This Week in Anime

I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts

Lucas
Chris, I have been an absolute sicko for comparative media analysis since I took an English class freshman year that had us reading multiple translations of the epic Beowulf (and for my money the Maria Dahvana Headley translation is the best by a mile!). While I was by no means a Ghost in the Shell expert when this latest adaptation premiered at the top of the month, I've been binging through every variation of the iconic franchise since then and am thrilled to talk about every version of Motoko Kusanagi!

Though, to the Major's credit, she stands out in any circumstance and hardly needs an introduction from us!

I think it's fair to say that every version of Ghost in the Shell carries with it the spirit ghost of Masamune Shirow's original manga, that being a work that is deeply informed by the science fiction writing of the past few decades, while also incorporating the emerging digital technologies and forever war politics of the late 80s and early 90s. Dress it all up in a package that's equal parts Vice Unit police procedural and centerfold sexy, and you've got yourself a franchise that's felt timeless for more than 30 years!

But, as that lengthy description betrays, a lot is going on in GITS, and the different parts of that cocktail that an adaptation can choose to embellish can make one version of this story feel completely different from another! While people on social media are shouting, "That's not my Major" at this latest adaptation need to settle down, there is a kernel of truth to that opinion!

	This image contains sexually suggestive themes. Click to view

After all, if someone walked up to me on the street and told me that these four women are all the same person, I don't think I'd believe them!

Chris, I'm sure I caught at least a couple of episodes of Stand Alone Complex back in the day on Toonami, but lemme tell ya', a story where the bad guy is trying to take down a medical company that's been exploiting and horrendously overcharging sick people that it could have easily cured sure does hit differently after certain events that happened at the end of 2024!

And, while we could probably have an entire other column dedicated to life imitating this particular piece of art, the differences between SAC and Science SARU's GITS project are maybe most legible in the costuming of the characters.

Dude, I didn't give a shit about Borma until he showed up in this fit! He has little to no personality in most versions of the series, but who wouldn't want to party with this giant dude from the new GITS???

To turn that gut reaction into a more examined piece of criticism, though, just look at how serious and "cyber" Section 9 is costumed in SaC and how vibrant and expressive their clothes are in the new GITS! Both works touch on some pretty dark corners of the human condition and uncomfortable existential questions, but man do I love that the crew is at least having fun being super cops in the new GITS!

Similarly, this might be the only version of GITS that actually makes Togusa feel like a genuine greenhorn worthy of his lovingly derisive "Rookie" moniker. In most other animated versions of this series, he comes across as gruff and hard-boiled as the other 30- 40-something men in Section 9. Here, though, he feels a lot younger and less competent, with voice actor Nick Apostolides playing up this part of the character really well.

Just look at the differences between movie Togusa and Saru Togusa! He looks like a grandpa trying to keep the mullet look alive in the former and nearly a petulant college kid trying to bring mullets back in the latter!

Yeah, I won't lie, 2045 opening with the Major receiving some of the most flagrant sexual objectification she's seen over the years (and that's saying something!) with horrendously transphobic comments did not make a great first impression. It's wild that we got what's rapidly becoming my favorite take on the series so soon after this debacle!

Though, to hone back in on the topic that motivated this column, I think there's a fair bit of sexism motivating people's rejection of this new Ghost in the Shell anime. As many of the images I've shared so far have showcased, the Major has always been sexualized, with her body frequently framed through the male gaze.

Her body has always been sexualized in the anime adaptations of the manga, but this new GITS is the first time in this medium we've seen her really be sexual. Science SARU's take on Motoko knows that she's hot and enjoys being a beautiful woman who's also a literal war machine.

She and her girlfriends/roommates/fuckbuddies are so cute that I can't help but gush every time they're on screen together!

Dude, I had like three different people message me after episode two came out, all expressing something along the lines of, "OMG, I just found out that Masamune Shirow drew hentai before he made Ghost in the Shell!" To which I responded with, "Masamune Shirow drew porn and titled the collections "Galgrease" before he made Ghost in the Shell! I'm pretty sure he's a hentai artist first, and cyberpunk visionary second."

Sensational. Further proof that having the soul of a pervert is pivotal to being an effective artist.

All of this is to say that it feels SO GOOD to have Motoko have sexual agency in one of these adaptations after years of her being sexually objectified. Hell, the most male gaze-y shot we've seen in this adaptation thus far is when she's bent over a desk to tell a bureaucrat that she did in fact have the authority to assassinate a crooked foreign national, but even here it works because the whole point of this scene is to establish how much better, more competent, (and hotter) Motoko is than the pencil pushers surrounding her.

This is understandable considering, to the best of my knowledge, some versions of the US Ghost in the Shell manga release also softened this particular scene!

This image contains sexually suggestive themes.
Click to view

Absolutely. "Manga Accuracy" has long been a borderline reactionary talking point in anime criticism, that doesn't actually mean all that much in terms of qualitative analysis. Rather than focus on that framing in evaluating a Ghost in the Shell adaptation (or any anime adaptation for that matter), it's far more important to meet a work where it's at and analyze how effectively it accomplishes what it set out to do.

For instance, I love the goofiness and 80s aesthetic of the new GITS anime as it captures the fullness of living in a technologically advanced future where problems that humans have been dealing with for millennia are expressed in a new form. However, I can appreciate what Mamoru Oshii was going for in the 1995 film with its more muted color palette and serious tone, as it's more clearly about the anxieties and unique problems societies faced as technology uprooted centuries-old norms.

Both are good! But neither is a definitive Ghost in the Shell or "Cyberpunk" experience.

Oh Red River...someday I'll be strong enough to get through your opening storylines and find out what all the fuss is about...

And to reinforce this point through an opposite example, my favorite anime adaptations actually elevate their source material and strengthen their best qualities through what's essentially a second round of editing. Take the Steel Ball Run anime for example. In the manga, Sandman uses his sand manipulation powers (which are later retconned out of the story) to open a cloth containing an emerald, while in the anime he just...opens the cloth normally. The staff at david production making this anime were correct to make this change, as it's technically an error in the source material that should be corrected in work inspired by it.

The One Piece live-action series is a treasure trove of additive adaptation examples! Even for as celebrated as One Piece is for its foreshadowing and world-building, some ideas, such as the Straw Hats #1 fan Bartolomeo falling in love with the crew during their exploits in Loguetown, are obviously a late addition since we don't see him while the crew is running around Loguetown in the anime or manga.

Which is why I audibly GASPED when this bizarre, green rooster man showed up in the live-action series! Not only does this change benefit the original story, it actively subverts the expectations of the audience in a way that's super effective!

And with Science SARU's depiction of the Fuchikoma talking themselves out of an AI uprising, some absolutely inspired action sequences, choice character moments like Batou experiencing child like glee at an upcoming raid, and the tremendous detail that's going into these cybernetic bodies; it's clear this version of Ghost in the Shell is more than making the most out of this medium!

All I'm saying is that someday I hope to be a good enough storyteller to combine all four of those elements this effectively, and until then I'll eagerly tune into Science SARU's Ghost in the Shell week after week so I can learn from the pros!