Production I.G published its Ghost in the Shell The Movie Virtual Reality Diver VR exhibit for iOS and Android devices in Japanese on Friday. The English dub is slated for June 2017.

The app is free to download but the video in the app costs US$3.99. A smartphone-compatible VR headset is required to view the app's video content.

The 15-minute work offers an original story in immersive 360° 3D video. Production I.G also plans to release the experience for Sony PlayStation VR and other Sony high-end VR units.

Production I.G describes the experience's story:

"To end the war and protect my wife, I must delete you all…" Japan, 2025. Technology has been advancing more and more rapidly. "Brain cyberization" that makes possible direct connections to information networks via the brain, the technology of "prosthetic bodies" that allows humans to change their body parts into cybernetical ones; in this world where such scientific advances have become common, a bombing attack threat is sent to the Japanese government.

The target is an international meeting involving dignitaries from the Republic of Kuzan. The case is entrusted to the Ministry of Home Affairs' Public Security Section 9. Section 9's leader, the full-cyborg Motoko Kusanagi, assembles her team and heads off to trap and eliminate the terrorist.

Production I.G previously streamed two teaser videos for the project in November. The first teaser shows a 2D video, while the second teaser is longer, and is shown in stereoscopic 3D with adjustable 360° point-of-view for those with the necessary hardware such as Google Cardboard.



The English dub cast will include:

Elizabeth Maxwell as Motoko

Christopher R Sabat as Batou

Jad Saxton as Logicoma

Stephanie Sheh as Yuri

Marc Diraison as Oribe

Ghost in the Shell The Movie Virtual Reality Diver is part of Production I.G's new project titled "SIGN." The animation studio collaborated with visual design studio WOW's Nobumichi Asai, who has background in 3D projection mapping; Toshiyuki Takahei, founder of dome video graphics design company Orihalcon Technologies; and Satoru Itoya, who has contributed to the development of camera and projection hardware for dome theaters. These three staff members served as creative director, technical director, and technical producer, respectively for the VR experience. Hiroaki Higashi directed the project. Kazuchika Kise designed the characters, and Jun'ichi Fujisaku is credited with "construction." Kise and Fujisaku return from the Ghost in the Shell Arise and Ghost In The Shell: The New Movie anime.

Executive producer Mikio Gunji, producer Atsunori Maeshima, and assistant Hiroyuki Ogino from Production I.G also participated in the project.