One of anime’s most celebrated sci-fi franchises loves paying homage to itself, but why does it never seem to lose its appeal?
Highlights
- Ghost in the Shell pays homage to its classic predecessors through iconic shots and storylines, creating a sense of continuity and celebrating the series’ legacy.
- The franchise has a tendency to repeat itself visually and narratively, but rarely to a degree that fans find excessive, as it explores new ideas and maintains its own distinct vision.
- Each iteration of Ghost in the Shell has its own unique direction and explores the implications of technology, showcasing the franchise’s ability to predict the future and keep the stories fresh and exciting.
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Pop culture is obsessed with callbacks and Japanese pop culture, in particular, delights in paying homage to the classics that may have inspired new works of art. In anime, this can account for anything from iconic poses in mecha shows to the recurring tropes in shōnen and other genres, but for Ghost in the Shell, it means reimagining not only particular shots but entire storylines.
First written by Shirow Masamune, Ghost in the Shell was a manga series that began in 1989 before Mamoru Oshii brought it to life in animation in 1995, starting an anime franchise like no other. In the decades since, there have been numerous continuities that reuse the same core cast, but with slightly altered lore and often wholly different themes explored.
A Familiar Sight
Shirow Masamune quite famously proclaimed that there is no definitive version of Ghost in the Shell. This obviously hasn’t stopped fans from picking their favorites, which typically come down to either the original movie or the TV series Stand Alone Complex. The former is no doubt the most influential, having inspired the Wachowskis’ Matrix series, but funnily enough, it has also been referenced in just about every other Ghost in the Shell property since.
No shot in Ghost in the Shell is more iconic than the Major jumping from the top of a skyscraper and looking up into the camera as her therm-optic camouflage activates. Barring the 1995 film, it’s been done in Stand Alone Complex, Solid State Society, Arise (twice), the 2017 live-action film, and to a lesser extent in SAC_2045. This series loves having Major jump off of skyscrapers to the point that it’s become an aesthetic staple of the franchise.
Taken by themselves, they’re just loving homages, and not much more. Unless the context has been changed enough to give the scene its own identity, it’s not a particularly creative callback. Most times, a Ghost in the Shell story is memorable for its original ideas rather than how it pays tribute to what came before. And yet, the franchise has a tendency to repeat itself, not just visually, but narratively, as well, yet rarely to a degree that fans find excessive.
Sometimes, even entire scenes are copied from past works, like at the end of Solid State Society, which echoes the climax of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, released only two years prior. Batou finds himself defending the line against an onslaught of combatants up to the last second, all while the Major hacks into a terminal to save the day. This is perhaps the most egregious example.
Then there are smaller moments, though more prone to bigger differences in execution, such as the Major leaving Section 9 and disappearing off the grid. Or, in the same vein, when she and Batou decide on a code word to use whenever they meet again. In 1995, it was “2501” and at the end of SAC_2045, it was “1A84”. In a franchise with no definitive continuity, these moments help spiritually tie disparate continuities together in a celebration of the series’ legacy.
Furthermore, it goes to show just how influential the Mamoru Oshii films are. Many of the aforementioned story beats and visuals originated from his films, be they from the 1995 film or 2004’s Innocence. Consider for a moment the Puppet Master, a fairly minor villain in the grand scheme of the franchise, yet one who has been reimagined a few times.
Reimagining A Classic
It goes without saying that the live-action film copies this storyline, but the biggest example in animation is Stand Alone Complex‘s film, Solid State Society. It’s in observing this film that the point of the franchise’s constant repetition starts to make a bit more sense. In this film, a few years have passed since Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig, the Major has left Section 9, and a hacker known as the Puppeteer has been killing people.
The setup echoes the plot of the 1995 film greatly, and the Major’s separation from the other characters harkens back to her role in Innocence. But other than the basic premise and the aforementioned callbacks, the film distinguishes itself quite significantly in terms of the narrative. While the film doesn’t quite reach the heights of past films, it’s far from a retread of old ground and explores some fascinating ideas.
In Mamoru Oshii’s classic, the Puppet Master was believed to be a hacker, but in reality, was an entity birthed from an AI, which sought to merge with the Major and create a new life form. In contrast to this, Solid State Society looks at the concept of an entity birthed from the internet but looks at it from a different perspective.
SSS is about the hunt for a hacker known as the Puppeteer, which leads Section 9 to discover a conspiracy involving kidnapped children, social services, and a collective known as the Solid State. The Puppeteer’s identity is a mystery up to the very end, but they are implied to be an entity birthed from the Major’s interactions with the net. In this way, it harkens back to the original film in order to invert the message.
SAC_2045, the most recent Ghost in the Shell story, is set in the same continuity as Stand Alone Complex, and similarly feels spiritually tied to the 1995 film. Like the Puppet Master, this AI has roots in America, but its power is considerably more frightening, with the potential to spread to every cyberbrain on Earth. Here, the series uses familiar framing to illustrate the horrors of advancements in AI.
As Masamune said, there is no definitive Ghost in the Shell, and there’s pride in that because each director and writer who helms the series has their own distinct vision. Not every iteration is equally beloved, and even some works by returning creators have been met with mixed reception, but each one has a unique direction with which to explore ideas about technology.
Ghost in the Shell has always thrived at predicting the future of technology and the political/philosophical implications of such advancements. This franchise’s inclination to repeat itself is evidence of that timelessness, but also a tenacity to keep the stories fresh and exciting, never feeling like a mere replica of something done previously.
Ghost in the Shell (1995) & Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex are not currently available to stream in North America. Ghost in the Shell: Innocence is available to stream on Funimation. Ghost in the Shell: Arise is available to stream on Crunchyroll. Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 is available to stream on Netflix.
Fuente: successacademy.edu.vn
Categorías: Anime
