One of the most well-known anime properties to Western audiences is getting a new life at Netflix. The streaming giant announced today that it will be bringing a “reborn” Ghost in the Shell series to life in 2020. The series, titled Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, will be animated in 3DCG and is to be directed by Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki. Aramaki helped pioneer the 3DCG look in Appleseed, while Kamiyama is familiar with the Ghost in the Shell universe having directed 2002’s Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Both directors have already worked with Netflix on Ultraman, which arrived back in April.
Netflix’s announcement of the series back in December didn’t reveal any plot details or specify whether this is a reboot or continuation. Regardless of what route Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 takes, there will be a familiar heroine involved. The image below served as the first look at the new Motoko Kusanagi.
Ghost in the Shell is one of the longest-running and most recognizable anime properties ever. Starting with the 1989 manga by Masamune Shirow, Ghost in the Shell is set in a cyberpunk future where human beings have cyber brains to interface with computers. The world of Ghost in the Shell has been adapted to numerous animated films and TV shows and in one instance was a live-action film starring Scarlett Johansson.
The brief trailer shows Kusanagi driving out of the ruined city in an all-terrain vehicle. The car seems to have a turret mounted on top, but more importantly, it has a tiny little Tachikoma riding in the back. The “think tanks” were AI-powered robots with network-synced memories in the first two seasons of the Stand-Alone Complex, though this lil’ spiderbot pal is much more diminutive than its forebears. Kusanagi slams the breaks steps out of her car, and says it’s “wonderful not to have any noise.” Here’s the brief synopsis Netflix offered along with the trailer: “In the year 2045 after global capitalism has defaulted, Japan’s elite Section 9 begins conducting covert cyber operations.” Check out the trailer above.