Table of Contents
Ghost in the Shell
Notes
Terminology
- External Memory
- Refers to memory that is âexternalâ in relation to the brain. Any digital storage medium can technically count,C) but it seems to generally be used to supplement regular memory.
- Ghost
- Refers quite clearly to the soul. Some analog thing inside the brain that they donât quite understand in their world. When reading it, it comes off as static.
- Iâm not sure why they call it a âghostâ rather than a soul. It could be the case that, in universe, it is called a soul in English and this is some weird Japanese borrowing. In the primary world, this is probably because it sounds cool or the writer just didnât realize that âsoulâ and âghostâ donât have the same meaning.D)
Reviews
Manga
The Manga that started it all, written by Masamune Shirow. Now, I read this andâŠI wasnât particularly impressed. âMasterpieceâ is waaaay too generous to describe this. Itâs average at best. Note that Iâm only covering the first manga and not that weird sequel, which I havenât read yet.
Now, the mangaâs main issue is its aversion to explaining anything. Reading through the manga is confusingâŠsince:
- Individual chapters are linked together very loosely. Itâs extremely episodicE).
- Characters are barely explained. If you thought Paz and Borma were not focused on in the later entriesâŠoh boy. That isnât even including all the characters that have a unique or eye-catching design who appear once and never againâŠ
- Worldbuilding concepts (and concepts) in general are poorly explained.
I predict a counter-argument will be leveled against me: the author notes at the end. Masamune-sensei decided to explain several things at the end of the volume in footnotes. These footnotes are interesting to readâŠbut they donât actually change much. Since youâre supposed to explain things in and through the storyâŠnot at the end of it. Not all the notes explain stuff that is needed to understand what is going on, but the ones that do should have been in the story itself. I also personally donât know how bad the explanations are in the mangaâŠsince Iâve already seen the film and all of SAC, meaning Iâve already got a good idea of what all the things are. Though one example Iâm sure about is ghost dubbing which, as far as I remember, isnât explained at all in the manga.
Besides that, Iâve found some plot points were contrived. Particularly the Majorâs acceptance of the Puppet Masterâs proposal. Within a few panels she goes from skeptical to fully acceptingF).
The manga also focuses on the philosophical themes too muchâŠto the detriment of the story. The later SAC handles this far better. Something else I noticed is that the name âGhost in the ShellâG) isnât even thematically appropriate, since thereâs no exploration of that as a theme.H)
I will note this: itâs pretty shocking going from the rest of the franchise to back hereâŠsince itâs radically different in places. The Major has a more playful and less stoic personality. She also goes on datesI). Besides that, the ĂŠsthetic is also differentâŠway less grounded than the later SAC. I donât personally think this works, since the world doesnât feel ârealâ in the way that SAC does.
What reading the manga told me is that, somewhat ironically, Ghost in the Shell did better outside of the hands of its original creator.
As far as I see it, the manga is an interesting footnote. Itâs most relevant in regards to the filmâŠwhich I previously thought deviated from the mangaâŠbut it turns out it didnât. Well it did in the characterization of KusanagiâŠit would honestly be interesting to see an adaptation that adapts her character properly, but thatâs a whole different can of worms.
Would I recommend reading it? No, if you arenât big on Ghost in the ShellâŠyes, if you are.
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
This was the first part of the Ghost in the Shell franchise that I experiencedâŠand I was deeply disappointed after I first saw it. You see, I had heard for years that it was a certified masterpieceâŠone of the best anime films ever made!
This turns out to be untrue and it only reaffirmed that the western anime community is the least reliable source for determining the quality of any piece of media.
Now, after having read the manga, I found that the film was more accurate than I initially thought. In fact, itâs probably one of the more accurate adaptations of a manga that Iâve seen. It does throw the mangaâs ĂŠsthetic out the window for its own (Patlabor 2-like) and it makes the world more grim in generalâŠbut the plot regarding the puppet master is on-point. It actually improves upon the manga by hinting at the Majorâs reasons for accepting his proposal early on.
