Oshii Mamoru’s seminal cyberpunk masterpiece based on the equally seminal Manga of the same name by Shirow Masamune. This was really one of the 3 big ANIME films that got me so addicted to anime, the other 2 being AKIRA and MACROSS THE MOVIE: DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE. All 3 masterpieces of cell shaded anime, pushing the limits of what could be done without computers. If you haven’t already seen it you should, and this is the perfect time with the gorgeous special edition (though there aren’t really enough new extras other than the gorgeous transfer and remixed audio). 

This is the original adaption of the story of Major Motoko Kusanagi, her partner Bateau and the rest of Section 9 when they go up against the Puppet Master. An artificial life from that was created as a defensive program by Section 6, but it gained consciousness and escaped, eventually getting trapped in a cyborg body much like the Major’s, and eventually merging it’s consciousness with the Major’s to become a new life-form.

This really is a seminal work. With amazing cell shaded animation, and a story about the meaning of life when your entire body can be cyborg. Are you really alive, or are your memories fake. Do you you really have living material in your cyberbrain, is their really a GHOST IN THE SHELL.

The story does suffer slightly from the AKIRA factor of stuffing too much story into a 82 minute film, but this film does well with it. Sure you don’t get into some of the details, and I know some people complain that the major looks a bit too manly in this (something that was fixed for the series STAND ALONE COMPLEX).

I can’t recomend this film more to anime fans! This film rocks, and will not look better until an HD version is released (lets bet they made an HD transfer this time, so they are ready for it once the HD DVD war settles down a bit).