I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghosts – This Week in Anime

Is that good? Is that bad? It’s a topic we like talking about, and that’s what’s really important.

Fair enough, but it really makes clear how much the same body of source material can be distinguished by the wide gulf of adaptational choices. Or can it? Sometimes the soul of a series always shines through in every version. Almost every version.

Appropriate enough for a character who’s canonically hopped bodies at least a few times, I’d say, but speaking of canonicity and to your point: yeah, I get being attached to whichever version of the cool Kusanagi you imprinted on and being surprised when a new version doesn’t match up with that. It particularly applies to Ghost in the Shell, which, as you highlight, has had some wild variance to its adaptations over the decades. It’s to the point where I almost find it hard to compare the new Science SARU joint to Stand Alone Complex—they are so distinct in what they’re trying to do that there are almost no bullet points to line up between both columns!

This isn’t even apples to oranges; it’s French onion soup to fajitas.

Shout-out also to Borma’s vacation fit. I think this is what I like most about The Ghost in the Shell‘s appeal toward adapting the “classic” manga which started in 1989. It’s shamelessly recreating so much of the louder cybernetic sensibilities of the era, and even expanding on them! We pointedly didn’t see Borma’s full shirt in the original manga, so this is but an on-brand expansive fashion flourish!

But that’s just one more point that speaks to the very different sensibilities spirited by each of these Ghosts. And I do think that might be part of what plays havoc with some people’s expectations. If you were super-attached to the cooler, extra-Crispin-y Togusa from previous GITS incarnations, then the goofier Apostolides version might catch you off-guard! On the other hand, maybe you’re a manga fan who’s been waiting all this time to see the original characterization of Togusa animated!

But that’s the thing with these kinds of different takes: neither is necessarily “right” or “wrong.” Well, except SAC 2045 Togusa. Making him divorced was a major miss, if you ask me.

But yeah, to the yuri yacht heard ’round the world: it’s honestly kinda funny to think that this scene caught anybody off-guard. When news of a “manga-accurate Ghost in the Shell adaptation” broke, virtually the first question anybody in my circle was asking was “Will it include the lesbian threesome scene?” To which the second episode answered with an emphatic “Yes!”

They even included Masamune’s trademark shiny-slick skin on all the gals! Incredible attention to detail!

If this is your only experience with GITS, then the new one might come out of left field. Like a Law & Order episode suddenly cutting to McCoy having a spicy three-way.

Even if the Amazon streaming plan still couldn’t let the anime be as explicit as the manga, necessitating some cut-arounds. It is still accurate to the source. And the spirit of the character, as you described.

It also makes clear how any adaptation, no matter how close it seems to be striving, is inevitably going to have some shifts in the name of the medium jump. And I think that’s a lot more interesting than comparing based on accuracy. Some people like or dislike the new GITS on the basis of it being closer to the manga or too far away from the film or TV versions. But actually it’s transformed in accordance with Science SARU‘s manner of animation. That’s way more compelling to assess the intent compared to how one-to-one it got to the original panels.

To provide a constructive counter-example, rote retellings of source material can show for themselves why they don’t work. Just check out this season’s also-airing Red River adaptation, all cheap manga panel recreations gleefully skipping through the setup of the story. No sauce on it at all. I can hear Rebecca grinding her teeth in frustration from here.

It’s a great bit because while “Bink’s Sake” didn’t appear until much later in the One Piece manga, here they had the chance to tie its through-line to Laboon after setting it up from the very beginning, and the result is a much warmer, interconnected take on the moment that arguably surpasses the original!

…or so it seemed, because it turned out what they were actually doing was delaying the segment until the end of the final episode of the season, because where else could they put this but the finale?

Rearranging things to make the most of the adaptational medium. What a concept!

Previous GITSes excelled at introspection and intrigue, and this new one has some of that, but defines itself through edge, energy, and character. And lesbian threesomes.