A few weeks back, I wrote a rather lengthy post about being able to see Mamoru Oshii's animated classic "Ghost in the Shell" (1995) at the Cine Core Movie Theatre in Seoul, South Korea during the spring of 2002. You can read that post at this link.
Well, a few days ago, while working on a post for my blog about another movie that I saw at the Cine Core Movie Theatre, I made an interesting discovery on my bookshelf.
I re-discovered that I did, in fact, purchase "Ghost in the Shell" on DVD while living in Seoul, South Korea. The DVD was in a stack of DVDs that I packed in a box from when I moved from Catonsville, MD to Phoenix, AZ. There are some important Korean, Japanese, and Chinese films in that stack of DVDs. I just might make a series of blog posts about them. Stay tuned.
While looking over the DVD, I remembered that I bought the DVD at my favorite CD/DVD store located at the Yongsan Electronics Market near Yongsan Train Station. While I don't remember the name of the store, the store itself was located inside the ET Land Electronics Yongsan shopping mall. Boy, did I really get to know the ET Land Electronics Yongsan shopping mall really well. It was the perfect place to go to on a rainy or snowy Saturday afternoon. I remember seeing several movies at the movie theater there ("Underworld", "The Matrix Reloaded", "The Matrix Revolutions"). There was also a multi-story LG Department Store. It was fun just to walk through and look at all of the LG-related gadgets for sale (TVs, DVD players, video cameras, cell phones, rice cookers, etc). Then, there was store-after-store consisting of desktop computers, laptop computers, video game devices, cameras, cell phones, and just about any kind of computer part that you could ever need. Along the sidewalk there were vendors selling all kinds of hardware tools. Then, if you were hungry, there was food. Korean street food to be specific. Sorry, if you wanted to go to, say, Taco Bell, Anthony's Pizza, or Robin Hood Sandwiches, you had to go to the PX area on Yongsan Garrison.
ET Land Electronics Yongsan and Yongsan Station Area
Based on my research of the area on Google Maps, it looks like the CD/DVD store that I used to frequent at the ET Land Electronics Yongsan shopping mall is no longer open. I think it was a small, independently owned business. What made the location of the store kind of odd was that you could buy pirated copies of the latest Hollywood movies on DVD. I remember seeing U.S. military personnel going crazy buying up pirated DVDs to take back up to Camp Casey or Camp Red Cloud or Yongsan Garrison.
ET Land Electronics Yongsan Shopping Mall
To be honest, I never bothered buying any of the pirated DVDs. When I had an apartment in Hannam-Dong, my roommate at the time bought "Kill Bill" on a pirated DVD. It was nearly impossible to watch. Someone recorded the film using a hand-held video camera while inside a movie theatre. As a result, both the audio and picture quality were poor. Besides, I was interested in watching South Korean movies. Nobody bootlegged South Korean movies.
Manga Entertainment Presents...
South Korean DVD Cover for "Ghost in the Shell" (1995)
The cover of the 2002 South Korean DVD release for "Ghost in the Shell" features the awesome artwork from the creator of the "Ghost in the Shell" manga himself, Masamune Shirow. Yes, that is how the main character of "Ghost in the Shell", Major Motoko Kusanagi, looks like in the manga. Film director Mamoru Oshii's visualization of the character is quite similar to Shirow's. However, there is a BIG difference between the personalities of Major Motoko Kusanagi in the manga and in the movie. In Shirow's manga, Major Motoko Kusanagi has a bubbly, warm, and, well, sexy personality. She also has a sense of humor. In Oshii's film, the character is completely different. The Major is cold, calculating, and distant. She also is fully aware that the only thing that's not artificial about her is her brain. Hence, the title "Ghost in the Shell".
At the time, Manga Entertainment had the video rights to some of the best animated films that had come out of Japan in the 1990s. In addition to "Ghost in the Shell", Manga Video also released "Ninja Scroll", "Perfect Blue", "Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honniamise", and "Macross Plus". While in South Korea, a co-worker lent me some animated DVDs to watch at night while on CQ (charge of quarters) duty at the barracks. I was hooked. As a result, I bought my own copies of Yoshiaki Kawajiri's "Ninja Scroll", Satoshi Kon's "Perfect Blue", Hiroyuki Yamaga's Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise", and Shoji Kawamori's "Macross Plus". For a while, Manga Entertainment seemed to be an important company when it came to releasing Japanese animated films in the United States. I remember that Manga Entertainment used to have a really cool website. Then, like competitors ADV Films and Bandai Visual, they just gradually faded away as streaming began to replace DVDs and videotapes.
