Well, what do you know. It's two pairs of socks with the Sindee logo on them and the transfer sheet is really tiny. I suppose you're supposed to cut up the little characters and iron them onto the socks. Cool! Though I may pick up some black socks without the logo.
I wanted to get either or both of these but I didn't have a spare 100-200$ on me. Besides, I have nowhere to put them, they are huge!
In other news, I picked up some Avengers Mountain Dews. Unlike the quartet from India, the same art is used and mashed up into only two different cans. Regardless, pretty damn cool!
I'm drinking Captain America/Iron Man out of my Captain America cup right now!
In some Avengers-related news, we are still awaiting Ant-Man to be released (9/11) yet they sure are plugging it here. This is the coolest Eye Chart ever! (For those who've never had their eyes checked in Japan, rather than using random tiny alphabet letters, a circle is used with either the top, bottom, left, or right missing and you tell the Optician which one it is.)
(Be sure to click it to experience it in all its greatness and tininess.)
Just a quick post before I go to bed. (Gotta get plenty of rest for Star Trek tomorrow!!) When Dan the Man and I were in Tokyo a while back, we had dinner at a pizza joint near our accommodations. The pizza was delish the cheese and/or anchovy spuds were interchangeable (which was a slight problem as Dan the Man is a vegetarian...oops.)
But it wasn't the food that made the joint special. It neighboured I.G. Productions and the artists often frequented there. There was even a mini-studio behind glass where you could see the masters at work.
This is what greets you at the door of their office but unfortunately it was closed. A tour would have been cool.
Here are some of the posters embellishing the walls en route to the loo.
And how about this little guy cowering in the corner? It looks as though it's about to be put out with the trash. If that's the case, I'll take it!
But the coolest of all are the graffiti-infested walls showing signatures from many of the Anime artists in the biz.
Finally on the front wall, there is a giant mural. Very lavish.
If I can recall the name of the restaurant, I'll let you know.
