Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence - Music Video Anthology Regular Edition 2005 Horror Movie Review

The seven videos on this brief (42 minutes) disc combine music from Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell 2 (2004) with recut imagery from the film. The musical styles vary from the jazzy “River of Crystals,” sung in English by Kimiko Itoh, to Japanese choral chants. The viewer has a choice of listening in Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, or Digimatic Virtualizer X Enhanced Stereo. The lyrics are available in English, Japanese, and a karaoke version—each syllable lights up as the singer intones it. The visuals include only backgrounds from the feature: pans over streets, helicopter flights over skyscrapers, etc.; the main characters never appear. Anime music fans may enjoy these fragmented clips, but others will wonder why Oshii allowed director Mizuho Nishikubo to cut up his film haphazardly. (Rated 13 and older: brief nudity, grotesque imagery) —Charles Solomon