The Korean DVD of "Ghost in the Shell" has the logo for Dawoori Entertainment on the cover. Thus, I'm guessing that Dawoori Entertainment licensed "Ghost in the Shell" for release on DVD in South Korea. The South Korean DVD comes as a two-disc set with one DVD the film itself and the second DVD containing all of the behind-the-scenes features that fans of "Ghost in the Shell" will just eat up. My guess is that the behind-the-scenes features are the same ones on the American Manga Video release. The only difference is that there are Korean subtitles. The Korean DVD also contains an interesting 16-page booklet that features short articles about the world of "Ghost in the Shell". The booklet also contains a short interview with Mamoru Oshii and ends with a brief article about Japanimation. The booklet is almost exclusively in Korean.
Lastly, the Korean DVD for "Ghost in the Shell" has a Region 3 encoding. What that means is that in order to watch the DVD you need either a DVD player that is configured to play Region 3 DVDs or a region-free DVD player. When I lived in Seoul and started buying Korean, Japanese, and Hong Kong DVDs, I bought a region-free DVD player made by Sharp Electronics (Remember Sharp?) from eBay. I remember having the idea going to the Yongsan Electronics Market on a Saturday or Sunday and trying to find a region-free DVD player. I probably could have found one. However, I never did it. Nowadays, the VLC Media Player has the capability to play DVDs from any region. It was a sad day at my apartment in Catonsville, MD when I discovered that my Sharp region-free DVD player no longer worked.
Technological obsolescence happens, right?
Here are some photos of the South Korean DVD for Mamoru Oshii's "Ghost in the Shell".
One Last Thing...
I know that I have a copy of Masamune Shirow's "Ghost in the Shell" in a box somewhere in my storage unit in Surprise, AZ. I should go and see if I can find it. I have only read about one-quarter of the way through the manga. Everytime I start reading "Ghost in the Shell", something comes up to distract me away. It never fails. Well, guess what? That will have to change. However, it will have to wait as I am reading my way through Liu Cixin's "Three Body Problem" trilogy of books.
This post will be the first of a three part series about movies that I saw at the Cine Core movie theatre in Seoul, South Korea, between Februay 2002 and July 2006.
Once upon a time here on my blog, I posted a mind map that I had created about the three movies that I had seen at the Cine Core movie theatre in the Jogno-Sam(3)-Ga area of Seoul.
Location of the Cine Core Movie Theatre in Seoul, South Korea
Then, as per usual, I got R-E-A-L-L-Y busy with working at the Tier 1 IT help desk at the Social Security Administration in Woodlawn, MD.
As a result, the posts were never written.
Well, it's way past time to change that.
PCS to Korea
From March 1999 to July 2008, I was in the U.S. Army. I was an Intelligence Analyst who entered the Army with Specialist rank due to having a college degree. After spending two years at Fort Hood, Texas (January 2000 to January 2002), I received orders to go to Korea with a report date in February 2002. In the U.S. Army, when you change locations where you are stationed, it is referred to as a Permanent Change of Station (PCS).
Like many people before me, I took the MAC flight from Seattle International Airport to Osan Air Base. From there, I rode a bus to the Reception Battalion at Yongsan Garrison in the heart of Seoul, South Korea. The whole point of the Reception Battalion was to spend a couple of days in-processing with USFK and get assigned to my new unit. During that time, newcomers to Korea got to stay at the Dragon Hill Lodge on Yongsan Garrison. I suppose that the Dragon Hill Lodge would be the U.S. military's equivalent to a four-star hotel. The idea was that once the Reception Battalion determined your new assignment, you then checked out of the Dragon Hill Lodge before moving on to your new unit, wherever it was located in Korea. Some people got sent up north to Camp Casey near the DMZ. Other people were sent back down to Osan Air Base or to nearby Camp Humphreys. Others got sent to down to units located in Taegu or Pusan. The Reception Battalion informed me that I got assigned to HHD 94th MP BN located at Yongsan Garrison. I would be staying in Seoul. I wasn't going to Camp Red Cloud, Camp Hovey, or Camp Casey in the 2nd Infantry Division area of operations near the DMZ like I had been led to believe when I first received orders to Korea.
