 = Ghost in the Shell ( 1995 film ) = 
 
 Ghost in the Shell , known in Japan as Mobile Armored Riot Police : Ghost In The Shell ( 攻殻機動隊 GHOST IN THE SHELL , Kōkaku Kidōtai Gōsuto In Za Sheru ) , is a 1995 science fiction anime film based on manga of the same title by Masamune Shirow . The film was written by Kazunori Itō , directed by Mamoru Oshii , animated by Production I.G , and starred the voices of Atsuko Tanaka , Akio Ōtsuka , and Iemasa Kayumi . 
 Ghost in the Shell follows the hunt by the public @-@ security agency Section 9 for a mysterious hacker known as the Puppet Master . With the assistance of her team , Motoko Kusanagi tracks and finds their suspect , only to be drawn into a complex sequence of political intrigue and a cover @-@ up as to the identity and goals of the Puppet Master . 
 The overarching philosophical themes of the film include self @-@ identity in a technologically advanced world . The music , composed by Kenji Kawai , included an ancient Japanese language in a wedding song that serves as a key piece of music leading up to the climax of the movie . Widely considered one of the greatest anime films of all time , critics particularly praised its visuals , which at the time were the most effective synthesis of traditional cel animation and CG animation . It has served as inspiration for filmmakers such as the Wachowskis . 
 In 2004 , Oshii directed Ghost in the Shell 2 : Innocence , billed as a separate work and not a true sequel . In 2008 , Oshii released an updated version of the original film , Ghost in the Shell 2 @.@ 0 , that features new audio and updated 3D animation . A live @-@ action Hollywood Ghost in the Shell remake is scheduled for 2017 . 
 
 = = Plot = = 
 
 In 2029 , the world is interconnected by a vast electronic network that permeates every aspect of life . Much of humanity has access to this network through cybernetic bodies , or " shells " , which possess their consciousness and can give them superhuman abilities . 
 Major Motoko Kusanagi , an assault @-@ team leader for the Public Security Section 9 , is assigned to capture an elusive hacker known as the Puppet Master . Her team , Batou and Ishikawa , use triangulation to seek out the Puppet Master . Their suspect is a garbageman who believes he is using a program obtained from a sympathetic man to illegally " ghost @-@ hack " his wife 's mind to find his daughter . Kusanagi and her team arrest him and the man who gave him the program , but discover that their memories were either erased or implanted : " ghost @-@ hacked " by the Puppet Master . 
 A facility is hacked and programmed to assemble a female cybernetic body . The body escapes but is hit by a truck ; Section 9 investigates and examines the body , which seems to have a human " ghost " inside — perhaps the Puppet Master himself . Officials from rival agency Section 6 visit Section 9 and explain that the body was made to lure the Puppet Master 's ghost and trap it inside . Kusanagi espies the conversation and decides to disconnect her consciousness from her current body and connect or " dive into " the body and face the Puppet Master 's ghost . Before she succeeds , the ghost activates the body . Section 6 storms Section 9 and reclaims the body . 
 The information from the body leads Section 9 to uncover the mysterious Project 2501 . Section 6 claims the project was created to catch the hacker , but it was initiated before his appearance . Section 9 speculates that the project itself created the Puppet Master , who then escaped , and Section 6 now wants him back . Daisuke Aramaki , head of Section 9 , suspects that the project and the Puppet Master are tools of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs . The escape might lead to the release of secrets that could embarrass Section 6 and the Ministry . 
 The getaway car carrying the Puppet Master meets another , and they split off . Batou stops the first car and realizes it is a decoy . Kusanagi follows the second car to an abandoned building , where she is ambushed by a spider @-@ like armored vehicle . Batou arrives in time to save the badly damaged Kusanagi . With Batou on guard , Kusanagi faces the body stolen by Section 6 . The Puppet Master reveals himself and explains that , under Project 2501 , he was created by Section 6 to hack ghosts for individuals and Section 6 . While wandering various networks , the Puppet Master became sentient and began to contemplate his existence ; it troubled him that he could not reproduce or die . He plans to merge with Kusanagi 's ghost to experience mortality ; Kusanagi would live on with his ghost . As he could not crack Section 6 's attack protection , he was forced to escape in a physical body . 
 Batou tries to disconnect the dive , but the Puppet Master ghost @-@ hacks him . Helicopters from Section 6 arrive with orders to destroy everyone inside to cover up Project 2501 . The Puppet Master disrupts their targeting systems . As he starts merging with Kusanagi , snipers blow their heads off , along with Batou 's arm . 
 Kusanagi wakes up in a child @-@ sized cyborg body in Batou 's safehouse . Batou explains that her original body was destroyed in the fight ; he recovered her head and attached it to the new body . Kusanagi acknowledges she is now neither herself nor the Puppet Master , but a combination of both . Batou says he will always be there for her . She leaves the house and gazes out over the city . 
 
