Ghost in the Shell is an anime film adaptation of the cyberpunk manga of the same name by Masamune Shiro. Both the anime and manga have received critical praise for decades now and have built a strong fan base in Japan and the West alike. But while the manga is more comedic and light-hearted overall, the anime is much more serious and mature, with the film’s tone making it feel completely different from Shiro’s original work. Part of this is probably due to the director, Mamoru Oshii and if you haven’t heard of the name before, remember it because he is one of the most thought-provoking filmmakers the industry has ever seen (e.g. Angel’s Egg and Jin-Roh) and his work for Ghost in the Shell is another reason why he is held in such high regard. This film loves to ask the audience existential questions, with the simplest, yet deepest and most difficult to answer being “what makes us human?”
Throughout the film, the protagonist Major Motoko Kusanagi asks herself this while working for Section 9, a public security agency run by a group of cybernetically enhanced cops who are tracking down a notorious hacker known only as the Puppetmaster. The movie is set in the year 2029 in a Hong Kong-inspired city where the world has been overrun by a vast network that controls every aspect of one’s life and where people having cybernetic enhancements is very common. Motoko however, has a body which is completely cybernetic, which is referred to as a “Shell”. Due to technological advancements, the definition of being human has been altered; a “Ghost” is what differentiates a human being from a robot, hence the title “Ghost in the Shell”.
Because this movie takes place in the future, these are also advancements that have been made in regards to weaponry and military purposes. Concealment and usage of these advancements are executed exceptionally well, even at the beginning of the film. Therm-optic camouflage allows users to become totally invisible and is used heavily throughout the film by both Motoko and her enemies to escape and, in Motoko’s case, another way to kick ass. The guns that are used are able to destroy fully armoured tanks in a matter of seconds. And the way Motoko uses these weapons in battles further demonstrates how mature this film is. Ghost in the Shell as a series overall focuses on tension and strategic build-up before quick bursts of intense action rather than the kind of long, drawn out battles full of action that you’d be more likely to see in a long-running shounen. Ghost in the Shell makes those action scenes feel more important and reduce the amount of unnecessary choreography in these scenes, making every move made feel important and has reason behind it. Even the last battle with Motoko and the walking tank has no wasted movement by Motoko, as any false move could very well cause her death.
It’s also worth noting that even having a complete cybernetic enhanced body does not make one invincible. One can still die in the universe of Ghost in the Shell just as easily in real life, but what’s different is that with cybernetic enhancements, one’s sense of pain is lost to their enhanced part/s. From this, one can push their cybernetic body to their breaking point and cause their enhancements to break, whereas without them, such a scenario wouldn’t be physically possible. The amount to detail that went into cybernetic technology alone in this film is nothing short of amazing. These ideas are all fleshed out in the short duration this film has and makes the world of Ghost in the Shell more realistic that it’s possible that this could be our future.
There are also practical drawbacks from these advancements; a human can easily be ghost hacked, meaning that their mind can be erased and filled with completely different memories. This is touched upon when Motoko’s partner Batou states that “all the information that a person accumulates in a lifetime is just a drop in the bucket.” While the movie is aimed primarily at self-identification, it also looks at the unintended creation of new life forms, such as what would happen if a program from the internet could become self-aware and escape into the world we all live in, and the dangers that would have on us. It even deals with genetic manipulation, with how combining multiple sets of DNA to form one set that share the greatest features from each set, yet is fundamentally different from all of them. It’s no surprise that Ghost in the Shell is a very complex film when it comes to the subject matter, but the film never tries to shove all these concepts down the viewer’s throat. Many of the deep questions it asks are done in such a subtle way that doesn’t impact the pacing of the show, yet keeps viewers looking deep into the film always thinking. The film plays out more like a sci-fi thriller that keeps viewers both intrigued and entertained.
I’ve talked so much on the overall story and themes and yet I haven’t even begun to talk about the film’s animation, which is another one of its strengths since it was made in 1995 and over 2 decades still looks spectacular. Characters move fluidly in action scenes especially, every scene has a sense of atmosphere from backgrounds used, limited CGI that fits the look and feel the overall movie has and a keen eye for detail was clearly present. Every scene has something there that grabs the viewer’s eyes and keeps the viewers engaged even if they do get bored at some points. The level is detail is so high, that in a scene when Motoko is using thermo-optic camouflage, her shadow can still be seen, implying that her camouflage is an optical illusion, to put it simply. The film also has an artistic side to it as the opening shows us the making of a cyborg, more specifically Motoko herself and montages of the futuristic city are shown throughout the film, showing how advancements made over time have impacted the Hong Kong-inspired setting. Even the nudity within this film is rather symbolic and never meant to be taken sexually by viewers.
The soundtrack for this film is also amazing with very gripping music from Kenji Kawai that adds to the mystique of the world and at times even feels creepy because of how well it fits with the atmosphere, with “Making of a Cyborg” being one of my favourite OST’s of all time. My only issue with the sound would be the English voice actors, Mimi Wood especially (voiced Motoko) I found very unlikeable and it didn’t help with scenes that were dialogue heavy that involved her. But they were still pretty good and didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the film. The other main issue I had with the fil overall was the characters. Obviously, Motoko is the star of the show and her internal struggle of losing her humanity throughout the film is part of why she’s my favourite female anime character as I am writing this. However, she’s the only character who gets any real development over the course of the film. Batou and the Puppetmaster are the only other characters worth anything in the film overall, with the rest of Section 9 feeling unimportant and replaceable. Now I understand the staff can only do so much with a movie that lasts 82 minutes and they’ve already gone beyond what I believe was expected of them, but I just wish that the film was longer, if only to put more emphasis on the characters.
Overall, Ghost in the Shell is a very enjoyable sci-fi flick on the surface, that underneath lies a very mature and complex movie that doesn’t waste any time, and if you don’t pay attention, it will be hard to understand it at all. It’s very clever in how it leaves you in wonder and keeps you thinking about it afterwards, which in my opinion adds to its rewatch value. This film is excellent and should be a must-watch for every anime fan out there. It is not only one of the best anime movies out there, but one of the best science fiction movies that I’ve ever seen as well, up there with the likes of The Matrix and Blade Runner.
