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Ghost in the Shell

Original title: Kôkaku Kidôtai
  • 1995
  • TV-MA
  • 1h 23m
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
166K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,903
91
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
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 comic book by Masamune Shirow, has established itself as one of the leading Japanese animation films of all time.
Play trailer2:03
2 Videos
99+ Photos
Adult AnimationAnimeArtificial IntelligenceCop DramaCyber ThrillerCyberpunkDystopian Sci-FiHand-Drawn AnimationPolice ProceduralPsychological Drama

A cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.A cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.A cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.

  • Director
    • Mamoru Oshii
  • Writers
    • Shirow Masamune
    • Kazunori Itô
  • Stars
    • Atsuko Tanaka
    • Iemasa Kayumi
    • Akio Ôtsuka
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.9/10
    166K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    1,903
    91
    • Director
      • Mamoru Oshii
    • Writers
      • Shirow Masamune
      • Kazunori Itô
    • Stars
      • Atsuko Tanaka
      • Iemasa Kayumi
      • Akio Ôtsuka
    • 398User reviews
    • 122Critic reviews
    • 76Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 5 wins & 7 nominations total

    Videos2

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:03
    Official Trailer
    Ghost in the Shell
    Trailer 0:25
    Ghost in the Shell
    Ghost in the Shell
    Trailer 0:25
    Ghost in the Shell

    Photos114

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    Top cast56

    Edit
    Atsuko Tanaka
    Atsuko Tanaka
    • Kusanagi Motoko
    • (voice)
    Iemasa Kayumi
    • Ningyô tsukai
    • (voice)
    Akio Ôtsuka
    Akio Ôtsuka
    • Batô
    • (voice)
    Kôichi Yamadera
    Kôichi Yamadera
    • Togusa
    • (voice)
    Yutaka Nakano
    • Ishikawa
    • (voice)
    Tamio Ôki
    • Aramaki
    • (voice)
    Tesshô Genda
    Tesshô Genda
    • Nakamura buchô
    • (voice)
    Namaki Masakazu
    • Urisu hakase
    • (voice)
    Masato Yamanouchi
    • Gaimu daijin
    • (voice)
    Shinji Ogawa
    • Gaikôkan
    • (voice)
    Mitsuru Miyamoto
    • Daida Mizuho
    • (voice)
    Kazuhiro Yamaji
    • Seisô kyokuin
    • (voice)
    Shigeru Chiba
    Shigeru Chiba
    • Seisô kyokuin
    • (voice)
    Hiroshi Yanaka
    • Kenshi-kan
    • (voice)
    Ginzô Matsuo
    • Ossan
    • (voice)
    Takashi Matsuyama
    • Jikkô-han
    • (voice)
    Sanryô Odaka
    • Gishi
    • (voice)
    Masamichi Satô
    • Untenshu
    • (voice)
    • Director
      • Mamoru Oshii
    • Writers
      • Shirow Masamune
      • Kazunori Itô
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews398

    7.9165.9K
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    Featured reviews

    10queitus

    An Animation Masterpiece

    This is an incredible work in the science fiction category, but an absolute masterpiece in terms of animated film.

    Deep thematic probing and philosophical questions dot the story. Characters that are cyborg-humans question their existence... this is a true potential problem for the far future. Is something created outside of a womb without a soul? Do souls even exist? Set all this against some incredible action sequences, plenty of eye candy, and a very dark, acrid backdrop of the future of civilization. This is a summer blockbuster and more. It's ashame that most people are too close-minded to consider a film like this.

    Bad guys and good guys? No clue. I had to watch the film 3 times to

    -Understand the plot fully -Understand the motivations of the characters -Realize the depth of the film -And still I'm left with questions

    If you open your mind, Ghost in the Shell settle itself within you... it will linger far after your first viewing. You will realize that a movie can have action, incredible effects, and STILL be deep.

    Drama, mystique, philosophy, intrigue, "going out on a limb" quality, action, adventure, deep characters who don't fall into bad or good categories, beautiful imagery, mind-boggling plot... even some comedy! I just can't get over the fact that I have never before seen a more perfect mix of the elements which make a masterpiece. EVER.

    10/10.
    10dee.reid

    It found a voice... and a following

    "Ghost in the Shell" is an intricate masterpiece of cyber-punk fiction and storytelling, successfully melding intriguing philosophical ideas with a coherent, well thought-out (albeit) confusing plot.

