Ghost In The Shell (GITS for short) is an animated feature length film that rocked the anime world. Clearly inspired by the works of Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Rene Descartes GITS explores the idea of conscience and identity.

GITS came to the big screen across Japan in 1995. Due to GITS’ popularity as a manga which started publication in 1989, the author of the manga, Masamune Shirow was approached by Mamoru Oshii (the director) to turn the popular manga into a feature animated film. Oshii was convinced that there was a market for this type of film, even in the west which was notorious for the low- market penetration of animated movies. Japanese animated movies failed to make a big impact in western cinema initially, usually gaining critical acclaim some time after initial release, movies like Akira made their fortune not in cinema screenings but in home video releases and Oshii knew that if the initial screening failed then the revenue from the home video market would still make it a viable project. As it so happened GITS was hugely popular in Japanese theatres, however Oshii was correct in his assumption that the film would make more money from home video than from cinema releases in the west.

The GITS managa is clearly inspired from Gilbert Ryle’s book, The Concept Of Mind, in which Ryle interpreted Rene Descartes’ mind- body dualism as a “ghost in the machine”. Ryle’s book was one of ridicule for Descartes whom believed that mental activity doesn’t parallel the physical, rather the point of interaction between physical and mental were speculative. In short Descartes believed that the mind was separate from the body, whereas Ryle believed that the mind and the body were one onto each other. GITS explores the possibility that the mind is indeed separate from the body, during the movie there are moments where the characters wonder whom they are, in fact on of my favourite scenes of the movie is the scene where Major Motoko Kusanagi and Batou are on a boat on the river and they discuss the fact that their bodies are company owned and that they have insurance like any other appliance. The whole scene is like two toasters with personalities having a casual conversation about life, its odd to think that machines understand the concept of destiny or morality.

The plot to GITS is rather complicated but put simply a special police group called Section 9 are on the hunt for a mysterious hacker called the Puppet Master. Section 9 is made up of Maj. Kusanagi and Batou (both of whom are cyborgs) as well as various humans including Togusa and Chief Armaki. The Section 9 team are employed to investigate unusual activity and internal threats to national security. The Puppet Master is a mysterious criminal that can hack peoples cybernetic bodies and hijack their minds in order to control them for his own gain.

At the start of the film Maj. Kusanagi et al are in pursuit of a hacker connected to the Puppet Master whom is a garbage disposal truck driver. After a short pursuit the Section 9 team are able to capture the truck driver only to discover that he too has been hacked by the Puppet Master and has no recollection of previous events. The truck driver gives the team a lead, another man who had dealt with the truck driver. The Section 9 team are able to find this other man and, after a short shoot-out and chase, are able to apprehend him, however they discover that he has also been hacked by the Puppet Master.

Meanwhile a cyborg- assembly factory has been hacked to create a female cyborg, however after wondering into the road the cyborg is hit by a truck. The Section 9 team investigate and discover a human conscientiousness called a “ghost” within the cyborg’s body, this ghost is presumed to be that of the Puppet Master. While investigating the body, Section 9 are visited by the rival police group called Section 6 whom explain that the female cyborg was really a trap intended for the Puppet Master.

Maj. Kusanagi doesn’t buy Section 6’s explanation, believing that they want the glory for themselves. Kusanagi tries to disconnect her own conciousness from her body and implant it in the female cyborg’s body in an attempt to decipher what is going on. Before Kusanagi can try her plan the female cyborg body awakes, this triggers Section 6 to attack and rush Section 9 retrieving the body in the process.

In the aftermath of the attack Section 9 discover a secret plan by Section 6 called “Project 2501”, Section 6 insist that this was concocted in order to catch the Puppet Master, but it turns out that Project 2501 was created before the Puppet Master had been discovered. Section 9 believe that the Puppet Master is in fact this mysterious Project 2501 and that Section 6 are now trying to cover their tracks.

What follows is a chase to retrieve the body of the Puppet Master before Section 6 can destroy it, erasing all evidence.

If you have read all this and are now confused then I cant blame you, indeed one of the criticisms of the movie amongst friends that have seen it is that the plot isn’t clearly laid out. I would argue that unlike movies such as Revolver, GITS isn’t intentionally trying to make the plot more complicated than it needs to be. GITS is exceptionally clever, all the audience need to is listen to the dialogue to understand what is happening. One of my favourite pieces of dialogue comes at the end of the movie:

Puppet Master: I refer to myself as an intelligent life form because I am sentient and I am able to recognize my own existence, but in my present state I am still incomplete. I lack the most basic processes inherent in all living organisms: reproducing and dying.

Maj. Kusanagi: But you can copy yourself.

Puppet Master: A copy is just an identical image. There is the possibility that a single virus could destroy an entire set of systems and copies do not give rise to variety and originality. Life perpetuates itself through diversity and this includes the ability to sacrifice itself when necessary. Cells repeat the process of degeneration and regeneration until one day they die, obliterating an entire set of memory and information. Only genes remain. Why continually repeat this cycle? Simply to survive by avoiding the weaknesses of an unchanging system.

That scene really hammers home (at least partially) what is going on in the movie, the Puppet Master considers himself sentient and no different from any other life form, but Kusanagi struggles with this because the Puppet Master is nothing more that an arrangement of code. At this point in the movie it occurred to me that all that we are as humans is an arrangement of atoms and molecules and that the Puppet Master is a metaphor for human conciousness and thought. After all how do we know that we are real? All that life is is a sequence of memories.

Aside from the interesting and thought provoking plot there are a few other details that set the movie apart; Kusanagi is definitely feminine but not quite female, this is because while she had been designed with a female body the conciousness or ghost is gender- neutral. This adds a whole new level of depth to the character (also the observant movie- goers amongst you may have noticed that Kusanagi never blinks, this is to help remind the viewer that she isn’t human). Another interesting anecdote is the gun-play in the movie, if you have read my Heat review then you will know that I greatly appreciate realistic ballistics in movies and GITS is no exception. Mamoru Oshii took the entire production staff to Guam to use firearms at various objects and materials, the result being that in the movie bullet impact changes depending on where it lands. Additionally you will notice that the guns portray realistic recoil and flash when fired.

Those of you whom have seen The Matrix will have noticed some similarities to GITS, indeed some of the scenes are heavily inspired by the film. The reason for the close resemblance is that the Wachowskis used the GITS movie when trying to sell the idea of the Matrix to various studios, you may have even noticed how the character Trinity closely resembles the character Maj. Kusanagi.

So the film not only has an interesting plot, great characters, and a fantastic art design but it also has a great pedigree and made a large impact on the science- fiction genre in general. It is the kind of film that leaves you in wonderment and with a hunger for more, you want answers and may even question the concept of who you really are. Either that or you are left thinking it was a pretty cool movie, to each their own I suppose.

Ghost In The Shell has received high critical acclaim and is a movie I highly recommend to any fan of The Matrix or Bladerunner or science-fiction in general. It is an impressive spectacle that is assured to wow you, it is something of a breed which is becoming more and more rare with each passing year, a bright star amongst all the meaningless of rubbish that insist upon encroaching the cinema landscape.