The Summer 2026 Anime Preview Guide

The Ghost in the Shell

In the near future, technology will have firmly taken root in society at large. Cybernetic implants are nothing uncommon, and robots roam as plentifully as humans, all connected through their 'ghosts' to the electronic datastreams of the net. Major Motoko Kusanagi and the Public Security Section 9 find themselves in a constant battle against a newly emerging wave of technological terrorists and cyber-hackers. But things take a turn when Motoko gets involved in a case involving an extremely dangerous 'ghost' hacker nicknamed the Puppeteer, as she dives deeper and deeper into the limitless reality of the net to reach her own startling conclusions.

The Ghost in the Shell is based on the manga series by Masamune Shirow. The anime series is streaming on Prime Video on Tuesdays.

I admit it: I've never really been a Ghost in the Shell person. But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate how gorgeous this newest rendition of Masamune Shirow's work is. Science SARU has outdone themselves this time, particularly in the color department. This is one of the most richly painted shows I've seen in this guide, with The Major's dark teal hair a particular standout. That's not easy, what with all of the bright pops and flashing lights, but her burgundy eyes and teal hair remain the visual grounding points for the episode. No matter what, you can always spot her, eyes drawn as if she were a magnet. It's a brilliant choice. On the downside, there are a lot of flashing lights and the action jumps around like a caffeinated ferret. It was definitely overwhelming in a way that didn't work for me.

I can also see why she's such an iconic character. This woman takes zero shit from anyone, isn't afraid to do what she has to do to get the job done (or because she just wants to punch a pompous bureaucrat in the face), and she does it all with a sarcastic quip or a long-suffering grumble. Or both! Motoko Kusanagi's multitalented, and anyone foolish enough to get on her bad side won't have to regret it for long, or so it seems based on this episode.

What I don't love is the same thing that's kept this franchise from being one I enjoy: the dystopian world. (Although I admit it feels alarmingly closer in 2026 than it did when Shirow first created the story.) The Major is a product of her environment, and she's only as sympathetic as she can afford to be. If you were hoping for her to save poor Kid #28 from his horrible orphanage, you may be disappointed. She gets him out of immediate danger, and she gets the facility reported, if not shut down, but she's not here to rescue him personally. It's an interesting comparison to Victoria of Many Faces, where much of the plot centers on her taking in and adopting an abandoned child. Motoko just makes the kid's life a little less horrible, but she's not interested in being anyone's savior or fairy godmother. That's not her job.

The bleakly unsentimental world works for the story. Dystopias tell us a lot about our fears and how the future could go wrong, and this episode is an excellent example of the genre in action. The digitization of the human mind could lead to decreased empathy and a dehumanization in how people treat each other. The Major isn't a bad person; she's just not what would be recognized as a nice one, either. Nice people couldn't survive in her world. They're not what's needed. But Major Motoko Kusanagi sure is, and it's clearly going to be one hell of a ride along to follow her adventures.

I have always argued that, even before Spider-Man and the X-Men movies herald the arrival of the Marvel Cinematic Devourer of Worlds, it was the release of The Matrix in 1999 that made the whole world decide that nerdy sci-fi shit was actually cool and worth spending billions of dollars on. Without the gradual dismantling of those social and cultural preconceptions about what constitutes acceptable entertainment, anime probably would not be the global juggernaut it is today. That's where Ghost in the Shell comes in. If you belong to a certain generation, then understand that Ghost in the Shell isn't just iconic; it is sacrosanct. Specifically, it's the 1995 film adaptation by Mamoru Oshii and Production I.G that essentially paved the way for the modern media landscape, completely redefining what “cool” was for fans and filmmakers all over the world. I cannot possibly understate this. If you were a kid just getting into the “weird” movies and shows that your parents and teachers all turned their noses up at in the mid-90s and early 2000s, and someone showed you Ghost in the Shell, it would have completely changed your brain chemistry.

All of this is to say that I cannot imagine how much raw, brazen self-confidence it took those mad bastards at Science SARU to take the mantle of Ghost in the Shell from its lifelong stewards at Production I.G and then go, “You know what? Let's just start this whole thing over from the source. I bet we could really go wild with it.”

There's a shot in the opening scene of this premiere that sees us looking down at Major Matoko Kusanagi as she leaps from a window following a brutal assassination. She's looking up at us with that enigmatic gaze of hers, and her cybernetic body soon fades into shimmering nothingness as the active camouflage system kicks in. You all know the shot I'm talking about. It's one of the most mythic images in the history of anime, right up there with Kaneda sliding his motorcycle in Akira. The execution of these scenes perfectly encapsulates what makes The Ghost in the Shell (2026) such an astonishing triumph. The sequence combines the novelty of Masamune Shirow's original style, Science SARU's brilliantly bold animation, and a marvelously thrilling jazz soundtrack, making this prologue feel completely fresh and new.