    Even more, it's a nightmarish vision of a society that's dominated by cyberspace and looking back now, is eerily prescient of today's computerized times. Many of the characters in the film are enhanced, someway or another by machines, to help them get the advantage in a vastly changing society.

    I'll avoid going real deep into the plot simply because there's a whole lot to grasp and even I got more than a little confused trying to follow it. The story is that a team of high-level government operatives are hot on the trail of a notorious computer hacker called the "Puppet Master," who is wanted for various crimes in cyberspace and has taken a particularly fond interest in the team's tough, female cyborg leader.

    Not surprisingly, as with the stigmas surrounding Anime', "Ghost in the Shell" is not short of nudity and graphic violence. But it's far from being gratuitous, and does not slow down the movie at all.

    "Ghost in the Shell" was one of the first Anime' films to skillfully blend traditional drawn animation with computerized imagery. This helps to give the film a surreal, yet beautiful look. And the dialogue helps sometimes too, with helping to sort out the confusing plot and many of its mythical ideas about personal identity and human evolution.

    This film is also even more revered today, in 2004, since some of this film's core themes helped to develop the plot basis of the insanely popular "Matrix" films, and some scenes from "Ghost in the Shell" were even homaged to in the first "Matrix" movie. The Wachowski Brothers certainly do owe a lot to this movie for the success of their work in America.

    I think that to understand "Ghost in the Shell," it would help to accept that Anime' is much more complex and daring than traditional American animation. Most Japanese animation films, like this one, "Akira," or Mayazaki's "Spirited Away," are on a level of sophistication that will never be matched in America.

    It has been said that the majority of American audiences would be afraid of Anime' because of the many stereotypes surrounding it, but that's why it's boundless - it's been given free reign to use those stigmas to its advantage in developing truly remarkable pieces of art that have gone largely ignored here in the U.S. "Ghost in the Shell" could very well be a mere reflection or a parable of a doomed society that's probably already accepted its dark fate. Most American animation would never touch up on this sort of subject matter.

    "Ghost in the Shell" is my #3 choice Anime' film (behind "Spirited Away" and "Akira") because it's so full of ideas and is masterful in telling a dark story about our times.

    10/10
    8tomgillespie2002

    Still one of the best examples of the genre

    Upon Ghost in the Shell's release in 1995, the Western world was still largely unfamiliar with manga, but had already had its head turned by Katsuhiro Ohtomo's Akira (1988). Blending philosophical musings with blistering action, Ghost in the Shell captured the imagination of it's new audience, helping kick-start the Japanophilia that runs so blatantly through most modern Western cartoons and lines the bookcases of many a teenager. While it certainly has its flaws, this was the first time that casual Western audiences who were new to manga had seen a cartoon be as meditative as is explosive. And for those that didn't catch it, no doubt they would have watched The Matrix (1999) four years later, a film that arguably 'borrows' a lot more from Ghost in the Shell that it lets on.

    In the future, technology has become so far advanced that all aspects of life are interconnected through an electronic network. Major Motoko Kusanagi (Atsuko Tanaka), a soldier working for government agency Section 9, is a cyborg, and is able to access this network through plugs in the back of her head. She and her team are assigned to catch an elusive 'ghost-hacker' known as the Puppet Master (Iemasa Kayumi), an intelligent entity created by the government, who they lost control of when it became self-aware. When the Puppet Master surfaces in the mangled body of an artificial human shell, Kusanagi faces a crisis of identity.

    Disappointingly, the film begins with gratuitous nudity, showing off the fine female form (with giant breasts, of course) of Major Kusanagi just before she takes a plunge off a building to nail some bad guys. Manga caters heavily for its audience, be it sexually-frustrated, highly- stressed businessmen or horny teenagers who have no doubt been bombarded with images of giggling, short-skirted school girls throughout their young life. Thankfully, these moments are brief, and prove to be not much more than a mild distraction from the stunning animation on show. Things are grim in the future, but they're certainly beautiful to look at.

