Fans who are tuning in to the new Ghost in the Shell anime on Prime Video might be a little surprised by what they see. This is a very different anime adaptation than we’ve seen in the past, with lots of gag humor and stylized facial expressions. Fans who grew up with the films or Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex might think this is a departure for the series, but, in reality, it is the only faithful adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s manga we’ve had. And that is probably why the series has been so successful in the past.

You can make the argument that the Ghost in the Shell manga is a product of its time. It is full of richly detailed panels and illustrations that occasionally get hijacked while Mokoto and the rest of the Section 9 crew go out drinking together. Expressions change from serious to silly at times. There is a kind of playfulness that wasn’t there in the films directed by Mamoru Oshii, but there is also a strikingly different visual style in the manga. 

Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell films are rightly praised for their philosophical explorations of mankind and our relationship with technology and each other. They are also visually beautiful, with intricate character designs and brilliant action scenes. They are also far more serious than Shirow’s original manga, having stripped out the lightness that served to relieve the dramatic tension and left only the series’ themes on display.

And that is the important thing; all the themes that fans are familiar with in the Ghost in the Shell movies are in the manga. They aren’t always as clear or as bluntly stated, but you still get the sense that Shirow is exploring important things. They are just wrapped in a more cartoony shell. Similar to how Akira Toriyama managed to disguise his gag manga as a serious martial arts story, Shirow is less explicit with how he reveals the message of his work.

I am not going to argue that Oshii was wrong in how he adapted Ghost in the Shell. The changes he made were important to make his adaptation unique from the manga. He strips back everything in the story to its core and leaves us with something that feels more mature than the original. A faithful adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s manga may not have had the same impact in 1995. Especially when compared to the tone and style of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which was airing when the first Ghost in the Shell anime movie was released in Japan, it isn’t hard to see 2026’s Ghost in the Shell anime fading into obscurity. By distilling the themes of Shirow’s manga into a more serious package, Oshii likely gave the series the longevity it’s had.

I’m one of those people who grew up with the Ghost in the Shell movies and only recently looked at the original manga, so I’m aware that it is a jarring transition to watch the new Ghost in the Shell series. And I know that I’ve harped on about not necessarily needing faithful adaptations of manga in the past, but I’m also excited for this new Ghost in the Shell anime. It seems like the director has an almost unhealthy obsession with trying to bring Masamune Shirow’s work to life here, and you can feel that love and admiration in every frame here. It isn’t better than the original anime by any means, but everything that you love about the original is still here; it is just in a different package.

There have been a lot of Ghost in the Shell adaptations over the years. So many so that it can feel impossible to do anything new or surprising with the series, but Science Saru found a way. Instead of trying to make more of what we know, they went back to the source. An anime does not need to be faithful to the manga to be good, but, in this case, it at least makes it memorable.

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