5/5 Great movie!
  by H. Huang
I'm glad they finally made a translated version of this movie, which they should have done from the start. Graphics are great and the story will have you watching the movie again to actually understand it.

5/5 Don't be misinformed or your going to miss out!
  by Antonio Peace
Like already stated by others this is a very legit DVD released by Bandai. This is a long awaited purchase, just got it yesterday, because I had the Dreamworks disrespectful release and it took away from the movie because it was only in japanese and you had to read and pay attention at the same time, and anyone who has even seen just a glimpse of any Ghost in the Shell release should know your not gonna get anything but confusion from that. With it in english you can really focus on the movie and the greatness it delevers, this is an amazing drama that cannot be missed, it's a very disturbing movie I must admit, but a good movie still. Just like any other Ghost in the Shell release im going to have to re-watch it cause I know its somethings I missed and misinterpreted the 1st time through. My only complaint is maybe since it's been a while since I had time to watch anything Ghost in the Shell, the voices took a little getting used to in this film but it didnt take long to not even notice it. This is a great film, a must see for fans of movies, fans of drama,fans of movies that make you think, fans of disturbing films and more importantly, fans of Ghost in the Shell.

5/5 Way better than the Dreamworks Version...
  by bombastic (Las Vegas, NV)
Everything about this DVD is better. Get this one if you are even considering getting this movie!

5/5 Finally
  by C. Weaver (Rusk, Texas United States)
I brought the original DVD of this item when it first came out, and was really disappointed when it didn't have an English audio dub on it just subtitles. For me it took away being able to enjoy the movie and since I have the other Ghost In The Shell movie and both series, I was used to the English dub. This was just what I wanted! (It even let me find out what the great music lyrics are!!) Outstanding!

5/5 Bandai, our honorable savoir
  by Maka (Washington, USA)
Splendid justice, Bandai to the rescue! Anyone more than familiar with Innocence knows about the botched Dreamworks dvd. Many have complained about them, and for good reason. They had Closed Captioning only, no dub (if there were, it would've been less of an issue), and really bad cover art. Then Bandai comes in (years later) and gives us treasure. Everything is beautiful. When they say Special Edition, Bandai means it with total honesty.

The packaging is a nice tin box with gorgeous artwork on both sides, the front a painting from a surreal scene towards the end of the film, the back what I believe to be original art for this release. There are 2 discs : The first is a filled-to-the brim version of the film, with 2 dubs (one of which the UK Dub, one of which the new US Dub done exclusively for this release). I'm glad they decided to include both, and any other anime company wouldn't of. Each Dub has their own good and bad points. They also have audio commentary from Oshii himeself (with subs), a Making Of, and the Japanese theatre trailer. The second disc is the soundtrack (a great bonus to anyone who appreciates the film itself).

And speaking of the film itself, lets get to that. Innocence is underrated, and I think it receives lots of unwarranted hate. I think it's a beautiful film, and not just because of the amazing animation. The atmosphere, the philosophy, the direction...It's all beautiful. I get shivers during several of the scenes. There's a lot of silent scenes here and the look is the closest you'll get to an independent film sensibility in an anime work. It's the perfect sequel, it doesn't try to outdo at all. The animation is done in a completely different way, and the story is simply a complement and a means of further fleshing out the universe left behind at the first film's climax.

The dubbing is well done. The UK Dub does well with the Harraway scene, the Kim scene, and any scene with motoko. The scenes with motoko in the UK Dub are mystical and I enjoy their re-writes here. Nowhere else do I, however. They turn good writing into cliche'd garbage and add in generic shouts where there was none initially. Batou is much too gruff, it's ridiculous. The US Dub has Batou perfect, much softer, much more somber. The final scene with Motoko is good for reasons other than the UK dub, the emotion put into the voicework is really involving when the two meet. The script shows little to no deviations.

Bandai swooped in like a super hero and gave the film a cared for, fitting release which it always deserved. This is a must own edition, and even if a new one comes along, I can't imagine how it could be better. There is no hesitation to buy this, especially after such a long miserable period where the only available dvd of the movie was crap. If you show an appreciation for this film at all, and wonder if you should upgrade if you own the last version : Do it. You'll enjoy the whole package.