Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Border 4: Ghost Stands Alone

攻殻機動隊ARISE -GHOST IN THE SHELL- border:4 Ghost Stands Alone

7.41(19K votes)

Ranked #2542Popularity #3820

episodes

Type

Movie

Status

Finished Airing

Aired

Sep 6, 2014

Studios:Production I.G

MysterySci-FiSuspense

Synopsis

The story of this fourth installment takes place amidst signs of postwar reconstruction in the winter of 2028. Tensions are rising in New Port City as demonstrations are held concerning the interests of foreign cartels. This leads to a shooting incident involving riot police. It all started with a cyberbrain infection released by the terrorist "Fire Starter." An independent offensive unit led by Motoko Kusanagi entrusts the suppression of the situation to their ghosts and aims for their own justice. Below the surface of the incident, lies the "tin girl" Emma and the "scarecrow man" Burinda Junior. As Kusanagi deals with the incident, she draws near to what those two ghosts were seeking. (Source: ANN)

44,573 Members

Worth Watching? — Global Verdict

5.3/10

Average Review Score

33%

Recommend It

Reviews Worldwide

International Reviews

lawlmartz

Recommended

In 1995, Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell emerged from the pages of his manga and onto the big screen, wowing audiences across the world with tales from his adult oriented, mystical cyberpunk world of police, political intrigue, mysterious technological crime. Fast forward to 2015, and the Ghost in the Shell franchise is one of the most well known and respected names in the medium- along with boasting three TV series, four hour-long films, a feature length special film, three feature films, the newest of which having just aired two months ago. Very few anime or manga series can claim to have had the successthat Ghost has over the past 20 years, and even fewer have maintained the quality of writing or demand for the audience's attention as it, either. Enter Ghost in the Shell Arise- the new series of four hour-long films, to be capped off with the ambiguously named "Ghost in the Shell" theater released film. This review is for all four films together, as a series. Arise takes place in 2027, some three years before the events of Stand Alone Complex, focusing on the story of how the Major Motoko Kusanagi came to be associated with Section 9 of the Nihama, and met/recruited the members of her team that we all know and love. Each of the first two episodes concentrates on the major's past (which has been altered slightly to fit in this new continuum, something old fans of the show might pick up on) and then subsequent involvement in a government wide conspiracy investigation, respectively. The 2nd and 3rd installments are more closely tied- forming a longer mystery of a master hacker causing deep political unrest by means of a virus that creates false memories and enables people to be controlled remotely. Ghost in the Shell Arise borrows a lot of classic Ghost in the Shell moments- mirroring setpieces, scenes, and imagery from the original movie and both SAC series. It also tackles similar types of conflicts- obvious homages to past stories: master hackers infiltrating the government and performing terroristic acts, refugees crises, and widespread, deep political intrigue and corruption. Massive, untraceable remote hacking, Having multiple "ghosts", and melding a consciousness with the net/"is it possible to live without a body?" all make an appearance here- with some subtle nods to the aforementioned 1995 movie and SAC. Arise tries to take its own identity, but for better or worse, ends up feeling a lot like a retelling of some of the deepest parts of those, in a much shorter and concise way. Having such source material to draw from gives Ghost Arise a bounty of tales to tell, but perhaps this is merely a reimagining of the originals, with new artwork and some new clothes for the Major (which she SORELY needed. That onesie swimsuit with the baggy cargo pants looks like garbage.) Arise was animated by Production IG- the longtime architects of bringing Ghost in the Shell to life. As in my review of Guilty Crown- I must once again give them credit for their body kinetics. The characters move in realistic and lifelike ways, which helps keep the anime feel more grounded and gritty- without delving into too "high" of action. There are quite a few dismemberments and broken limbs- and when this happens, they hang, swing, and flex appropriately. One scene in particular made me grimace, where two characters are fighting, and one pulls the other character's arm over his shoulder, and pulls down on it with such force (since he's a cyborg) that the arm flexes out, hyperextends, and then breaks, elbow out. But it doesn't stop there. He keeps going and completely tears the arm off- ripping tendons and ligaments with it. It's all shown in very visceral detail- and fairly close to anatomically correct. Other times, people are shot, or have fingers broken, and they remain twisted and limp, and the characters have to deal with these crippling injuries- they aren't just magically healed by the next scene. The voice acting in these movies was decent. It's obvious that this is a Ghost for a new generation of fans, and along with that comes the departure of most of the former voices, for better or worse. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, (the voice of the Major until this series) does play a supporting character, as Motoko's boss. I thought this was a good sendoff for her, who had done such a great job voicing the Major in the past. In a breakout role, Elizabeth Maxwell heads up the cast as the Major. She sounds as an appropriately younger and less experienced Motoko should- authoritative, sarcastic, and driven. Ms. Maxwell is a relative unknown, with only 8 roles to her name currently. I will be interested to see how she does in the future, because she's convinced me as the Major. John Swasey (Gendo Ikari, NGE | Gouzaburou Seto, My Bride is a Mermaid) performs excellently as a crotchety, but slightly younger Aramaki. Jad Saxton, tiny voice extraordinaire also perfectly captures the essence of the Logicoma- predecessor to the annoying but endearing Tachikomas from SAC. One role that I didn't think fit very well at all was Chris Sabat as Batou. There's really no replacement for Richard Epcar, but it just was not convincing for me, given that Batou is probably my favorite character in the franchise. The other voices of the team, Ishikawa, Borma, Saito, Pazu, and Togusa are all newcomers- and it's nice to hear some unfamiliar voices, even if they're not what I'm used to. Overall, these movies are nice additions to the franchise, even if they are weaker than previous editions of the series. I enjoyed the nods to the previous material, and the new material as well- especially the fresh coat of paint, as it'd been about 7 years since Ghost hit the screen the last time. There's still plenty to enjoy if you have the desire for more Ghost.