For anyone whose only exposure to the franchise comes from all the words rooted in Mamoru Oshii's hard-edged and melancholy vision of the future, the candy-coated fever dream of violence and spectacle presented in The Ghost in the Shell might induce, er, shell shock. For anyone who has been dreaming of a return to the grainy, lush heyday of unrated anime OVAs that reveled in their decadence, though, Science SARU's work here comes to sate our starving bellies like manna from heaven. This incarnation of Major Kusanagi is a feisty firecracker who is more likely to get chewed out for insubordination than to engage in lengthy philosophical diatribes on the nature of the soul. Since it hews so closely to Shirow's original vision, I'm sure plenty of heady technobabble and philosophizing will make their way into the Major's adventures. Still, this shift in tone and atmosphere could not be more apparent or more welcome.

Besides, it's not like The Ghost in the Shell will ever lack satire and social commentary. It's just that, this time around, we're not worried about being classy or subtle. The Major is the first person to bristle at the invasions of privacy and autonomy that these cybernetic enhancements entail. We see an army of abused school-children forced to sing songs of praise for their disgusting gruel lunches before getting tossed into the brig for mandatory brainwashing sessions. GitS is just as pissed off and paranoid as it's ever been. We're just letting ourselves have a bit more fun as we dismantle the system and flip the bird to the powers that be. I could not be more thrilled to join the Major and her crew on such a vital mission. Science SARU, this just might be your masterpiece.

Ghost in the Shell was a show that very much defined my childhood, which I watched late at night alongside Cowboy Bebop. The fact that we are still getting more Ghost in the Shell in the year of our lord 2026 is crazy, but considering that this seems to be an anime adaptation that is at least loosely based off of the original Ghost in the Shell manga, which was very different from the science fiction anime that defined a whole generation, it's even more insane when you sit down and think about it. It's almost like we've come full circle culturally, which I find very funny, and that little fun fact only adds to my overall enjoyment of this premiere, which was firing on all fronts. Everything from the style to the world-building felt so kinetic and expressive. I am a little disappointed that there doesn't really seem to be any of the original dub cast brought back to handle this new adaptation, but that is to be expected since Amazon is handling the series, and I do think a lot of the new voice actors do solid callbacks to the originals while also clearly doing their own thing. After all, the first ten minutes of this premiere make it very clear that these are not all the same characters from that show that I grew up with. This is a very different Motoko Kusanagi, one who is much younger and a little more of a spitfire than the cold, calculated bad-ass. Suzie Yeung does a fantastic job, particularly carrying such a big role on her shoulders.

But honestly, I think that fits this style and the world a lot better. I love the distinct colors and the fun, creative ways that the show visually portrays certain things, like diving into each other's subconscious or working through other people's memories. There are a lot of perspective shots that feel very unique, really taking advantage of the sci-fi premise in a way that makes this material feel fresh despite it technically being a couple of decades old. My only major complaint is that, while I love how in-your-face this premiere is, there are points where it's a little too fast, especially when the show tries to exposit its information to me with subtitles and on-screen text. Sometimes it moves by so quickly I double-check to make sure that my media speed wasn't adjusted, but no, the show just expects you to either read everything that quickly or pause it. It also doesn't help that it was the only really uninspired or bland part of the show's presentation. Maybe it was done this way because the show assumes viewers are already familiar with The Ghost in the Shell franchise, but I digress. This was just a load of fun. Ghost in the Shell is back in a new form, and I am thoroughly going to eat this up with a spoon.

One of the main reasons the Ghost in the Shell franchise has endured over the past three decades is that each iteration has explored its world and characters in different ways. Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell used the setting as a way to explore the nature of humanity and the existence of the soul. TV anime Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, on the other hand, highlighted the hard-boiled detective and explosive action aspects of the cyberpunk future. Ghost in the Shell Arise focused on developing the characters—delving into the events that shaped them into the heroes we know and love. But what of Science SARU's new adaptation?

The Ghost in the Shell is an attempt to adapt the original 1989 manga as closely as possible—for better and for worse. And you can see what I mean in this first episode. This anime is beautifully animated—it's how you would dream the manga looking in motion based on its few colored illustrations from back in the day. It truly feels like an 80s anime made in the 2020s—especially with its wonderfully over-expressive character designs.

However, while I wouldn't say the beauty is only skin deep, I would say that there are notable issues beneath the flashy exterior. This episode is overly dense to the extreme. Even to someone as intimately familiar with the setting, characters, and story as I am had to keep rewinding and rewatching scenes to sift through the onslaught of proper nouns being thrown at us at such a breakneck pace. Don't get me wrong, the animation can carry the plot of this episode through visual storytelling alone—but if you want to understand the whys and hows of all that happens, I can't imagine a single watch being enough.

On a side note, as a longtime fan, I'm interested in seeing how people react to this iteration of The Major. Far from the calm, cool, and always-in-control character we've seen in the past, this version is hot-headed and brash—almost childish. She whines and grumbles, uses her great hacking powers to lash out with little thought for the consequences. Her noble soul is still there, but there's just a lot of uncontrolled emotion on top of it.

Personally, I hope things are slowed down more than a bit as the show goes on, but regardless, I'll be back for more next week… and every other week this season.