This may be the more faithful adaptation of Shirow’s manga but I can’t get over how much Aramaki looks like he escaped from The simpsons.
My first encounter with any Ghost in the Shell media came through Wandue Project’s King of my Castle, which hit the top forty over here in 1998 or so, thanks to its music video basically being a Ghost in the Shell AMV. No idea how they got away with it, not just the wholesale copyright infringement but also showing the Major’s boobies on MTV. The 1995 movie the clip was taken from I would only see years later, having stopped watching anime when I left home to go study in Amsterdam. Whem I got back in anime both it and both seasons of Stand Alone Complex were some of the earliest anime I finished. I’ve also watched the second movie and Arise, the mid (in both sense of the word) 2010s re-imagination. This new version is nothing like those even as familiar bits and pieces pop up.
Because unlike every other incarnation of Ghost in the Shell this new version, The Ghost in the Shell attempts to stay faithful to Masamune Shirow’s original manga. which includes character designs, which explains why the Major above here has green hair and is actually blushing and showing emotion, while Aramaki really looks like a monkey now. In contrast every other version cleaned up the characters and made them more realistic. Similar for the plot and stories. Having bought the manga on the strength of this episode, I can see the way Mamoru Oshii took parts of it and sculpted them into one new, coherent story where the original was more episodical.
Having this new, more faithful adaptation is very much a “holy shit two cakes” situation. The original movies, Stand Alone Complex, even Arise were all good to great on their own merits. This new series is not just faithful but also looks stunning and so far holds up to its predecessors. Very much in my top five for this season, potentially the entire year. Sasuga Science Saru.
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