Let’s Talk About the New “Ghost in the Shell” Anime That’s Coming Out
(This is a poster for The Ghost in the Shell (2026).)
I finished my 199th post and 200th post, and I posted all of my prewritten posts, and now I'm ready to start writing some new normal posts again, and I'm going start off by writing about this new Ghost in the Shell anime that's coming out in a couple of months. And when I say "coming out," I really do mean it since next month is Pride Month 🏳️🌈 and the latest trailer shows Motoko kissing another woman ♀︎ 😙 😄. Maybe if this show was actually going to come out during Pride Month 🏳️🌈 that joke would've landed a lot better. But is canon that Motoko is a lesbian ⚢, or at least bisexual. Though, when we do see her in romantic relationships ❤️, she's always with a woman ♀︎ instead of a man ♂︎. But you know, bisexual women ♀︎ can date exclusively women ♀︎ if they want to. It doesn't make them any less bisexual. They still have an attraction to men ♂︎. They just might have a slight preference for women ♀︎. Or they're already in a committed relationship with a woman ♀︎. The point is Motoko is apart of the LGBTQ+ community 🏳️🌈, and she is an example of LGBTQ+ representation 🏳️🌈 in anime and manga. Whether people acknowledge it or not.
I don't know how I'll be able to write today (Friday May 16, 2026) because we're hardly ever home anymore. We're always going somewhere. This was supposed to be our kickback day, the day where took a break from going anywhere, and just stayed home for once. But no, we ended up going out anyway. What I can say? My grandma’s pretty active, she doesn’t like just staying home. She always to do something, and by something I usually just mean play at the casino 🎰. She’s not a gambling addict in case you’re wondering, or at least I hope not. But I like hanging out with my grandma, it’s pretty fun for me. Even when I don’t play, and I’m just doing my phone 📱. She’s always worried that I’ll get bored if I go with her to the casino 🎰, but I don’t get bored. I have my phone 📱 to keep me entertained.
I often like doing that more than actually play on one of the slot machines 🎰. I save my money 💵. I do win on occasion, just not that often and not that much. I often just win $20 💵 or $30 💵 at most. Today, I won $29 💵 while playing a Kong: Skull Island machine at Route 66 Casino Hotel. Which, BTW, Seth Meyers, the current host of Late Night, recently performed standup there at the Legends theater. But I didn’t watch it. And I don’t know if he mentioned it on his show, I doubt it. Jay Leno, the former host of The Tonight Show, is set to appear and do standup there later on this month. Though I don’t remember which day. He might’ve already performed there by the time this goes up. But, just winning $20 💵 or $30 💵 on a slot machine 🎰 is enough for me. That’s a victory in and of itself. I don’t need to win hundreds of dollars 💵 for that to be a win. If I’m not doing too good, if I’m not hitting, then I just stop and go back to doing my phone 📱.
Speaking of which, I guess I could continue writing this on my phone 📱 while I'm there at the casino 🎰 in the snack bar while my grandma is playing, if I'm feeling inspired. I have anything to say while I'm there. Sure, the look of the parentheses will be inconsistent, depending if I'm writing on my phone 📱 or my laptop 💻, but I don't think very many people would care or notice. Just weirdos like me 🤣. Not only that, but I'm going to be in Albuquerque again tomorrow (Saturday May 16, 2026) to see Mortal Kombat II 🐉 (2026) in theaters and I definitely want to write a review of that. So, depending on how this goes, I'm going to have to stop and work on that, and then once it's finished and posted, then I'll get back to work on this one. So, this might take a week to finish. But I'm going to try to finish it in at least a couple of days. I don't like making you guys wait whole weeks on end to read one of my new posts. I want to post consistently to keep the momentum up. As long as I get this out before Pride Month 🏳️🌈 that's all that matters. More on that later 😉.
It’s been a while since I’ve written a Ghost in the Shell related post. The last one I wrote was on the Ghost in the Shell 2.0 trailer, which I also uploaded to YouTube (albeit in a compromised form), and that was already three years ago. The last Ghost in the Shell anime to be released was Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 on Netflix back in 2020-2022. The first season was released in 2020, on April 23, 2020, and the second season was released in 2022, on May 23, 2022. I wrote a review of that series back in 2023. It was the first thing I ever posted on the blog, although it wasn't a new post I wrote specifically for the blog. It was actually a repost from DeviantART page. And I also wrote a companion piece to that review if you're interested. But now there’s actually something new to talk about, so let’s get into it.