Like the manga though, it focuses too much on its philosophical nonsense to the detriment of the story. It also has too many âstaticâ scenes: where we see some landscape image with music playing over itâŠwhile nothing actually happens. This is similar to Patlabor 2, but Patlabor 2 actually achieved something with itJ). And, just like the manga, it has an issue with explaining things.K)
There are positives here: like Blade Runner, the portrayal of the worldbuilding was masterclass but, unlike SAC and like Blade Runner, the world doesnât come off as believable. The issue here is that Ghost in the Shell portrays a world so grim that itâs hard to believe it could be this grim.L) This is the only part of the franchise, as far as I currently know, that has this problem. WellâŠthe manga technically counts, but for a different reason. What the worldbuilding gets across extremely well is just how cyberized the world is: everyone has cybernetics, there are androids all over the place and most people donât double-take when they see some ridiculous enhancement. Even the military is heavily cyberized.
Stand Alone Complex
One day we will find something that is the best of the franchise that isnât simultaneously my favorite.
Stand Alone Complex is unquestionably the highest-quality thing to come out of Ghost in the Shell. The only thing that comes close to the first season is the second season.
S.A.C. is interesting regarding adaptations, as it could be argued itâs not a good adaptation. However, S.A.C. is not an adaptationâŠitâs a spin-off thatâs heavily inspired by Ghost in the Shell. Itâs even in the name itself âStand Alone Complexâ. The subtitle, which is carried by all of its derivative works (unless Iâm missing something) also indicates to the audience that it is not related to the rest of Ghost in the Shell. And for those who like comparing adaptations/spin-offs/whatever, itâs interesting just how the various things in the Manga were adapted into S.A.C. The Puppet Masterâs adaptation was particularlyâŠintriguing.
Both seasons (and the film) are also dripping with the 2000s, which I very much like. Just like KidĆ KÄsatsu Patlabor. There are optical(?) discs in caddies, there are barcodes everywhereâŠfor some reasonâŠ? The film has a rap by Heartsdales. Itâs freaking great.
Before I move on to the individual entries, I think I should mention something I found interesting. One thing that Iâm quite sure about is that I saw the Laughing Man logo years before I even knew about Ghost in the Shell. That either speaks to S.A.C.'s influence, or to how damn good of a design that logo is. The Laughing Man may also be the reason S.A.C.'s first season is so iconic and why 2nd Gig might not be remembered as wellM) since it doesnât feature anything like it.
Further, itâs difficult to find official merchandise with it.
S.A.C.
This is the first season, with all the Laughing Man shenanigans.
I think that S.A.C. takes the basic ideas that Ghost in the Shell presented, in the Manga and the filmâŠand elevated them to something that is almost a masterpiece. Although I donât think S.A.C. is perfect, I think that it is near-perfect.
The series is episodic, but it does have an over-arching plot that it does go into (and quite fast too, by episode 4 weâre already on the Laughing Man track).
Besides the Laughing Man thing, this is probably the first GitS property that actually explores the âGhost in the Shellâ theme, mainly in Episode 3 ăăăăăȘćäč± / ANDROID AND I and with the Tachikomas. But I think Episode 3 is more subtle about it. I remember being super excited after that episode, for that reason.N)
Iâd just recommend watching it, donât bother listening to me (except for the âwatch itâ part).
2nd Gig
The second season of S.A.C. andâŠI donât think itâs worse than S.A.C., it just lacks the Laughing Man. Thatâs about the main downside. Itâs also a bit confusing as to what the antagonist wants (heâs also super obvious about being the bad guy).
Maybe a re-watch will make it clearer to me.
Iâd still recommend watching this, particularly if you want more S.A.C., since itâs very comparable quality-wise. Thereâs another brief âGhost in the Shellâ thing in here and not just from the Tachikomas, so yay!
