It doesn’t take much for the prospect of a new Ghost in the Shell anime—especially one adapted by Dan Da Dan studio Science SARU—to skyrocket to the top of any anime fan’s watchlist in an already packed season. Its cyberpunk legacy precedes it, after all, as the generation-defining blueprint that inspired Western cinema from The Matrix onward.
But Science SARU’s take on Masamune Shirow’s 1989 manga plays like a hard reset—a restoration that pulls a retro classic into the modern day not by smoothing out its edges, but by leaning into its spiritual roots. After screening the first two episodes of The Ghost in the Shell ahead of its Prime Video release at Anime Expo, our back-of-the-box read is simple: this isn’t just an early contender for anime of the year; it’s poised to reshape the tier lists of Ghost in the Shell‘s storied iterations, with itself sitting shoulders above its predecessors as the delightfully goofy cream of the crop.
Because this is Science SARU we’re talking about—a studio that’s evolved from a word-of-mouth darling in the Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! era to an attention grabber with Devilman Crybaby, and now a production house capable of swimming with animation juggernauts while juggling concurrent shows without stretching itself thin—it almost goes without saying that The Ghost in The Shell plays like a dream. Its sweeping animation sequences are a visual treat, its whimsically expressive character work is delightfully charming, and its operatic soundtrack punctuates every death-defying action scene with absolute sonic finesse. The show absolutely has the juice.
As a diehard fan of the series, what sold me on The Ghost in the Shell wasn’t solely the accolade-worthy sense of its predominantly action-less premiere—it was its winning tone. As a franchise, Ghost in the Shell‘s tone has been shaped by Production I.G and Mamoru Oshii‘s 1995 film adaptation, whose austere seriousness has echoed through every iteration since. This new version answered a prayer I’d almost stopped asking to have answered. It reminded the world that, despite its allegory-of-the-cave meditations on heady topics like transhumanism in the not-so-far-off year of 2029, it was once a lighthearted series unafraid to be goofy and more than a little silly while juggling its Twilight Zone-esque episodic cyberpunk adventures. And no character better embodies this welcome return to form than its heroine, Major Motoko Kusanagi.
In contrast to every iteration that followed Oshii’s film, Major Kusanagi (Suzie Yeung) is no longer the unflappable, nonchalant heroine more likely to chastise her crew—and her right‑hand man, Batou (Bill Butts)—for goofing off than to be the class clown egging them on. Science SARU’s Major feels multifaceted again: a quick‑tempered, queer disaster, as opposed to the serious leader whose spark has dimmed across the franchise. Seeing Science SARU’s Kusanagi realized through the show’s killer retro aesthetic and tone that work together in perfect harmony felt positively euphoric in a landscape obsessed with emotionally unavailable heroes.
That’s not to say that The Ghost in the Shell is a goof the whole time. Nestled in its premiere is an organic balance between unserious banter from a more expressive Major—one we haven’t truly seen since Shirow’s original manuscript—and Section 9’s battles against global cybercrimes that probe how technological folly has led us astray from our ghosts, our human essence. It’s a message that feels all too prescient now, and through Science SARU’s vision, it resonates not just in dogmatic faithfulness to the source material but in the studio’s uncanny artistic ability to realize a classic that already oozes style and crank it up to eleven.
If the first two episodes of The Ghost in the Shell are anything to go by, Science SARU’s already impeccable resume just added yet another feather in its cap as an anime studio whose wonders show no signs of ceasing.
The Ghost in the Shell premieres on Prime Video on July 7.
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