Now I first heard about this particular Ghost in the Shell anime sometime last year, I saw the first teaser trailer on the official Bandai Namco YouTube channel and later uploaded on the official Ghost in the Shell YouTube channel, and I was surprised. Bandai Namco's making a Ghost in the Shell anime without Production IG's involvement? But, it turns out that Production IG is involved as part of the production committee that's making it and is in charge of the whole franchise. They're just not the ones producing the animation. A studio called Science Saru is. They're a newer studio, which is why I've never heard of them, and probably most of you reading this haven't heard of them. It's funny, last year, I watched a video talking about anime production committees and why they're bad because the controversial third season of One Punch Man had just come out, and that was a relevant topic at the time, that had even extended outside of the anime community. And people wanted answers as to why the third season of One Punch Man turned out the way it did, and why a show that started out with so much promise, that had some of the best animation in the entire industry became bottom of the barrel garbage that no one wants to watch anymore. I mean, there are people hate watched One Punch Man Season 3 just to see the low quality animation, and the characters barely move, or slide across a room or slide down a hill like in that one clip that went viral and was memed to the death. But those kinds of people are in the minority and are terminally online. Not like me, I go out into the real world...and watch YouTube videos on my phone 📱.
The first teaser doesn't really tell you much, all it did was show some of black and white artwork of Motoko as she is set to appear in the show (like the background was black and the outlines are white; it kind of looks like chalk marker art), looking very similar to her original manga design, and the title and the release date, which is July 7, 2026. So two months from now. It wasn't until we got the second and third teaser that they started showing more of what this show is going to look like. And as it turned out, this show was going for a style more similar to that of the original manga by Shirow Masamune. All of the Ghost in the Shell anime adaptations have all done their own thing with the source material. Going different directions with the story and the characters, and of course with the art styles. None of them tried to replicate the art style, storytelling, or characterization of the manga. Even the live action movie from 2017 pulled more from the 1995 anime movie and the original Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series than it did the manga. Although in the credits, it still had to say "Based on the manga by Shirow Masamune," since he is the actual creator of Ghost in the Shell. I know some people think Mamoru Oshii is, but he’s not, Shirow Masamune is.
But this series on the other hand, looks like it's going back to the source, sticking as closely to the original manga's art style as it possibly can in animation. And people were surprised that, but they were definitely intrigued. They're ready to see a Ghost in the Shell anime that's actually faithful to the manga. Not just in terms of art style, but in terms of story and characterization. The manga version of Motoko for instance is very different from the various anime and even live action interpretations of the character. Not just in terms of design obviously, but also in terms of personality. From what I understand, the manga version of Motoko is much more playful and even a bit silly than her anime and live action counterparts. The other anime and live action versions of Motoko are all very serious, while the manga version is kind of a goofball. She has a bit more charm and wit to her than other versions of Motoko do. The other versions didn't really joke around that much, or even smile that much. There were attempts at witty banter in the 2017 movie here and there, especially between her and Batou, but those were few and far between. At least, from what I understand. Correct me in the comments if you're a Ghost in the Shell fan that's read the manga. I'm an anime and movie only fan, so I don't know. And this looks like it's going to be the most faithful adaptation of the manga that's ever been made.
There are few things that stood out to be while watching the last few trailers for this show. Not the initial teaser, the black and white one I just talked about, but the actual full trailers that actually show footage from the actual show. Like, in the second trailer, or second teaser I guess, we see Motoko and the rest of Section 9 go up against what appear to be human/animal hybrids. If this really is going off of the manga, I guess suggests that Section 9 didn't just face robots, cyborgs, computer hackers, and otherwise cyberterrorists, they also faced other kinds of threats that don't necessarily fall under cyber crime or cyberterrorism. They also occasionally faced biological threats. So maybe there is a bit of biopunk in the manga as well as cyberpunk, and this show will have it too since this show's going to follow the manga much more closer than any of the previous adaptations did. If so, that's pretty cool 👍. I like me some biopunk. It's why I like Resident Evil, it is the biopunk franchise in my opinion. It's not a zombie franchise 🧟♂️, it's more than just zombies 🧟♂️, it's a biopunk franchise. Plus, cyberpunk is kind of overexposed, it always overshadows other punk genres, including steampunk, which is the second most popular punk genre. So, it's nice to see one of the most popular cyberpunk works, one of the franchises most associated with cyberpunk, incorporate biopunk elements in its latest show if that is indeed what we're seeing. If I'm interpreting it correctly. But, we'll just to wait to watch the show for ourselves to find out.
