A Film by Mamoru Oshii

Ghost in the Shell, a 1995 cyberpunk film directed by Mamoru Oshii (based on a manga by Masamune Shirow), is a groundbreaking Japanese animated film that explores the existential and philosophical themes surrounding artificial intelligence, identity, and consciousness, and what it means to be human. The movie follows Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cybernetic special forces agent, as she investigates a mysterious hacker known as the Puppet Master.

While there are many different takes on this franchise, with my personal favorite actually being a television series called Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, this film IS Ghost in the Shell to many fans, and it acted as the basis for the much derided live action film of the same name. One cannot escape the gorgeous animation, the haunting music, or the general tone of this film without realizing just how influential it was to cyberpunk as a whole. Anything in this genre post 1995 owes a lot to it.

“2029: A female cybernetic government agent, Major Motoko Kusanagi, and the Internal Bureau of Investigations are hot on the trail of “The Puppet Master,” a mysterious and threatening computer virus capable of infiltrating human hosts. Together with her fellow agents from Section 9, Kusanagi embarks on a high-tech race against time to capture the omnipresent entity. Director Mamoru Oshii’s award-winning cyber-tech thriller, based on the manga by Shirow Masamune, is lauded as one of the leading Japanese animation films of all time.”

I had the opportunity to see this late last year in a short theatrical run via AX Cinema Nights, which was the same way that I saw Perfect Blue a few months prior. This wasn’t one of the newer versions of the film where the studio added CGI to the film, or tweaked in any way, it’s the classic version everyone loves that I own on an ancient DVD with a questionable dub. Seeing it on the big screen was very surreal for me, as a lot of these retro showings have been, and I absolutely loved it. I will say that this Ghost in the Shell film isn’t 100% friendly to new viewers, especially since it deals with such heavy religious and philosophical topics in the guise of a cool sci-fi story.

I’m sure, to many, the film is less impressive now in the 2020’s since technology has obviously advanced in different directions and many films that borrowed from Ghost in the Shell (such as the Matrix) have been released since. But, if one were to think about the year it was made, it’s honestly impressive that a movie like it came out when it did. I will put its cel animation work up there with Akira as some of the absolute best animation in history. The mesmerizing soundtrack composed by Kenji Kawai further enhances the film’s ethereal and futuristic ambiance.

At its core, Ghost in the Shell serves as a contemplative exploration of what it means to be human in an increasingly technological world. It challenges viewers to ponder the nature of consciousness, the boundaries of the self, and the implications of a society where technology has blurred the line between man and machine. Is the Major a human or not? How about The Puppet Master, an entity born from the internet itself? It handles such themes in a far more fulfilling way than most modern cyberpunk material that pushes aside the themes and narrative for an over-emphasis on how cool the music or imagery is.

Ghost in the Shell holds up a lot better than a lot of 90’s anime for this very reason. The film, itself, has a “soul”. Mamoru Oshii had a vision and went with it rather than leaning too far into common anime tropes or catering to foreign audiences, and it really shows. This is the aspect of the 1995 version that the live action remake missed too heavily on – they changed the main message from an almost optimistic take on transhumanism to a generic story of how technology and/or corporations are evil.

I appreciate AX Cinema Nights for bringing this out in theaters as this was one of the many films I largely figured I’d never get a chance outside of an anime convention screening room, to ever see on a big screen. I unfortunately missed a lot of the films in this initiative due to other weekend obligations throughout the winter, but I am excited to see them hopefully bring this back around. I’ve seen more theatrically released anime in theaters in the past few years than I ever had in the past, and I am incredibly grateful for it. twenty-something me would have been over the moon for this.

Overall, if you have never watched the 1995 film Ghost in the Shell, you are missing out. Even if the themes and plot fly over your head, it’s a film that increases in relevance after repeat viewings and as technology advances. As we as humankind are dipping our toes into the artificial Intelligence revolution, I’m sure more and more philosophical ideas about the nature of humankind will come out, showing just how ahead of his time both Mamoru Oshii and Masamune Shirow really were.