Ghost in the Shell Arise: 2013

[Christopher]

It's worth noting that not every creator or fan worries that much about whether two things are strictly in continuity with each other or not. For many, all that's necessary to call something a prequel is that it's set earlier in the characters' lives, regardless of whether its specific version of events is in continuity with what came before. This whole strictly delineated taxonomy of reboots and prequels and whatnot that some fans insist on is hardly a formal or universal set of policies handed down from on high. Heck, even the term "reboot" never really meant "launch of separate continuity" until fans started using it that way in response to the Moore Galactica. Before then, in industry parlance, it just meant a restart of a dormant franchise, regardless of whether it was a continuity or a revamp/revival of the old one. So it's worth remembering that these labels are somewhat subjective and that the usages that fans tend to favor these days aren't necessarily the same as the usages within the industry.

 

[Set Harth]

It's in no ways a prequel to any of the pre-existing content, the possibility of any continuity landmines is likely why (such as her conflicting origin in the GITS anime).

Well, that's why I'm saying it could be a prequel to the movies, because the SAC origin isn't a part of the movieverse. Since you only have the two films there's less to potentially contradict in that continuity. And though I haven't watched the first film recently I don't think it does anything with Togusa that would necessarily create a problem with Arise. Aramaki's design looks a lot like the first movie's version to me, but that might not mean anything.

I've noticed that some websites commenting on Arise seem to act as if the movies and SAC were in the same continuity.

 

[Set Harth]

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but has there been any news on an approximate release date for the "regular" ( non-import ) North American release? I had thought that we would know by now.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Funimation released the Japanese Collector's edition blu-ray (with English subtitles) back in late August.

 

[Set Harth]

I'm talking about the dubbed ( and presumably also subbed ) American release that was supposed to follow at some point.

 

[Reverend]

Doesn't it usually take something like a year for the English versions to come out? I honestly wouldn't hold my breath, Japan have never been in much of a hurry with this sort of thing.

 

[Pilot Ace]

Doesn't it usually take something like a year for the English versions to come out? I honestly wouldn't hold my breath, Japan have never been in much of a hurry with this sort of thing.

I think it's usually more than a year.

The logic these days still being that Japanese studios want to limit the reverse importation of the English product back to Japan. Their DVD/Bluray prices are insane, especially compared to ours, so if our version was released too quickly they assume Japanese will buy our version instead of theirs (because we include the Japanese audio anyway.

 

[Set Harth]

Damn it.