Another peek of the Science SARU-produced The Ghost in the Shell anime is here. It takes the form of a visual of the famous cyborg Motoko Kusanagi, drawn by Shuhei Handa (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off co-character designer), and a teaser video.
Handa is also the anime’s character designer and executive animation director. Other newly revealed members of the main staff lineup include director Mokochan (DAN DA DAN assistant director) and series composer and scriptwriter EnJoe Toh (Godzilla Singular Point, author of books like Self-Reference ENGINE and Code Buddha).
Additionally, a message from The Ghost in the Shell creator Shirow Masamune was released. In it, Masamune remarks that “Anime adaptation-wise, this new THE GHOST IN THE SHELL marks the fourth version following those by Oshii, Kamiyama, and Kise. Alternatively, if we separate GHOST IN THE SHELL and Innocence, categorize the S.A.C. series into Seasons 1, 2, and Solid State Society, divide ARISE into its own series along with The New Movie, and split SAC_2045 into Seasons 1 and 2, this would be the tenth adaptation overall.”
Masamune also observed, “Considering the shift in production staff, one could even consider this the first installment of a second generation.” He caps it off by bringing up the manga’s age and saying, “I sincerely hope this will once again be an enjoyable visual experience in some form.”
The Ghost in the Shell was announced in 2024 and is set to premiere in 2026. The original teaser image for the anime hinted at a look that skewed more closely to Masamune’s character designs than previous anime, and the new teaser visual reinforces it.
Masamune’s manga debuted in the May 1989 issue of Kodansha’s Young Magazine Kaizokuban. As his message mentioned, various anime adaptations with different takes on the source material were made. These include Mamoru Oshii‘s Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence movies; the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series and movie; the Ghost in the Shell: Arise films, which featured a younger version of main heroine Motoko Kusanagi; and the 3DCG Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, which takes place after Stand Alone Complex.
The previous anime adaptations were produced by Production I.G, with SOLA DIGITAL ARTS assisting for SAC_2045. The committee for the new anime includes Bandai Namco Filmworks, Kodansha, Science SARU, and Production I.G.
Kodansha USA describes the original manga, which has spawned a franchise and inspired a Hollywood live-action adaptation, as:
From Shirow Masamune, the award-winning creator of Appleseed and Dominion, comes The Ghost in the Shell, the definitive cyberpunk manga that inspired the internationally acclaimed animated film. An epic dystopian tale of politics, technology, and metaphysics, The Ghost in the Shell has been hailed worldwide as an unparalleled visionary work of graphic fiction.
Deep into the twenty-first century, the line between man and machine has been inexorably blurred as humans rely on the enhancement of mechanical implants and robots are upgraded with human tissue. In this rapidly converging landscape, cyborg superagent Major Motoko Kusanagi is charged to track down the craftiest and most dangerous terrorists and cybercriminals, including “ghost hackers” who are capable of exploiting the human/machine interfance and reprogramming humans to become puppets to carry out the hackers’ criminal ends. When Major Kusanagi tracks the cybertrail of one such master hacker, the Puppeteer, her quest leads her into a world beyond information and technology where the very nature of consciousness and the human soul are turned upside down.
Source: @thegitsofficial
