Kodansha, the manga publisher behind the Ghost in the Shell series, has weighed in on the controversy over Scarlett Johansson's casting as Major Motoko Kusanagi.

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Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter (via Kotaku ), Kodansha's international business director, Sam Yoshiba, said that he was impressed with the respect being given to the manga."Looking at her career so far, I think Scarlett Johansson is well cast," Yoshiba said. "She has the cyberpunk feel. And we never imagined it would be a Japanese actress in the first place. This is a chance for a Japanese property to be seen around the world."Produced by Paramount and DreamWorks, director Rupert Sanders's adaptation of GITS has been dogged by the whitewashing controversy over Johansson's casting, especially once the first image of her in-character was released The outrage only got worse once reports came out that VFX tests were performed to make Johansson look "more Asian." While Paramount claims the tests were done for a background actor, ScreenCrush maintains the tests were done for Johansson without her knowledge.The film is currently in production in New Zealand and is set to open next March. It will co-star legendary Japanese actor and director Takeshi "Beat" Kitano as Section 9 Chief Daisuke Aramaki and Hannibal's Michael Pitt as the hacker known as The Laughing Man

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