Up ’till this edition of the Anime Discussion series I was covering less known titles, but this time it’s a prized and famous title to which even a Hollywood movie is being made: Ghost in the Shell.

And I’ll start by posting the part which impressed me the most: The 1995 opening for the first anime film adaptation to the story.

Adult oriented with some violence and nudity on the movie (and even some erotic content on the manga) Ghost in the Shell is set in a cyberpunk future where people are able to replace body parts with cybernetic ones (from a few organs and limbs to a complete body replacement where only the brain is left).

Ghost in the Shell trailer:

The plot follows the story of Major Motoko Kusanagi and the members of Section 9, a covert ops division specialized in fighting technology related crimes.

Ghost in the Shell english dubbed trailer (watch at your own risk… ):

It is, as most epic stories out there, not only a simple story but rather an entire world created by Masamune Shirow.
It’s heavily politic and specially on the manga, extremely detailed and cryptic as the author goes by explaining how this or that piece of technology works. So you have to pay very close attention and maybe watch/read a few times before fully undestanding it, if you’re able to.

Ghost in the Shell original japanese trailer:

I remember when I watched it for the first time, two things happened: I realised japanese animation was not for kids only, and I also couldn’t fully understand what I was watching because I yet didn’t understand I needed to focus on details to get it.
Ghost in the Shell started as a manga (that has 3 volumes now), got the first anime movie adaptation, got several games, a TV series with two seasons, another movie, and finally a movie sequel for the TV series.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex english trailer (TV series):

I only read the first manga volume, watched the first movie and part of the first TV series.
Love the story, but I didn’t have enough time to watch it paying full attention and dedicate myself to fully understand the story.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 1st op:

I’m kinda slow to get some stuff (specially when it comes to politics), and I ended up having to put the series on hold for such a long time that I lost the storyline… so someday I’ll just have to start over again.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex op:

But since it’s more of a personal problem (not being able to continue the story), I really recommend for everyone to try following it up.
It’s not only a great science fiction, original story and animation, but it also raises several questions of our own future.

Ghost in the Shell 2 – Innocence opening sequence (the second movie):

Ghost in the Shell is one of the stories that inspired the Wachowski brothers to make The Matrix, along with some romances like Neuromancer.

Ghost in the Shell 2 – Innocence trailer:

It also has a more serious tone, but on the TV series a bit of humor here and there with the artificial intelligent tank-like vehicles called Tachikomas. Make no mistake though, this is an adult oriented anime, not only because of the stuff I already said at the beginning of the post, but mainly because the story is too dense for kids to understand.

Ghost in the Shell 2 – promo:

In a future were there are few people left without cyborg parts, and most of them have full body replacements that are constantly connected to a bigger network, the story raises questions about the frontiers of the virtual world and the real world.

Ghost in the Shell game op (Playstation):

A subject that seems to be a huge theme for more serious animes, also questioned on others from the Anime Discussion series such as Serial Experiments Lain and Dennou Coil.

Ghost in the Shell (Remasterized) 2.0 Edition trailer

The latest anime movie, made as sequel to the TV series was released in 2006:

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society trailer

And in 2008 the first movie with improved animations and sound was re-released.
It is one of the most detailed and complex sci-fi/cyberpunk series I know of, and I recommend for everyone to check it out, even those who are not fans of cyberpunk stories.

Oh yeah, considering how volatile YouTube content is, if something happens with any of the videos you are trying to watch, just use YouTube searching for Ghost in the Shell that you’ll probably find it.
I selected some images to post here, but ended up with so many videos I thought it was unnecessary to post them…