Ahead of the Annecy Animation Festival premiere of Ghost in the Shell, the new adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s famous manga, director Mokochan emphasized the human element that went into creating the cyberpunk sci-fi series, which is set in a world where humanity and technology are inextricably linked.
“Ghost in the Shell” will be broadcast worldwide on Prime Video starting July 7th.
For the director, incorporating the physicality of hand-drawn animation was the best way to express the manga. “Manga is obviously hand-drawn on paper and analog,” Moko-chan added in an interview with Variety. “So, although the world is depicted here in a cyber world, the fact that it is drawn by hand gives it a sense of warmth and charm, and I wanted to recreate that in the anime.”
The production of the acclaimed Science Sal Studio shows (“Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” “DandaDun”) was driven by this enthusiasm for tactile animation. It was important to the team that despite all the metal and circuitry that pervades both Ghost in the Shell’s environments and people, everything felt organic.
Credit: Shirow Masamune/Kodansha/Ghost in the Shell Committee
It was decided early on to make an adaptation that more closely resembled the look of Shirou’s manga series. “After ‘Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045,’ we were thinking about what the next ‘Ghost in the Shell’ should be. And Kodansha and Bandai Namco wanted something that both ‘Ghost in the Shell’ fans and new fans could enjoy together.”
Abe said he thought the best way to accomplish this was to return to Masamune Shirow’s manga, and decided to approach Science Monkey to create the series. “We knew the weight, scope, and detail of this manga would be extremely difficult,” says Science Saru producer Kohei Sahita. “I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but myself and all of my staff have a lot of love for this project, and we started out with a lot of passion, but it grew even more passionate as we progressed.”
It may seem strange to examine the past in a show about the future, but director Mokochan didn’t think it would have any negative impact on the story. “This manga is quite old now, but it doesn’t feel old,” he explains. “That’s because at its core there is a sense of wonder about the world.” During the presentation, the director also spoke about the boundless energy of the manga. This is probably one of the reasons why this comic still feels so vital 37 years after its first publication. Mokochan also added that this story is worth revisiting as society is changing due to technology and AI.
At the same time, the technology in Ghost in the Shell is based on the era in which the manga was first created. The show features many electronic devices now considered obsolete, such as VCRs and CD drives, rather than holograms and touch screens. The director felt it was thematically appropriate to use technology from the time the comics were written, but at the same time he felt there was certainly a bit of nostalgic affection at work. “There’s a bit of a ’90s revival going on right now,” Moko-chan says. “It’s so modern that you can’t tell the difference between now and a little while ago.”
Ghost in the Shell represents the era in which the original manga was created not only through technology, but also through character design and costumes. In the first episode, the main character, Makoto Kusanagi, wears a blazer with large shoulder pads, a signature silhouette of the era. It was a huge effort. Moko-chan points out that Shirou’s manga was unusual in that the characters included a variety of outfits, rather than the artist providing several outfits for efficiency. In bringing all of this to the anime, Moko-chan said during his presentation that he estimated that there were 48 costumes worn by Kusunoki during the series, and overall there were probably twice as many design elements compared to those seen in other anime.
“The reason we have all these design assets is so that any animator knows how to draw that character in that scene, that episode,” Sahita explains. “They have something to refer to, and for TV animation, usually the more you have those designs, the more likely someone is to make a mistake or draw the wrong costume. So a lot of times you reduce the number of different design elements, because it’s less effort and there’s less chance of mistakes. But in this case, we didn’t do that. We really wanted to have all the costumes, so we increased that number.”
The sense of diversity extended from the visual assets to the soundtrack by Taisei Iwasaki, Ryo Konishi, and Yuki Kanasaka. Throughout the two episodes that aired, there is a continuous shift in genre, from jazz to dance music to more traditional orchestral music and back again.
“The concept was that half of the scenes had an analog feel, a physicality to the music, and the other half had a cyber feel. So the conversation we had with the sound director was that normally in anime the music follows the dialogue, emotion, and events that are happening on screen, but in this case we decided that the music should cover the entire scene and essentially help create the world.”
Everything about Ghost in the Shell is built around the idea of a world built around visual density and tactility, which was mentioned in the pre-premiere talk, and the music plays a similar role. This visual approach instantly distinguishes Ghost in the Shell from many other adaptations that came before it, and finds a new way for Shiro’s manga to feel more playful and energetic than ever before.
