T5W#569-Top 5 Ghost in the Shell Movies

It’s been two long years since the announcement but the wait is over: The Ghost in the Shell has finally dropped.  While It has been a couple years long wait for most, for day one fans of the original Manga, it’s a dream come true to see Shirow Masamune’s true artistic vision brought to life.  It’ll definitely be a bit of a jarring change for viewers who have only experience the adventures of Motoko Kusinagi in her long library of Anime centric adventures dating back to 1995.  So to celebrate the return of Section 9 to the Anime scene, Top 5 Wednesday is looking back at the theatrical outings of the lovely Major and her crew of stalwart, trigger happy mercs with the Top 5 Ghost in the Shell Movies.  And yes, I will be looking at the first couple of episodes of The Ghost in the Shell when First Impression Fridays returns in August after Otakon.  Trust me, as a long time GitS fan I’m never missing the chance to cover my second favorite Anime franchise after Gundam.

 
#5-Ghost in the Shell (2017)

This is it, the bottom of the barrel (with SAC_2045 as a sheet over it).  I was so excited for this adaptation, I didn’t even initially mind the controversial casting of Scarlet Johansson as The Major.  And then the movie came out.  It took away all of the soul and hard hitting scifi questions of the source material, replacing it with a boring cyberpunk action thriller that thought including famous images and scenes from the franchise meant it understood Ghost in the Shell.  And don’t get me started on the true revelations of The Major, honestly if I didn’t have to review the movie, Id’ve just left the theater then 

and there, such a disappointment.

 
#4-Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex-Solid State Society

Considering SAC is one of the franchises main faces, I’m surprised we haven’t gotten more theatrical adventures set in this sub universe.  While the time jump and deeply changed character dynamics amongst the cast are top notch, Solid State Society suffers from feeling like an outline for a potential third season crunched and stretched into a two hour feature.  It also tries to adapt other storylines like The Puppeteer into the mix but never really succeeds where the TV Series, especially 2^nd Gig, excelled.
 

#3-Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie

Probably the biggest hurdle behind The New Movie is needing to be familiar with the preceeding Ghost in the Shell: Arise, to which this is both a sequel and concluding chapter.  That in mind, this is still a cool and sharp looking scifi thriller loaded to the brim with action and suspenseful tale that completes the origin story of The Major and the founding of Section 9.  Even if the story does get confusing, there’s an undeniable energy to seeing Section 9 as an effective combat team in battle (something I think SAC didn’t do enough of, leaving most of the action to Motoko, Batou and Togusa).

 
#2-Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

I know this one doesn’t have a lot of love in the fanbase and I do understand why.  Innocence is heavy on the existential questions and loaded with quotes from books and philosophers that I’m sure Mamoru Oshii thought sounded cool to say.  That said, I freaking love this movie.  The animation, the music, the heavier dose of action, hell even listening to the cyberlife pholosphical debates I find intriguing.  Innocence also holds a special place in my heart as one of the first Anime films I ever saw in theaters and I wanted to watch it again as soon as it ended.
 

#1-Ghost in the Shell

Let’s face it.  SAC.  Arise.  Even this new TV series.  Many try but none top the original.  Mamoru Oshii’s crowning achievement in cinematic animated storytelling is still a beloved classic over thirty years later and with good reason.  The story is fascinating, the characters are iconic.  There’s not a lot of action but what’s there is very well done.  And it asks all the right questions about man and machine coming together in an uncertain new age with understandable nervousness and wide eyed curiosity.  It’s no wonder Ghost in the Shell hasn’t just influenced much of the Anime Cyberpunk scene but the rest of the world as well (The Matrix anybody).  That vast and infinite net all started here and it’s still an amazing title to revisit in 2026 as it was in 1995.