Ghost in the Shell

There are many genres of anime; my top three are horror, mecha, and my most favorite, cyberpunk.

In 1985, I discovered Appleseed, a manga series created by by Masamune Shirow. After being a big fan of giant robots and the mecha anime in general, my focus would forever be changed once I dove into the pages of this serial. Seeing the characters Deunan Knute and Briareos Hecatonchires as members of the ESWAT in Olympus, a city set in a futuristic, post-third-world-war environment, was very attractive to me. The imaginative yet convincing functionality and the merge of cyberpunk with mecha was a perfect combination, especially for a big fan of movies like Blade Runner. I plan on writing an article on this manga/film/series soon, but I mention it because it’s what led me to read the manga Ghost in the Shell. I had become a fan of Shirow and bought everything he wrote including Black Magic M66, Dominion, Orion and others, so naturally, this had to be in the collection.

The original GitS manga ran in Japan from April 1989 to November 1990 and was adapted to the classic anime film Ghost in the Shell (1995), the sequel Ghost in the Shell: Innocence (2004), and Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie (2015). There were several serials including Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002) and Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG (2004). The primary storylines of both seasons were compressed into OVAs as Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex The Laughing Man in 2005 and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Individual Eleven in 2006. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society was released as the finale of both series in 2006.

In 2013, Ghost in the Shell: Arise premiered with a new art style set before the original manga. It was released as a series of four OVA episodes then recompiled as a 10-episode television series under the title of Kōkaku Kidōtai: Arise – Alternative Architecture. An additional fifth OVA titled Pyrophoric Cult was released on August 26, 2015.

Netflix has acquired the worldwide streaming rights to Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045. The new series will have two seasons of 12 episodes each.

In the year 2045, the world has entered a systematic “Sustainable War.” Hired as a mercenary unit, the former members of Japan’s elite Section 9 are faced with the sudden appearance of “Post-Human,” a being with tremendous intelligence and physical capabilities.

The original Anime Series “Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045” will begin streaming worldwide April 2020, Only on Netflix.