Solid State Society
Thereâs a 2-year time skip between SSS and 2nd Gig, during which a few interesting things happen. Kusanagi has left Section 9 for some reason, I guess she wanted more freedom. Section 9 has been expanded and Bato is like a Maverick now. A grumbling old man, I guess.
Something mysterious and kinda spooky is going on involving children beingâŠkidnapped? Kidnapped by old people, no less, who are connected to the internet via care pods. Itâs pretty spooky. Thereâs a particularly tense moment involving Togusa, our guy.
Anyway, other changes include the fact Togusa apparently told his family he works for Section 9 instead of a security company. Togusa is also more cyberized than before and heâs stopped being sentimental about what weapons he carries. Less naĂŻve, more badass.
In the end, itâs revealed that the antagonist is just some guy? Yeah, some bureaucrat who developed a conscience. Except no! Plot twist! The guy was actually a âshardâ of Kusanagi, who developed self-awareness, took control of this bureaucratâs body (who had died from mysterious circumstances, my favorite) to start delivering what he/she viewed as justice. That seriously spooked the Major, who decided to go back to Section 9(?). The implications of that alone are worth analyzing or exploring in future installments.
Unfortunately, thatâs not what happened.
SAC_2045
Since I decided to move most of my criticism to a dedicated section where I criticize SAC_2045, Iâll focus on just the review portion here. Or, rather, I had a dedicated section, but I decided to refine that first before releasing it.
I was initially hesitant when I first heard about this for several reasons. Netflix, 3D and aesthetic differences. As I watched it, though, I did get into it. Unfortunately, once it ended I was left dumbfounded.
Is SAC_2045 good? No. No it is not. Would I recommend watching it anyway? Probably not.
Since Iâm not going to be focusing on critique here, Iâll take theâŠspaceâŠto focus on something else. Right, there are two seasons. No there arenât. Thereâs one season split into two for some reason.
The animation is pretty good. Itâs not quite Monty Oum-level action, but the action was still quite nice. Unfortunately, they didnât quite take advantage of the 3D animation to do anything too crazy. Iâd say the action in SAC_2045 doesnât get as good as the action in S.A.C. or 2nd Gig though.
Some might like that the aesthetics of SAC_2045 got updated more to the modern dayâŠI didnât. Although I have to admit that they did a pretty good job of updating the looks of some things. Similar to KidĆ KÄsatsu Patlaborâs attempt to do so.O)
Also, the critics of this show (skimmed Wikipedia a while ago) are probably too harsh, especially when it comes to action and animation. When it comes to philosophyâŠwell, I donât remember what they said, just that I thought they were being stupid about it. The writing in SAC_2045 isnât good and the philosophy presented here is completely bonkers, but I donât think it was presented any differently from the previous S.A.C. entries.
The way Iâd rank this among the rest of Ghost in the Shell isâŠwell, I should note first that I initially thought that SAC_2045 was better than the 1995 film. Iâve since changed my mind: SAC_2045 is probably worse than the 1995 film. The film has pretty animation to look at and doesnât quite break the world/story as much as SAC_2045. However, if both were standalone, SAC_2045 would probably rank higher. Unfortunately, thatâs not the case.
Also, a big surprise to hear Mili perform the first seasonâs ED.
Speculah & Analysis
Minor Tech Misunderstanding
There are times where Ghost in the Shell appears to make mistakes in relation to the technology being used. This is nitpicking of the highest order.
Ghost heard as noise/static.
While I believe this to be an errorâŠI am declaring it an error based on an assumption. Basically, thereâs a point in the manga where Kusanagi connects to the other Section 9 members through their electronic telepathy thing. And at this point, the others start to hear her ghost in the form of static, or she tells them not to get âcloserâ (whatever that means in this context) to the static because thatâs her ghost. (Iâll have to check later for sure.) However, if we assume the communications are digital (why wouldnât they be?), then why can the ghost be heard as noise at all? Part of the plus of digital data is that thereâs no interference or noiseâŠso her ghost shouldnât be audible through those communications at all.
