Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊 Kōkaku Kidōtai?, literally "Mobile Armored Riot Police") is a Japanese multimedia franchise composed of manga, animated films, anime series, video games and novels. It focuses on the activities of the counter-terrorist organization Public Security Section 9 in a futuristic, cyberpunk Japan (Hong Kong in the first film). The first entry in the franchise was Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell manga, first published in 1989 in Young Magazine. A sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface, was released in 2002, and a serialized manga, Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processer, which contained material that was planned for but not included in the sequel, was released in 2003. The manga series has been adapted into two anime films, Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence; two anime television series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG; an OVA sequel of the TV series, Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society; and three video games: one PlayStation game, one PlayStation 2 game, and one PlayStation Portable game. The films and anime were produced by Production I.G.
WHAT! How does this only have one comment??? This show is seriously amazing. The philisophical questions it brings to mind are all intelligent and relative. The main theme of "what defines a soul" is supported by others such as "If a fake is more real than the origional is it still a fake?", the issues of over immigration, the point at which profits become more important than human lives and many more! This is by far one of my favourite animes and its smartness should not be left to rot. WATCH IT PEOPLE!
Bumping this awesome franchise. The two original movies, both series, and the series' movie are all highly recommended.
Ghost in the Shell: ARISE is now coming out. It is a series of OVA's, 2 out of a total of 4 are out right now. It is basically a remake of the manga. It tells a different story of how the team met each other, and actually has about half of them opposing each other as enemies. Character design is different for everyone, some people are very different, like Saito. The animation is amazing, the voice acting team is completely different but does just as good a job, and over-all it is a fantastic addition to the GitS line. No prior knowledge of franchise is required to enjoy these OVA's.