It turned out that another soldier at the Reception Battalion had also been assigned to HHD 94th MP BN. Unlike me, he was an MP from Fort Bragg, NC. He was an Sergeant First Class (E-7); I was a Sergeant (E-5). As a result, we kind of hung out together as we in-processed HHD 94th MP BN together. After a day spent in-processing, he asked me if I would go see the first Harry Potter film with him at the AAFES movie theatre on-post. He said that he had read the book and was interested in seeing the movie. Being in a new country and not knowing anyone, I went ahead and saw the movie. The AFFES movie theatre was located near the 8th Army/USFK headquarters area in the main post area of Yongsan Garrison. Like many USFK facilities in South Korea at the time, the AAFES movie theatre was in horrible shape. The building housing the movie theatre was rundown. Dilapidated might be a better word. The lobby area desperately needed to be remodeled. The movie theatre seats were in horrible condition. Some seats couldn't be pulled down to sit on. Other seats would touch the floor when opened. My best guess is that the seats dated back to the 1960s. Probably when the building was originally constructed. There were places on the floor that had permanent cinemamuck stains. The sound and picture quality were just OK. Nothing too special or memorable. I watched the Harry Potter film, but I don't remember too much about it.
Despite the horrible conditions of the AAFES movie theatre, I would see two more movies there. I saw Tom Cruise's "Vanilla Sky" (2001), a film that I really liked. I also saw an instantly forgettable Sandra Bullock murder mystery movie. It was in one eyeball and then out the other. Literally. I guess I had a crush on Sandra Bullock at the time. That would quickly change once I was exposed to South Korean films.
Seeing Movies in Seoul
After my experiences watching movies at the old AAFES movie theatre at Yongsan Garrison, I started to wonder how Korean movie theatres were like.
Once I got quickly bored hanging out at the PX area at Yongsan Garrison on the weekends, I became INSANELY CURIOUS about exploring Seoul. Believe me, it got old quickly listening to fellow Army people wax nostalgic about how good things were at, say, Fort Campbell or Fort Bragg and how much they HATED being in Korea while drinking beer at the Navy Club or at the bar at the Dragon Hill Lodge.
Once I decided to go off post on the weekends to explore Seoul, there was no looking back.
In the four and a half years of being stationed at Yongsan Garrison, I saw movies all over Seoul. I saw several movies at the movie theatre at the Yongsan Electronics Market ("Underworld", "The Matrix 2", "The Matrix 3"). I saw movies at the movie theatre in Myeongdong ("I, Robot", "Master and Commander"). I saw several movies at the movie theatre in the COEX Mall. I even saw a couple of movies at a movie theatre in Apgujeong ("The War of the Worlds"). I remember seeing "Gangs of New York" at a movie theatre in Gangnam. I think I even saw a couple of movies at Lotte World ("Spider Man", "Resident Evil"). I even remember seeing "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" at a small Korean movie theatre right down the street from where I worked at HHD 94th MP BN. It was a cold, snowy winter's day in Seoul. I ate kalbi for the first time at a small Korean restaurant that was right next door to the theatre.
I quickly discovered that you could watch the latest Hollywood blockbusters in Seoul with Korean subtitles. I also discovered that Korean movie theatres would let you reserve your seat when you bought your movie ticket. Most importantly, I also acquired a taste for eating shredded buttered squid with a medium popcorn and a large soft drink for 2,500 won.
The Cine Core Movie Theatre
I first became aware of the Cine Core movie theatre was after visiting the Korean Folk Village in downtown Seoul with a friend from HHD 94th MP BN who worked in the Personnel Department (S-1) on a cold, grey Saturday afternoon in March 2002. After spending a couple of hours at the Korean Folk Village, we started walking around what was known as the Jogno-Sam(3)-Ga area. We somehow stumbled upon the Cine Core movie theatre. We took a look at what movies were playing and bought tickets. However, I don't remember what we saw. After the movie, I do remember having dinner at an Outback Steakhouse that was located nearby.
