While the more recent live-action Ghost in the Shell movie was rather disappointing, the original 1995 anime movie that inspired it is now getting a theatrical release via IMAX.
To clarify, Ghost in the Shell started out as a manga by Masamune Shirow back in the late 80s. It’s first anime adaptation was the 1995 movie of the same name directed by Mamoru Oshii.
Following the success of Patlabor 2: The Movie, full of its own unique political intrigue, much of same team moved over to making this Ghost in the Shell into a movie.
Admittedly, Oshii never felt that he managed to capture the narrative complexity of Shirow’s original manga, but his 1995 anime movie is still remarkably well done.
To the extent that much of the 2017 live-action movie used most of its visual styling, designs and even whole scenes as reference, though with decidedly mixed results.
The obvious issue is that unlike Oshii’s anime movie, the live-action version didn’t really pay much attention to the original narrative from the manga. This resulted in a movie that didn’t understand its core plot elements and was very disjointed as a result.
So to have the 1995 movie with its recent 4K remaster shown on IMAX is something I cannot enthuse about enough.
Ghost in the Shell is probably one of the best animated works of the 90s, so to have it shown via IMAX will be a real treat. Not least because it will also emphasize the excellent musical score by Kenji Kawai.
In any case, Ghost in the Shell comes to IMAX theaters in Japan and the US on September 17, so don’t miss out.
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