    The sexism aside, Kusanagi is an interesting character. When a man realises his wife and daughter are nothing more than an implanted memory, he fails to comprehend it. Kusanagi, with her mixture of organic and mechanical body parts and uploaded memories, struggled to define what it is to be human. Her hunt for the Puppet Master, who is seemingly a new kind of being, becomes a hunt for identity. Is it enough to be aware of what and who you are? The philosophy, although provocative, is heavy-handed. Conversations about humanity between Kusanagi and her second-in-command Bateau (Akio Otsuka) are delivered with a monotony worthy of a whiny emo teen, and I found the film's first half quite a head-scratcher. But things thankfully do become clearer, and the film is still, almost twenty years later, one of the best examples of the genre.

    www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com
    AMIO-PatricioMunoz

    A Visually Stunning Anime for Adult Audiences

    Wonderfully executed anime classic.

    It is a darker anime tale aimed towards a more mature audience. I enjoyed the amazing realism of this film. The attention to detail is definitely enjoyable to see.

    The DVD has a rather enjoyable documentary on the making of the film. Any fan will enjoy the structure and content of the documentary. It is quite informative on the process of making the film.

    Like most Anime, there is a lot of character development and dialogue mixed with stunning visuals.

    I think the most captivating element that this film has to offer is its creative "cinematography" and attention to detail. There are numerous memorable shots in this film.

    This is not an anime for everybody. Attention to story is critical and I am guilty of rewinding certain areas just to keep up with the story.

    Thankfully this is not a mindless science-fiction/anime tale filled with crazy action sequences. The Ghost in the Shell proves to be quite philosophical in nature by questioning the meaning of life.

    I would love to venture deeper into this story and its message but I think it is better for you interpret it on your own.

    Remember to watch this movie with your heart, not with your mind. Reflect on it later. This is the best way to enjoy this type of film.
    10Quag7

    Excellent.

    I liked everything about this film. Much has been made of the artwork, and with good reason. Voltron, this isn't. I am not an anime fan and haven't seen a lot of anime films. Most plot descriptions of anime films sound boring to me. I'm not into monsters and tentacles or cute wide eyed little girls fighting evil. (Not that cute wide eyed little girls shouldn't fight evil, I mean, I'm all about fighting evil, aren't we all?) Ghost in the Shell, on the other hand, represents the best of its genre and the best of any genre is worth a watch. This movie ought to appeal to anyone who enjoys cerebral films. It addresses interesting philosophical questions about identity, some of which we will no doubt be pondering in the not too distant future. (I'm perhaps foolishly optimistic when it comes to AI).

    I should add as well that this is definitively in the cyberpunk genre. If you liked the old Max Headroom television series or movies like Wargames, this will no doubt appeal to you. Even the English dubbing isn't bad, even if it is a little bit fast (to keep up with Japanese).

    Darken the room, sink low in your chair, turn the volume up (the soundtrack is spectacular), and fall into this movie. I wish there were more like it. The artwork is incredible (if you don't consider animation art, you should take a look at Ghost) and the plot and dialogue are three dimensional and thought provoking. Two thumbs up. As I say, best of genre.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      In ordinary anime, characters would at least blink to create the feeling of "being animated", but in this movie, Motoko's eyes intentionally stayed unblinking many times. Director Mamoru Oshii's intention was to portray her as a "doll".
    • Goofs
      The car underneath the spider tank changes in size relative to the tank between shots.
    • Quotes

      Major Motoko Kusanagi: If we all reacted the same way, we'd be predictable, and there's always more than one way to view a situation. What's true for the group is also true for the individual. It's simple: Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death.

    • Crazy credits
      On the Special Edition DVD of the film, the Manga Entertainment logo appears shaded cyberspace green and surrounded by circuitry.
    • Alternate versions
      The original Japanese version has the song "Reincarnation" played over the ending credits. This song was replaced with "One Minute Warning" by Passengers (a collaboration between U2 and Brian Eno) for the English version.
    • Connections
      Edited into Wamdue Project: King of my Castle (Roy Malone Remix) (1999)
    • Soundtracks
      See You Everyday
      Composed and Arranged by Kenji Kawai

      Lyrics Pong Chack Man

      Vocals Fang Ka Wing

      Chorus Junko Hirotani

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 29, 1996 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • Japan
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • Armored Riot Police
    • Production companies
      • Kôdansha
      • Bandai Visual Company
      • Manga Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • ¥330,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $889,074
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $2,736
      • Feb 4, 1996
    • Gross worldwide
      • $968,116
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 23 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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