What surprised me about the Cine Core movie theatre was that it was housed in a single, multi-story building unlike movie theatres I had been to in the United States. The box office was just outside the building. The lobby was on the ground floor of the multi-story building. As we discovered, each floor had its own movie theatre, so you either had to take the stairs or take the crowded elevator to the appropriate floor. The place was packed!!!
As it would turn out, I would end up seeing three notable movies at the Cine Core movie theatre.
Just as a side note, the Jogno-Sam(3)-Ga area of Seoul quickly became one of my favorite areas of Seoul to visit. In fact, the old downtown area of Seoul (Namdaemun, Seoul Station, Myeongdong, City Hall, Insadong, Dongdaemun, etc.) was probably my favorite area to visit of the city. Yes, I also spent A LOT of time in places like Itaewon, Gangnam, and Hangang Park, among others.
The First Notable Movie at Cine Core
The first notable movie that I saw at that the Cine Core movie theatre was Mamoru Oshii's classic animated film "Ghost in the Shell" (1995).
Film Director Mamoru Oshii
I don't remember exactly, but the day I saw "Ghost in the Shell" had to have been on a partly cloudy Saturday afternoon in April 2002.
"Ghost in the Shell" Manga Video Cover
I was by myself. After several weekends traveling around Seoul with my friend from work, I was comfortable going off-post. It was a breeze using the subway to get around the city. In a pinch, I could use either the bus or get a taxi, but my preferred mode of transport around Seoul was the subway.
Besides, my friend from HHS 94th MP BN must have had duty at the barracks that day, so he couldn't go anywhere.
After making my obligatory visit to the Bandi and Lundi Bookstore near the Jogno-Sam(3)-Ga subway station, I made my way over to the Cine Core movie theatre to see what movies were playing.
I noticed that "Ghost in the Shell" was playing. With my already well-worn copy of the Lonely Planet Korean Phrase Book open, I went to the box office to buy a ticket. The woman at the box office tried her best to tell me that the movie would be shown in Japanese with Korean subtitles (it was). She wanted to know if that was a problem (it wasn't). After purchasing my ticket, I received a complimentary "Ghost in the Shell" movie poster for the Korean release that was autographed by Mamoru Oshii. (Boy, was it difficult keeping that rolled up poster in good condition for the rest of the day.) I then went into the lobby to buy my medium popcorn, large Coke, and, of course, warmed (in the microwave) shredded and buttered squid.
Bag of Shredded Squid
After finding the screen and locating my seat, I sat down.
Korean movie poster for "GitS"
Watching "Ghost in the Shell" in a movie theatre in the Japanese language with Korean subtitles didn't bother me. In fact, it KNOCKED MY SOCKS OFF!!!
For those who don't know, the film "Ghost in the Shell" takes place in New Port City, Japan, at some point in the mid-21st century after a world war. The main character, Major Motoko Kusanagi, is a cyborg (half-human, half-machine) assassin, working for a Top Secret Japanese government agency known as Public Security Section 9. Major Kusanagi leads her cybernetically-enhanced assault team against a dangerous hacker known only as The Puppet Master. As Major Kusanagi and her team discover, The Puppet Master is more than just a hacker. It's an artificial intelligence that is self-aware.
Those are the broad strokes of the plot. The film packs A LOT of plot and details into its 80-minute runtime. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article about the animated version of "GitS".
If the film has a flaw, I have always felt that it is too short.
It should be noted that Masamune Shirow's original manga, which is known as "攻殻機動隊" ("Kōkaku Kidōtai", literally "Mobile Armored Riot Police"), has a complex and lengthy plot of which "The Puppet Master" is one of many subplots. For simplicity, Oshii adapted The Puppet Master subplot from the manga. The other subplots from the manga are ignored for simplicity.
Cover for "Ghost in the Shell".
Here is the classic trailer for "Ghost in the Shell" from Manga Video when the film was released on videotape circa 1996 in the United States.
Although fans of the animated film adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's "Akira" may have a different opinion, in my opinion, "Ghost in the Shell" is the animated equivalent to "Blade Runner" (1982).