Of course, we won't know the full context of that until after the show comes out, and we're finally able to watch the episodes week-by-week here in the States 🇺🇸 after it airs in Japan 🇯🇵, or streams in Japan 🇯🇵. I don't know if this is going to be an actual TV series or a streaming series. If it does, would it technically qualify as an ONA, original net animation 🤔? I don't know which company is going to distribute it here in the US 🇺🇸? Is it going to be Crunchyroll? Is it going to be Viz Media? Is it going to be Netflix? Is it going to be Disney through Hulu (as long as Hulu is still around)? It's probably going to be Crunchyroll because they pretty much own a monopoly within the North American anime distribution industry. They've cornered the market of anime distribution here in North America by either buying up their competition (which is what they did with Funimation) or making it difficult for other anime distribution companies to compete in the marketplace. They consciously or unconsciously created barriers for these other companies to operate and be successful on their own. This is why monopolies are bad, and why need to start breaking up monopolies again.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex was distributed by Funimation back when it still existed as an independent company, and as I stated already, Crunchyroll bought out Funimation in the early 2020s, so it stands to reason that Crunchyroll will be responsible for distributing The Ghost in the Shell (2026) in the United States 🇺🇸, either after it airs/streams in Japan 🇯🇵, or simultaneously while it's airing/streaming in Japan 🇯🇵. Of course, the sequel series to Stand Alone Complex, Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 was released on Netflix, which added a wrinkle into the equation. So it's hard to tell which anime distribution company or which streaming service will release this particular series here in North America. I guess we'll find out when we get there. I kind of hope it's not on Crunchyroll because I don't have Crunchyroll. And I don't know if my aunt has Crunchyroll, I think she does, but I still don't really want to watch it on there because I hate that company. They got rid of Funimation, and I will never forgive them for that. And if I have the option to watch this show on physical media, I will take it because screw streaming.
Another thing that stood out to me while watching the last few trailers for this show is that Aramaki's hair is brown 🟤 instead of white ⚪️. In all the previous adaptations of Ghost in the Shell, Aramaki, the Chief of Section 9, it's actual leader and advocate within the Japanese government 🇯🇵, always had white hair 👨🦳, making him look like an older man ♂︎, like either in his 60s or 70s. Definitely on the older side of things. Even if the most of the Section 9 members, except for Togusa, are probably the same age as him. But they're fully cybernetic, so they're able to continue to looking young, while he ages and starts looking more like an actual old man ♂︎. It's different in each continuity, but is fundamentally the same. All the Section 9 members look young and like they're at their physical peak, while they're lead by a lowly old man ♂︎ in a suit. Even the 2017 live action Ghost in the Shell movie went in this direction with Aramaki, casting Beat Takeshi who was about 69 years old when that movie was made, and had him wear a wig that made his hair look grey, making him look even older than he actually was.
But here, his hair is more of a brown color 🟤, and he looks much more middle aged as opposed to elderly like in the previous adaptations. Suggesting that Aramaki is a bit younger in the manga than he is most of the other anime and film adaptations. He's not a young, young guy ♂︎, still a bit on the older side, but closer about mid-to-50s as opposed to 60s or 70s. That's pretty cool. It's an interesting take on the character that we're not used to seeing, or at least I'm not used to seeing. But like I've already said numerous throughout this post, this show seems to be going back to the source, which is the original manga by Shirow Masamune. People who have only seen the anime or the live action movie will be surprised by this version of Aramaki I'm sure. At the very least how he looks because we're not used to seeing him like this.
My only real concern surrounding this anime is that it's being written by a one, Toh EnJoe. For those that don't know, Toh EnJoe is a Japanese author and television writer 🇯🇵. According to Wikipedia, a lot of his works tend to be either literary fiction or speculative fiction, which this show would probably fall into since it's science fiction. You know, it's cyberpunk...and possibly biopunk if those human/animal hybrids are what I think they are. But, the thing that I know him for is the 2021 Godzilla anime series, Godzilla: Singular Point. He wrote that entire series on his own, he was the sole credited writer on that show. And if you read my review of Singular Point, or if you've just been reading any of my posts on here, you'll know that I didn't like it very much. In fact, it's probably my host hated piece of Godzilla media. Yes, even more than Godzilla's Revenge AKA All Monsters Attack or Godzilla (1998). I don't even hate those movies. I actually like Godzilla (1998) and it's been too long since I've seen Godzilla's Revenge for me to have an actual opinion on it as an adult.
