Ghost in the Shell is a 1995 Japanese animated tech noir action thriller film directed by Mamoru Oshii from a screenplay by Kazunori Itō, based on the 1989 manga by Masamune Shirow. It stars the voices of Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Ōtsuka, and Iemasa Kayumi. It is a Japanese-British international co-production between Kodansha, Bandai Visual and Manga Entertainment, with animation provided by Production I.G.

Set in 2029 in the fictional New Port City, the film follows Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg public-security agent who hunts an enigmatic hacker/ghost known as "the Puppet Master". The narrative incorporates philosophical themes that focus on self and identity in a technologically advanced world. The music, composed by Kenji Kawai, includes vocals in classical Japanese. The film's visuals were created through a combination of traditional cel animation and CGI animation.

Upon release, Ghost in the Shell received positive reviews, with critics praising its narrative, visuals, and musical score. The film was initially considered a box-office failure before developing a cult following on home video. Since then, it has grown in esteem and is now considered to be one of the greatest anime and science fiction films of all time. It has inspired filmmakers such as The Wachowskis, creators of The Matrix franchise, and James Cameron, who described it as "the first truly adult animation film to reach a level of literary and visual excellence." At the 24th Annie Awards (1996), the film received numerous accolades, and was nominated in five categories—including Best Animated Feature—giving it the most nominations for a Japanese animated film at the Annie Awards until both The Boy and the Heron and Suzume took over the position (with seven each) at the 51st Annie Awards (2024).

A remastered version of the film, Ghost in the Shell 2.0, was released in 2008, featuring newly added digital effects, additional 3D animation, and new audio. Oshii also directed Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, released in 2004, which was billed as a standalone sequel. A live-action reinterpretation of the original film was released in 2017, directed by Rupert Sanders and starring Scarlett Johansson as Major Kusanagi.

Plot

In 2029, with the advancement of cybernetic technology, the human body can be augmented or even completely replaced with cybernetic parts. Another significant achievement is the cyberbrain, a mechanical casing for the human brain that allows access to the Internet and other networks. An often-mentioned term is "ghost", referring to the consciousness inhabiting the body (the "shell").

Major Motoko Kusanagi is an assault-team leader for Public Security Section 9 of the futuristic New Port City in Japan. Following a request from Nakamura, chief of Section 6, she successfully assassinates a diplomat of a foreign country to prevent a programmer named Daita from defecting.

The Foreign Minister's interpreter is ghost-hacked, presumably to assassinate VIPs in an upcoming meeting. Believing the perpetrator to be the mysterious Puppet Master, Kusanagi's team follows the traced telephone calls that sent the virus. After a chase, they capture a garbage man and a thug. However, both are only ghost-hacked individuals with no knowledge of the Puppet Master, so the investigation again comes to a dead end.

Megatech Body, a shell manufacturer with suspected close ties to the government, is hacked and assembles a shell. The shell escapes the factory onto the highway and gets run over by a truck. As Section 9 examines the shell, they find a human ghost inside it. Unexpectedly, Section 6's department chief Nakamura arrives to reclaim the shell with a permit from the foreign minister. He claims that the ghost inside is the Puppet Master himself, lured into the shell by Section 6. The shell reactivates itself, claims to be a sentient being, and requests political asylum. After the Puppet Master initiates a brief argument about what constitutes a human, a camouflaged agent accompanying Nakamura starts a diversion and steals the shell.

Having suspected foul play, Kusanagi's team is prepared and immediately pursues the agent. Meanwhile, Section 9 researches "Project 2501", which was mentioned earlier by the Puppet Master, and finds a connection with Daita, whom Section 6 tries to keep from defecting the country. Facing the discovered information, Daisuke Aramaki, chief of Section 9, concludes that Section 6 created the Puppet Master for various political purposes, and now seeks to reclaim the body that it currently inhabits.

Kusanagi follows the car carrying the shell to an abandoned building, where it is guarded by a heavily armed and armored robotic tank. Anxious to face the Puppet Master's ghost, Kusanagi engages the tank without backup, resulting in her shell being mostly dismembered. Her partner Batou arrives in time to save her and helps connect her brain to the Puppet Master's.

The Puppet Master explains to Kusanagi that he was created by Section 6. While wandering various networks, he became sentient and began to contemplate his existence. Deciding that the essence of life is reproduction and mortality, he wants to exist within a physical brain that will eventually die. As he could not escape Section 6's network, he had to download himself into a cybernetic body. Having interacted with Kusanagi (without her knowledge), he believes she is also questioning her humanity and that they have much in common. He proposes merging their ghosts; in return, Kusanagi would gain all of his capabilities. Kusanagi agrees to the merge.