Like "Blade Runner", I always seem to notice a new detail whenever I watch the "Ghost in the Shell".
For me, a key highlight of the film is Oshii's celebrated montage of scenes that occurs during the film. The montage is informally known as "Ghost City", which is the name of the piece of music composed by Kenji Kawai for the film. For the film's score, Kawai brilliantly utilizes synthesizers, traditional Japanese instruments, and traditional Japanese singing.
In fact, here is the celebrated "Ghost City" montage from "Ghost in the Shell". Click the link to watch it in full screen.
Everyone assumes that Tokyo was the model for New Port City. According to an interview I remember reading on the internet somewhere several years ago, Mamoru Oshii stated that the inspiration for the city in "Ghost in the Shell" wasn't Tokyo. He told the interviewer that he happened to be visiting Hong Kong to promote another project ("Patlabor 2: The Movie") when it rained. He saw the harbor area of Hong Kong in the rain and was instantly inspired for the look of "Ghost in the Shell". When I read that comment and then "GitS" watched again, the city made COMPLETE sense. The real life model for New Port City was Hong Kong. Just like Hong Kong, New Port City has narrow waterways, fishing junks, and double-decker buses. Plus, people drive on the left side of the road. Still, it's not unreasonable to have a mental picture of Seoul while watching "GitS". Perhaps better Korean cities to visualize for "GitS" would be, say, Incheon or Pusan, two large port cities where it rains A LOT.
Cultural Boycott
But why was "Ghost in the Shell" playing in a movie theatre in Seoul, South Korea in 2002?
After all, the film had a worldwide release back in 1995. I can remember watching "Ghost in the Shell" on videotape at a friend's house in the mid 1990s.
Well, you might remember that way back in the year 2002, the soccer (or football, if you prefer) World Cup was being co-hosted by both South Korea and Japan. The opening match played between France and Ghana was played in Seoul. I know. I was was outside the Seoul World Cup Stadium, watching the match on a rather large TV screen. The final between Germany and Brazil was played in Yokohama.
There is a deeper explanation as to why "Ghost in the Shell" was playing in South Korean movie theatres in 2002, however.
The main reason "Ghost in the Shell" was playing at a movie theatre in Seoul in 2002 appears to have to do with the South Korean government's removal of the boycott against Japanese popular culture (books, music, comic books, TV programs, movies, etc.) that had been in place since the end of the Second World War when the Korean Peninsula became independent from Imperial Japan.
There are various reasons as to why the South Korean government implemented such a cultural ban. However, it's beyond the scope of this post. At the time, anything having to do with Imperial Japan was an emotional issue in South Korea. I will write that there are other blogs out on the internet that do a good job covering that issue.
Just know that the President of South Korea at the time, Kim Dae Jung, the politician behind the controversial "Sunshine Policy" with North Korea, removed the boycott on Japanese popular culture as a gesture in order to improve often HEATED relations between the two countries as a prelude to the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
I can remember one day going into my favorite CD/DVD shop at the Yongsan Electronics Market (sorry, I don't remember the name of the store) and noticing that the store suddenly had a brand new section for J-Pop CDs and then a brand new section for Japanese DVDs. In fact, the store sold the "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" animated TV series on DVD. You couldn't get that at the PX. Also, suddenly, toy stores at COEX Mall started selling Japanese anime-inspired toys, such as "Macross" and "Gundam".
Conclusion
After the film concluded and I deposited my trash into the trashcan, I quickly realized that it was difficult to look at the Seoul skyline as I had before prior to watching the film at the Cine Core movie theatre.
No matter where I was in Seoul, if it rained, I instantly heard Kenji Kawai's "Ghost City" play in my head.
It was AUTOMATIC.
Rainy night in Seoul, South Korea
I have yet to see the live action film version of "GitS" with Scarlett Johansson from 2017. Considering all of the bad reviews the film received, I doubt I will ever get around to watching it.
Now, there is a "GitS" animated series known as "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex". Based upon the episodes that I watched, the animated TV series is very similar to the "GitS" manga in tone and style, which is completely different from Oshii's film version.
Next Entry
The next entry in my series of posts about movies that I saw at the Cine Core movie theatre in Seoul will be Korean War EPIC "Taegukgi" from 2004.