Which is a shame because I've wanted a Godzilla anime as much as the next guy ♂︎. Godzilla just seemed to uniquely suited for an anime series, especially since there had already been two Godzilla animated series. One in the late 1970s by Hanna Barbara and one in the late 1990s that was tied to the 1998 movie. And people actually like better than the 1998 movie. There's just so much you could do with a Godzilla anime, and it's kind of surprising that one hadn't happened until the 2020s. Sure, there were those Monster Planet movies in the 2010s shortly after Shin Godzilla, but those were movies and they weren't what people were expecting when they said they wanted a Godzilla anime, since they were 3D animated as opposed to 2D animated. The Monster Planet movies are pretty divisive movies on their own besides the animation, the story and characters and the depiction of Godzilla and the other classic Toho kaiju featured in the movies drew a lot of mixed reactions from fans. Mostly negative, but there were some people who liked these movies and their depictions of Godzilla and the other kaiju. For what it's worth, people seemed to like the prequel novel 📖, Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse a lot better. Mainly because it delivers on the monster action in a way that films did not.
What people wanted was an actual 2D Godzilla anime. An anime that actually looked like an anime. And that's what it appeared Godzilla: Singular Point appeared to be. And while is plenty of CGI in the show, most of the show is 2D animated, and most of the 3D assets are used for things that would've been too complicated or time consuming to do in 2D animation. And it is well animated, the animation in the show is pretty good. The music is great, including the song used in the opening, "in case..." by BiSH. I don't care for the song used in the end credits song, that song can fuck right off 🖕. And I like the designs of the monsters, I think all the monsters look pretty cool except for Godzilla, I don't care for Godzilla's design in this show at all, it's probably my least favorite Godzilla design ever. Yes, including the 1998 one. In fact, I didn't care for any of the Godzilla stuff in this show. The Godzilla stuff is probably the worst part about it. It's the least interesting part. Which is bad considering that this is a Godzilla anime. Ideally, you want to get Godzilla right and have him be the best part of the show, but here, they did not get him right and he is not the best part.
The best part is actually Jet Jaguar, I loved this version of Jet Jaguar. They should've just made this a Jet Jaguar show instead of a Godzilla show. The fact that Jet Jaguar never got his own movie or series is kind of insane to me. Especially since his first appearance ever, Godzilla vs. Megalon was meant a backdoor pilot to set a Jet Jaguar series of films, or perhaps a Jet Jaguar TV show similar to Ultraman or Zone Fighter. Which would've been fitting considering Jet Jaguar was the Godzilla franchise's equivalent to Ultraman or Zone Fighter, that type of hero. Although Godzilla did do a crossover with Zone Fighter in at least one episode, which is probably the only thing most people know about Zone Fighter, the fact that a bunch of Godzilla kaiju appeared in one episode. And Godzilla teamed up with Zone Fighter to fight both King Ghidorah and Gigan, his two greatest enemies, who fought he previously in Godzilla vs. Gigan and Godzilla vs. Megalon, where the M Nebula Space Hunter aliens (the ones that look like cockroaches 🪳) sent down Gigan to help the Seatopians in their plan to destroy the surface world with their own monster, Megalon. So, Gigan teamed up with Megalon to help him destroy the world, and Godzilla was forced to team up with Jet Jaguar to defeat them. Both Godzilla vs. Gigan and Godzilla vs. Megalon are tag team matchup movies, two monsters fighting another pair of two monsters. Or I guess one monster and one robot fighting against two monsters in the case of Godzilla vs. Megalon.
But, it was the story and the characters that ruined it for me. I didn't like the story, and I hated most of the characters, except for the Otaki Corp. characters. I wish the show had just been focused on them the whole time, especially since that means that we would've gotten more Jet Jaguar, and much less of that other bullshit that I didn't like. The concept of this show sounds good on paper, but it was poorly executed in my opinion. I'm sure there are people who liked this show just like some people probably liked the Gamera anime, Gamera: Rebirth, but I didn't like either of them, and that's really that matters. When it comes to movies, TV shows, video games, and just entertainment in general, at the end of the day, all that matters is your own opinion. So knowing that about me, you can kind of understand why I'm kind of hesitant about watching this show knowing that Toh EnJoe is writing it. Why it's my only reservation about it. He's good at coming with concepts, he has interesting ideas, but he can't come up with a story and characters to explore those ideas. I would say his story and character writing are his weakest traits, at least from what I've seen. But, this show is an adaptation of a manga, he's adapting someone else's work rather coming up with his own idea. Or maybe he's just better at writing Ghost in the Shell than he is Godzilla. So maybe it might work out, and this show might actually good. I'm just hoping for the best, because I want this show to be good. I want to like it.
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