Iâll add that the way the telepathy works in the manga is really strange anywayâŠwith everything else treating it as just electronic communication.
Kusanagi's eyes having scanlines.
In the film, after being knocked down and severely injured, we get to see the scene through Kusanagiâs eyesâŠand they have scanlines. Scanlines are only a thing in CRT Displays (Will check for sure later) and I doubt her android eyes are CRTs. Now, this could be excused if: A. Her vision is interlaced for some reason (unlikely). B. Her vision has scanlines by default. The first makes some sense but, logically, her eyes should be sending her raw (or at least properly processed) visual data, rather than any kind ofâŠwhatever we see.
The United Nations
The UN existing is a serious flaw in the worldbuilding of Ghost in the Shell. The UNâs main goal is to prevent another World War from occurring.
The Ghost in the Shell universe has two world wars happen back-to-back â needless to say, the UN should not be able to survive this.
To elaborate further, the UN would have serious trouble justifying its own existence after another major war, let alone a world warâŠlet alone two of them back-to-back. Even if the UN doesnât suddenly collapse, it would definitely ârot awayâ over time, as member states might choose to leave due to the UNâs lack of legitimacy. The UN could only survive if it seriously reformed into something completely different.
For example, I can see the UN disappearing, but organizations like UNESCO (or at least their World Heritage thing) surviving in some form. Or the WHO surviving. But the UN as a whole, with peacekeeping operations? Nah.
Name Speculah
The term æ»æź»æ©ćé is a rabbit hole I wasnât expecting to go down. This is the name that the franchise is known under in Japanese. Ghost in the Shell is the name of the film and the subtitle of the initial manga, but all the other productions use that.
Wikipedia translates it as âMobile Armored Riot Policeâ1) which is described as the literal translationâŠwhich is, uh, a choice.
I wanted to check whether this was accurate, so I looked at the individual Kanji to piece things together. æ©ćé is pretty straightforward, as itâs âRiot Policeâ. This is also, probably, where the âmobileâ comes from, because the ć means âmotionâ. So, if we work backwards from Wikipediaâs âliteralâ translation, the first half æ»æź» should mean âarmoredâ. ButâŠ
It doesnât. The æ»æź» is an invented word presumably created just for the franchise. The first character (æ») means âaggressionâ or âattackâP) and the second (æź») means âshellâ, as in âelectron shellâ going by the specific reading, though it means âshellâ as in âhuskâ more generally. Youâll notice that only âshellâ could be considered to be included in the translation.
The thing is that this is a pretty complicated term, so itâs understandable that thereâs confusion. I couldnât really think of how to translate it myself. I settled on âArmored Shell Riot Policeâ because it makes the most sense as a literal translation: they are cyborg riot police, they have an âarmored shellâ. Though an alternate translation could be âOffensive Shell Riot Policeâ or âOffensive Armored Shell Riot Policeâ. I am technically excluding the âaggressiveâ, though I can understand why thatâs excluded, since itâs assumed in âriot policeâ. In-universe, it makes half sense, since theyâre mostly an offensive force rather than defensive.
Itâs confusing and annoying.
Trivilinks
- Cyberbrain - Iâll read it later.
- aniDB - For the movie.
- aniDB - For S.A.C.
- AniList - For the movie.
- AniList - For S.A.C.
- AniList - For the Manga.
- These are links to the first film and the first seasonâŠthe remaining content can be accessed via âclicking on stuffâ.
- Thereâs something I forgot to note when comparing SAC to the film. The film is pretty clearly âdystopicâ in tone. The world it portrays doesnât look very nice. SAC, in comparison, looks pretty normal, just that technology has moved into a weird place. This key difference makes SAC way more interesting. This is just how the world is now. The manga is just weird.
- I have just found out (2025-04-27) that thereâs going to be another adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, the manga, coming out sometime in 2026. The poster suggests itâs going to be more faithful soâŠcool.