Community Discussion

1stDecame4Danime

Not Recommended

Eps 9-10 of Alternative Architecture are the non-duplicate arc sequel to this movie continuing the series while eps 1-8 are shortened duplicates of the Arise movies. Despite starting off mostly fine, this movie quickly becomes the worst of the Arise series in all aspects. The plot within the movie is an egregiously strung together series of dumb events which tries to similarly string together the prior movies' nonplots under a cringe puppet master 'all according to keikaku' cliche. The plot itself is moronic, and would've been far more competently achieved by simply making any targets die in accidents/assassinations of any actual method because there are no actual obstacleswith this god power hacking plot device. All this idiotic nonplot did was put its puppet master at risk of exposure while also risking failure (and in all realistic likelihood they did fail to achieve their goals if not for the inevitable shit writing excuses of 'all according to keikaku' they'll probably once again fall back on to pretend like it makes sense). The little prior attempts at setting groundwork, such as hamfistedly introducing the girl in the prior movie were pointless, terribly done sequel-bait that spoiled this movie before it even began. The entire movie is just a bunch of dumb action sequences intercut by dumb dialogue dumps to get to boring plot set pieces (we pointlessly made it to the water, yay, more directorial vomit and pointless emotionless scenes please). The dialogue is the most egregiously boring garbage exposition dumps of the series, masterfully laid on top of a bunch of idiotically identical face shot Gifs of the girl soundlessly moving her lips to try to distract the characters and audience as much as possible to miss everything the cast is saying as they emotionlessly dialogue vomit the boring nonplot of nonsense out with as much dumb jargon as possible. The Wizard of Oz references were as subtle as a brick to the face over and over again, not to mention egregiously dumb and entirely pointless for the common thread of the eponymous character Oz being a man behind the curtain (little joke of a) puppet master this series earnestly plays straight and wants you to take seriously. All the other constant name dropping and iconography and ripped character aspects were pointless and excessively on-the-nose while being constantly called out in cringe dialogue/visuals. There was no actual reason to reference The Wizard of Oz. None of the characters actually gained anything from the journey of this movie (let alone a heart/brain/courage/family): The narrative has been constantly trying to push a 'come back home to section 404 not found' all series with mastertits having almost no other dialogue for Majordysfunction, apparently solely for this reference of 'Dorothy's not in Kansas anymore, and should come home' ending with her choosing to stay where she is with her equally nonfamily of morally deficient hired mercenaries as nothing of consequence ever changed for her in this movie let alone from start to finish of the series as she switched from 1 identical post to another and labored over the nonchoice between these 2 new identical post options where she either has no agency as a soldier under the government or has no agency as a mercenary-soldier under the government while pretending that she does. Wow Dorothy. Pointless and tenuously forced in there at best. The plot device noncharacters all went nowhere: The heartless tin-girl and the brainless scarecrow body-snatcher noncharacters did nothing (because the preplanned virus did everything of consequence on its own with or without them) and went into the great beyond anyone's ability to care about them like a nostalgia pandering brick of the 1st GitS movie. The courageous defiant investigator (who I was under the impression was supposed to be a regular human for contrast but turned out to be just another cyborg) got hacked into The Cowardly Lion... a generic mindless pointless nonplot device chauffer who is then unhacked... deep. Alice in Wonderland would be more fitting for this dumb nonsense slop but I guess the writers are too pretentious to acknowledge that. There's even egregious nostalgia pandering by having Major do the roof dive with camo whether it makes sense or not (did they leave the high security room's window open for her?) Major is back to hating the spiderbot mascot character for no reason despite having last been suddenly super friendly to it in a prior movie. 2/10 (where 5/10 is average)

7 found helpfulMay 22, 2025

colelouch

Mixed Feelings

I went into Border 4 with a lot of hype after the teaser at the end of Border 3, but honestly, it ended up being a disappointment. Like that’s it? That’s what all the buildup was for? The biggest issue is the short runtime. At under an hour, the story feels rushed and underdeveloped. Even just an extra 15 to 30 minutes could’ve allowed the plot to breathe, giving us time to explore the characters and make sense of the situation. Instead, events just keep happening one after another, with characters delivering cryptic, philosophical lines, and before we even get a chance to understand their worldview,they’re gone from the story. Even after reading forums and reviews, people are still confused about what’s actually going on. Yes, the chaotic nature of the plot is intentional to some extent, almost giving a sense of hallucination, but we needed more insight into the characters rather than vague references to their situations. And that amazing soundtrack from the Border 3 trailer? They completely overuse it here, which makes it lose its impact. What frustrates me the most is that there was a solid foundation for a great conclusion. The previous three films set up plenty of plot threads and interesting dynamics, but instead of digging into them, the movie falls back on a predictable, formulaic approach with “here’s how Public Section 9 gets established.” The result feels rushed, wasted, and lacking the payoff the buildup deserved.

0 found helpfulAug 23, 2025