The latest Ghost in the Shell anime adaptation is really going all out in its faithfulness to the original manga, and it’s great.
The last episode covered the initial buildup to the introduction of the Puppet Master. This was a memorable sequence in the 1995 movie that had a ghost-hacked garbage man unwittingly hack a government employee, only to find out his life was a technologically manufactured lie.
The 1995 movie took a more style-over-substance route, and much of the complexity and nuance was somewhat missed in the manga telling.
This time, though, we get it all and pretty much unfettered.
The latest episode finished off the chase and capture of the puppets in question, and also introduced us to the Puppet Master (who was also a puppet, obviously).
I think this is the great thing about this particular anime adaptation of Ghost in the Shell; there’s almost no narrative hand-holding. Like the original manga, Masamune Shirow just throws complex concepts at you at a breakneck pace, and you just have to keep up as best you can.
This is done with good reason, though. The world of Ghost in the Shell is full of unending layers of technological nuance and complexity, and eschewing the normal exposition is done intentionally so that you can experience the overwhelming setting directly yourself.
It’s why the manga was so hard to adapt, as you always had executives worried that viewers would have a tough time keeping up, so we’ve always had sanitized versions of this narrative, until now.
The second half of the latest episode also covers the AI aspects of the Fuchikomas and also how cyber bodies are made. These aren’t really story-driven segments, but give important context for aspects of the story that are coming down the line.
Some of this was also covered in Stand Alone Complex, but again it’s nice to see the Shirow version given its time in the long-overdue sun.
Again, I’m genuinely loving this version of Ghost in the Shell. We’ve had pretty cold procedural-type drama-type interpretations for actual decades by this point, and to see Shirow’s much more vibrant take is a genuine breath of fresh air.
The latest episode also ended with some lovely artwork by Kunio Okawara (shown above). If you’re not familiar with Okawara’s mecha design work, then feel free to check out my interview with him from a few years back. Better still, go and buy the Blu-ray boxset for Blue Comet SPT Layzner, which Okawara also did the mecha design for.
The Ghost in the Shell is available to watch via Amazon Prime Video.
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