 = = Voice cast = = 
 
 
 = = Production = = 
 
 
 = = = Development = = = 
 
 Director Mamoru 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 . He wanted to update the film to reflect changes in perspective . 
 
 = = = Design = = = 
 
 Hiroyuki Okiura , the character designer and key animation supervisor , designed a more mature and serious Motoko 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 the youthful twenty @-@ something appearance in the manga . Motoko 's demeanor lacks the comedic facial expressions and rebellious nature depicted in the manga . 
 Oshii based the setting for Ghost in the Shell on Hong Kong . Oshii commented 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 . Oshii 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 , the old and the new which exist in a strange relationship in an age of an information deluge . Before shooting the film , the artists drew sketches that emphasized Hong Kong 's chaotic , confusing and overwhelming aspects . 
 The Hong Kong setting is alluded to by the scene wherein the characters are drinking San Miguel Beer a cultural staple of the East Asian megalopolis . 
 
 = = = 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 , which mixed traditional animation with the emerging use of computer graphics , including 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 . Utilized as background , 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 the shot . 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 . Hiromasa Ogura , the art director , described this as " a very unusual lighting technique . " 
 Some special effects , like Motoko 's " thermo @-@ optical camouflage " , were rendered through the use of TIMA software . The process uses a single illustration and manipulates the image as necessary to produce distortions for effect in combination with a background without altering the original illustration . The effect is re @-@ added back into the shot to complete the scene . While the visual displays used in the film were technically simple to create , the appearance of the displays underwent numerous revisions by the production team to best represent visual displays of the future . Another aspect of the CG use was to create images and effects that looked as if they were " perceived by the brain " and were generated in video and added to the film in its final stages . 
 The opening credits of the film were produced by the CG director , Seichi Tanaka . Tanaka converted code in a computer language displayed in romanized Japanese letters to numbers before inserting them into the computer to generate the credits . The origin of this code is the names of the film 's staff as written in a computer language . 
 Animation director Toshihiko Nishikubo was responsible for the realism and strove for accurate depictions of movement and effects . The pursuit of realism included the staff conducting firearms research at a facility in Guam . Nishikubo has highlighted the tank scene as an example of the movie 's realism , noting that bullets create sparks when hitting metal , but do not spark when a bullet strikes stone . 
 
 = = = Sound and music = = = 
 
 Ghost in the Shell 's recording was done with a high @-@ end studio to achieve superior sound throughout the film . A spatializer was used to alter the sound , specifically in the electronic brain conversations , to modify the voices . 
 Composer Kenji Kawai scored the film . For the main theme , Kawai tried to imagine the setting and convey the essence of that world in the music . He used the ancient Japanese language of Yamato in the opening theme " Making of a Cyborg " . The composition is a mixture of Bulgarian harmony and traditional Japanese notes ; the haunting chorals are a wedding song sung to dispel all evil influences . Symphony conductor Sarah Penicka @-@ Smith notes that the song 's lyrics are fitting for the union between Kusanagi and Project 2501 at the climax of the movie . Kawai originally wanted to use Bulgarian folk music singers , but used Japanese folk singers instead . " See You Everyday " is different from the rest of the soundtrack , being a pop song sung in Cantonese by Fang Ka Wing . 
 
 = = = Ghost in the Shell 2 @.@ 0 = = = 
 
 An updated version of the original film , titled Ghost in the Shell 2 @.@ 0 ( GHOST IN THE SHELL ／ 攻殻機動隊 2 @.@ 0 , Gōsuto in za sheru / Kōkaku kidōtai 2 @.@ 0 ) , was made in celebration for the release of The Sky Crawlers in 2008 . The Ghost in the Shell 2 @.@ 0 release features replacements of the original animations with the latest digital film and animation technologies , such as 3D @-@ CGI . It includes a new opening , digital screens and holographic displays , and omits several brief scenes . 
 The original soundtrack was also re @-@ arranged and re @-@ recorded . Kenji Kawai remixed the Version 2 @.@ 0 soundtrack in 6 @.@ 1 Channel Surround . Randy Thom of Skywalker Sound reprised his role as sound designer , having worked previously on Ghost in the Shell 2 : Innocence . In the new soundtrack , the Japanese voice dialogue was also re @-@ recorded , with some variation from the original script to modernize the speech . Yoshiko Sakakibara replaced Iemasa Kayumi as the voice of the Puppet Master . 
 
 = = Related media = = 
 
 Kenji Kawai 's original soundtrack for the film was released on November 22 , 1995 . The last track included Yoshimasa Mizuno 's pop song " See You Everyday " . After the release of Ghost in the Shell 2 @.@ 0 , an updated version of the soundtrack was released on December 17 , 2008 . 
 A Photo @-@ CD of the film was released in Japan on November 20 , 1995 . A spin @-@ off novel written by Endo Akira , titled Ghost in the Shell : Burning City ( 攻殻機動隊灼熱の都市 , Kōkaku kidōtai shakunetsu no toshi ) , was published by Kodansha and released on November 1995 . It was followed by a sequel , titled Ghost in the Shell 2 : Star Seed ( 攻殻機動隊2 : Star Seed ) , released on January 1998 . A book titled Analysis of Ghost in the Shell was released on September 25 , 1997 by Kodansha . 
 