Snipers from Section 6 approach the building, intending to destroy the Puppet Master's and Kusanagi's brains to cover up Project 2501. The Puppet Master's shell is destroyed, but Batou shields Kusanagi's head in time to save her brain. As Section 9 closes in, the snipers retreat.

Kusanagi wakes up in Batou's safe house in a child-sized shell. She tells Batou that the entity within her is neither the Major nor the Puppet Master, but a combination of both. She promises Batou they will meet again, leaves the house, and contemplates where to go next while looking out over the city.

Voice cast Character Japanese voice actor English dubbing actorMotoko Kusanagi Atsuko Tanaka Maaya Sakamoto Mimi WoodsMona Marshall (Gina Connell) Batou Akio Otsuka Richard Epcar (Richard George)The Puppet Master Iemasa Kayumi Yoshiko Sakakibara Tom Wyner (Abe Lasser)Togusa Koichi YamaderaDavid Richard Thompson (Christopher Joyce)Chief Aramaki Tamio Ōki William Frederick Knight (William Frederick)Ishikawa Yutaka NakanoMichael SorichChief Nakamura Tesshō GendaSimon Prescott (Ben Isaacson)Mizuho Daita Mitsuru MiyamotoRichard Cansino (Steve Davis)Garbage Collector A Kazuhiro YamajiKevin Seymour (Tom Carlton)Garbage Collector B Shigeru ChibaDoug Stone

Production Development

Mamoru Oshii originally wanted to direct Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade after he finished Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993). He proposed the project to Bandai Visual but was asked to direct an adaptation of Masamune Shirow's 1989 manga, Ghost in the Shell, instead. Oshii would later get to work on Jin-Roh, but only as a writer. Oshii stated, "My intuition told me that this story about a futuristic world carried an immediate message for our present world. I am also interested in computers through my own personal experience with them. I had the same feeling about Patlabor and I thought it would be interesting to make a film that took place in the near future. There are only a few movies, even out of Hollywood, which clearly portray the influence and power of computers. I thought this theme would be more effectively conveyed through animation." Oshii expanded on these thoughts in a later interview, noting that technology changes people and had become a part of the culture of Japan. He commented that his use of philosophy caused producers to become frustrated because of sparing use of action scenes. Oshii also acknowledged that a movie with more action would sell better, but he continued to make these movies anyway. When Oshii went back to make changes to the original Ghost in the Shell to re-release it as Ghost in the Shell 2.0, one of the reasons he gave was that the film did not resemble the sequel, and that he wanted to update the film to reflect changes in perspective.

Design Hiroyuki Okiura, the character designer and key animation supervisor, designed Motoko to be more mature and serious than Masamune Shirow's original portrayal of the character in the manga. Okiura chose to depict a physically mature person to match Motoko's mental age, instead of her youthful twenty-something appearance in the manga. Motoko's demeanor lacks the comedic facial expressions and rebellious nature depicted in the manga, instead taking on a more wistful and contemplative personality. Oshii based the setting for Ghost in the Shell on Hong Kong, commenting that his first thought to find an image of the future setting was an Asian city, but finding a suitable cityscape of the future would be impossible, and so he chose to use the real streets of Hong Kong as his model. He also said that Hong Kong was the perfect subject and theme for the film with its countless signs and the cacophony of sounds. The film's mecha designer Takeuchi Atsushi noted that while the film does not have a chosen setting, it is obviously based on Hong Kong because the city represented the theme of the film, which was that the old and new exist in a strange relationship during an age of an information deluge. Before shooting the film, the artists drew sketches that emphasized Hong Kong's chaotic, confusing and overwhelming aspects.

Animation Ghost in the Shell used a novel process called "digitally generated animation" (DGA), which is a combination of cel animation, computer graphics (CG), and audio that is entered as digital data. In 1995, DGA was thought to be the future of animation, as it allowed traditional animation to be combined with computer graphics and digital cel work with visual displays. Editing was performed on an AVID system of Avid Technology, which was chosen because it was more versatile and less limiting than other methods and worked with the different types of media in a single environment. The digital cel work included both original illustrations, compositions and manipulation with traditional cel animation to create a sense of depth and evoke emotion and feelings. Filters like a lens effect were used to create a sense of depth and motion by distorting the front background and making the far background out of focus throughout shots. Ghost in the Shell used a unique lighting system in which light and darkness were integrated into the cels with attention to light and shadow sources instead of using contrast to control the light. Art director Hiromasa Ogura described this as "a very unusual lighting technique".