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.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 7 nominations
Atsuko Tanaka
- Kusanagi Motoko
- (voice)
Iemasa Kayumi
- Ningyô tsukai
- (voice)
Akio Ôtsuka
- Batô
- (voice)
Kôichi Yamadera
- Togusa
- (voice)
Yutaka Nakano
- Ishikawa
- (voice)
Tesshô Genda
- Nakamura buchô
- (voice)
Namaki Masakazu
- Urisu hakase
- (voice)
Shinji Ogawa
- Gaikôkan
- (voice)
Mitsuru Miyamoto
- Daida Mizuho
- (voice)
Kazuhiro Yamaji
- Seisô kyokuin
- (voice)
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
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn 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".
- GoofsThe 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 creditsOn the Special Edition DVD of the film, the Manga Entertainment logo appears shaded cyberspace green and surrounded by circuitry.
- Alternate versionsThe 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.
- ConnectionsEdited into Wamdue Project: King of my Castle (Roy Malone Remix) (1999)
- SoundtracksSee You Everyday
Composed and Arranged by Kenji Kawai
Lyrics Pong Chack Man
Vocals Fang Ka Wing
Chorus Junko Hirotani
Featured review
"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
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
Details
Box office
- Budget
- ¥330,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $889,074
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $2,736
- Feb 4, 1996
- Gross worldwide
- $929,593
- Runtime1 hour 23 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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