 = = Releases = = 
 
 The film had its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October 1995 , before its general release in November . In Japan , the film was released on VHS on April 26 , 1996 . The DVD version was released on 25 February 2004 , and the Blu @-@ ray on 24 August 2007 . A special edition was released in December 2004 . The special edition contains an additional disc containing character dossiers , a creator biography , the director 's biography , Ghost in the Shell trailers and previews . 
 The " 2 @.@ 0 " version was released in theatres in Tokyo , Osaka , Nagoya , Fukuoka , and Sapporo on July 12 , 2008 . The film was released in DVD and Blu @-@ ray on December 19 , 2008 , in Japan . 
 In North America , the film was released on VHS on June 18 , 1996 through Manga Entertainment , and on DVD on March 31 , 1998 by Anchor Bay Entertainment . Manga Entertainment released the film on Blu @-@ ray on 24 November 2009 ; this version contains the original film and the remastering , but omits the audio commentary and face @-@ to @-@ face interview with Oshii , which are listed on its box . Manga Entertainment and Anchor Bay Entertainment re @-@ released the film on Blu @-@ ray with a brand new HD film print on September 23 , 2014 . The release was met with some criticism for its poor translation of English subtitles and the lack of extra features . 
 
 = = Reception = = 
 
 The film was a box office hit when released in Japan and received positive reviews from film critics . It holds a 95 % approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , based on 31 reviews . The website 's critical consensus reads , " A stunning feat of modern animation , Ghost in the Shell offers a thoughtful , complex treat for anime fans , as well as a perfect introduction for viewers new to the genre . " 
 Niels Matthijs of Twitch Film praised the film , stating , " Not only is Kokaku Kidotai an essential film in the canon of Japanese animation , together with Kubrick 's 2001 and Tarkovsky 's Solyaris it completes a trio of book adaptations that transcend the popularity of their originals and [ give ] a new meaning to an already popular brand . " He ranked it # 48 of his personal favorites . Clark Collis of Empire opined that the film was predictable , but praised its production values . Johnathan Mays of Anime News Network praised the animation combined with the computer effects , calling it " perhaps the best synthesis ever witnessed in anime " . Helen McCarthy in 500 Essential Anime Movies describes the film as " one of the best anime ever made " , praising screenplay , an " atmospheric score " , and adding that " action scenes as good as anything in the current Hollywood blockbuster are supported by CGI effects that can still astonish " . 
 Ghost in the Shell was the first anime video to reach Billboard 's # 1 video slot at the time of its release . The film ranked as the ninth top selling anime DVD movie in 2006 . It ranked 35 on Total Film 's 2010 top list of 50 Animated Films . The film ranked # 4 on Wizards Anime Magazine on their " Top 50 Anime released in North America " . 
 
 = = = Critical analysis = = = 
 
 Much critical attention has been paid to the film 's focus on sexuality and gender identity . Sharalyn Orbaugh has noted that the opening scene of Ghost in the Shell begins with the " perfect paradoxical introduction to a narrative that is all about the nature of sex / gender identity and self @-@ identity in general in a future world where sexual reproduction has given way to mechanical replication . " Motoko 's female identity and appearance are countered by an autonomous subjectivity , resulting in a " male " cyborg body which cannot menstruate . Orbaugh describes the juxtaposition of the opening scene depicting the creation of Motoko 's body and to her lack of menstruation as setting the theme of " reproductive sexuality in a posthuman subject . " The film depicts Motoko 's identity and ontological concerns , ending with the evolution of a being with full subjectivity , through a new form of reproduction with the Puppet Master . Austin Corbett commented on the lack of sexualization from her team as freedom from femininity , noting that Motoko is " overtly feminine , and clearly non @-@ female . " Carl Slivio has called Ghost in the Shell a " resistant film " , due to its inversion of traditional gender roles , its " valorization of the post @-@ gendered subject " , and its de @-@ emphasis of the sexual specificity of the material body . 
 
 = = Cultural impact = = 
 
 Ghost in the Shell influenced a number of prominent filmmakers . The Wachowskis , creators of The Matrix and its sequels , showed it to producer Joel Silver , saying , " We wanna do that for real . " The Matrix series took several concepts from the film , including the Matrix digital rain , which was inspired by the opening credits of Ghost in the Shell , and the way people accessed the Matrix through holes in the back of their necks . Other parallels have been drawn to James Cameron 's Avatar , Steven Spielberg 's AI : Artificial Intelligence , and Jonathan Mostow 's Surrogates . 
 
 