Written before the mass adoption of the internet, before the social and technological terms we all are now comfortable with (and in many cases were born into). This is a story about a law enforcement team on the cutting edge of what the 80s thought today’s tech was going to be like. Cybernetic implants, smart tracker bullets, remote mind wipes, optical camouflage, the works. The story chronicles inter-agency turf wars played at the highest level, and the emergency of a new kind of criminal. It does this while asking deep questions about what it means to be a human, a distinct person, in a connection and increasingly synthetic world.
Lasting Impact
This movie has influenced countless projects, but perhaps none more than The Matrix. This is both in terms of its visuals and technology, but also in its themes. Ghost in the Shell showed American audiences, along with Akira, that animation could be gritty, mature, and artistically stunning all at once.
For a kid barely aged into double digits this movie was foundational. All others afterward, including the aforementioned Matrix, would be compared against it. After a disappointing first episode of the latest incarnation, I went back and watched this original with my wife. It was her first time with it and while it was dated, she was much more satisfied with it over the over the new show.
Recommendation
Its old, there’s no getting around that. And today there are several other iterations, version, re-tellings, and formats you can use to get into this primal cyberpunk world. That said, I still think the original anime (and the manga) hold up for modern audiences that can accept the sometimes clashing technology (pay phones with network connections) and futuristic references to years passed.