Koukaku Kidoutai

In the year 2029, Niihama City has become a technologically advanced metropolis. Due to great improvements in cybernetics, its citizens are able to replace their limbs with robotic parts. The world is now more interconnected than ever before, and the city's Public Security Section 9 is responsible for combating corruption, terrorism, and other dangerous threats following this shift toward globalization.

The strong-willed Major Motoko Kusanagi of Section 9 spearheads a case involving a mysterious hacker known only as the "Puppet Master," who leaves a trail of victims stripped of their memories. Like many in this futuristic world, the Puppet Master's body is almost entirely robotic, giving them incredible power.

As Motoko and her subordinates follow the enigmatic criminal's trail, other parties—including Section 6—start to get involved, forcing her to confront the extremely complicated nature of the case. Pondering about various philosophical questions, such as her own life's meaning, Motoko soon realizes that the one who will provide these answers is none other than the Puppet Master themself.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kusanagi, Motoko Main

Tanaka, Atsuko Japanese

Batou Main

Ootsuka, Akio Japanese

Togusa Main

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Project 2501 Main

Kayumi, Iemasa Japanese

Aramaki, Daisuke Supporting

Ooki, Tamio Japanese

Ishikawa Supporting

Nakano, Yutaka Japanese

Garbage Collector B Supporting

Yamaji, Kazuhiro Japanese

Daita, Mizuho Supporting

Miyamoto, Mitsuru Japanese

Tsuan Gen Fang Supporting

Matsuyama, Takashi Japanese

Nakamura Supporting

Genda, Tesshou Japanese

Ishikawa, Mitsuhisa Producer

Watanabe, Shigeru Producer

Iyadomi, Kenichi Producer

Oshii, Mamoru Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Sep 7, 2026

yumemirumono

Recommended

I really love the plot because it tackles the whole concept of existence—how a cyborg just wants to live and exist like a human. The meaning behind the story runs super deep. On top of that, the storytelling is really well-crafted, and you can tell the animation was made with the highest quality possible. The world-building totally resembles the Hong Kong slums, which fits the dark, cyberpunk vibe they were going for perfectly.

So yeah, if you’re into cyberpunk anime, you’re definitely gonna love this movie. Even if cyberpunk isn't really your thing, I’d still say give it a shot—it’ll totally open your eyes to just ... how amazing an anime movie can be across the board. Every single aspect of this film complements each other.

That said, you definitely need to focus while watching because the dialogue gets pretty heavy, not to mention all the tech jargon that might leave you scratching your head at first.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Aug 6, 2026

TinyTony404

Mixed Feelings

Going into Ghost in the Shell, I expected a lot more. Everything I had seen about this movie made it sound like one of the best anime films ever made, but after watching it, I honestly found it pretty average.

The biggest issue for me was that it just didn't grab me the way I expected it to. The ideas and themes are interesting, but I never got fully invested in the story. Maybe my expectations were too high because of how much praise this movie gets, but it didn't have the impact I was expecting.

One thing I will say is that the animation and visuals ... still hold up really well. The atmosphere is great, and you can see why this movie had such a big influence on other sci-fi films and anime.

My other issue is the amount of fanservice. Also, do they really need to keep showing us badonkers every few minutes? It felt unnecessary and sometimes took away from the actual story.

There is a sequel, so hopefully that improves on what this movie sets up.

Overall, Ghost in the Shell is a movie I wanted to love, but I ended up finding it just average. It has interesting ideas and impressive visuals, but it didn't live up to the hype for me.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 31, 2025

jlzap

Not Recommended

Funny

This movie is a whole bunch of nothing. There is ZERO character development and world-building throughout the whole thing. They throw you straight in but never give a backstory. You don't get attached to anyone or anything throughout the whole film, there are no stakes involved for the viewer. It makes for things to be either confusing, boring, empty, or all of the above.

The first actual bit of emotion we get from any character is an hour and fourteen minutes in; and as a viewer, I didn't even care what happened in that scene. It's a shame because this concept ... is great, but it was totally wasted. It was slow-paced, which was annoying some times and cool other times. I mean, it really shouldn't take over 30 minutes to actually begin the movie. The sound design was great and I really liked some of the cinematography but at other times it was giving "drawing is hard we're gonna just sit on the same frame for a minute to save our hands." And that's a fair thing to do, but not when you could instead be using that time to build characters so your viewers actually care about what's going on. It took a lot of pausing and checking how much time was left in hopes of it ending soon to get through this.

Why this is rated so highly is a mystery to me. I can only think that it's from people who claim it's a masterpiece because they consider it to be a classic, people who watched it around when it was released, and people who like the nudity.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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