#Science SARU To Produce New Ghost in the Shell Anime

Shirow Masamune‘s cyberpunk manga The Ghost in the Shell is inspiring a new anime that will be produced by Science SARU.

The show is planned to be broadcast in 2026.

Masamune’s manga debuted in the May 1989 issue of Kodansha’s Young Magazine Kaizokuban. Various anime adaptations with different takes on the source material were made, including Mamoru Oshii‘s atmospheric and contemplative Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence movies; the mystery thriller-styled Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series and movie; the Ghost in the Shell: Arise films. which featured a younger version of main heroine Motoko Kusanagi; and the 3DCG Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, which takes place after Stand Alone Complex. 

The previous anime adaptations were produced by Production I.G, with SOLA DIGITAL ARTS assisting for SAC_2045. The committee for the new anime includes Bandai Namco Filmworks, Kodansha, Science SARU, and Production I.G.

Kodansha USA describes the original manga as:

From Shirow Masamune, the award-winning creator of Appleseed and Dominion, comes The Ghost in the Shell, the definitive cyberpunk manga that inspired the internationally acclaimed animated film. An epic dystopian tale of politics, technology, and metaphysics, The Ghost in the Shell has been hailed worldwide as an unparalleled visionary work of graphic fiction.

Deep into the twenty-first century, the line between man and machine has been inexorably blurred as humans rely on the enhancement of mechanical implants and robots are upgraded with human tissue. In this rapidly converging landscape, cyborg superagent Major Motoko Kusanagi is charged to track down the craftiest and most dangerous terrorists and cybercriminals, including “ghost hackers” who are capable of exploiting the human/machine interfance and reprogramming humans to become puppets to carry out the hackers’ criminal ends. When Major Kusanagi tracks the cybertrail of one such master hacker, the Puppeteer, her quest leads her into a world beyond information and technology where the very nature of consciousness and the human soul are turned upside down.

The franchise also includes novels, video games, and other manga, including ones based on Stand Alone Complex and Arise. A Hollywood live-action adaptation was released in 2017.