The Ghost in the Shell live action movie
has finally come out! Here's 10
interesting things you may have not
known about this Ghost in the Shell
franchise and its live-action
counterpart. The live-action version of
the Ghost in the Shell stars Scarlett
Johansson as the Major. The Major has
originally been known as Motoko Kusanagi
in the various Ghost in the Shell
properties. The Major is 5 feet 6 inches or
168 centimeters and she has been shown
to be in her early thirties. Although
closer to a mid-20s in the manga.
Compare the Major to the very real
Scarlett Johansson. She's five feet three
inches or 160 centimeters and 32 years
old. Although I did mention the Major's
real name being Motoko Kusanagi this was
changed to Mira Killian for Scarlett Johansson's
character in the live-action
version.
The voice for the Major in the original
is Atsuko Tanaka. She's been the
voice for her and all of the Ghosts in
the Shell movies and both of the Ghost in
the Shell Stand Alone Complex seasons.
You may know her from a few other anime
series. There's Lisa Lisa from JoJo's
Bizarre Adventure. Claudette from all the
Queen's Blade series if you know what
that is. And even Bayonetta from Bayonetta
Bloody Fate. The Major notably did get a
change in the voice actors for the Ghost
in a Shell Arise project. There she's
voiced by Maaya Sakamoto. You may
recognize her from a few anime series too.
She's Leila from the Code Geass spinoff.
Hitomi from Escaflowne. Ceil
Phantomhive from Black Butler and the lovable
Haruhi from the Ouran Host Club. A
very interesting fact about this Ghost
in the Shell live action movie the
original voice actors for the Major and
the other original cast are returning
for the Japanese dub for this movie so
least in Japan they are a bit more
Japanese.
Ghost in the Shell was born originally at
the manga created by the author Masamune
Oshiro and later then had a 1995 Ghost
in the Shell anime film released. Sense then
the property has seen various iterations.
There's the Ghost in a Shell Stand Alone
Complex series, two seasons closed a
movie. There's the reimagining of the
series with the Ghost in a Shell Arise
series. A sequel to the original 1995
Ghost in a Shell movie has also been
made. That one titled Ghost in a Shell 2
Innocence. The original Ghost in a Shell
film was even be released as Ghost in the Shell 2. This included
new audio and even certain scenes were
made in CGI. This is not even getting
into the various games over the years.
Ghost in the Shell has become an iconic
name since was released back in the 90s
but did you know? It almost ended up with
a different name. The author Shirow
took the story to his publisher Young
Magazine. They ended up loving the story
and concepts he created but they did
prefer if he changed the name. Instead of
Ghost in the Shell they prefer to go
with Mobile Armored Riot Police. Supposedly
this was to be more marketable. Shirow
did everything he could to convince them
to keep the title. Eventually they came
to a compromise. In Japan this series is
known as Mobile Armored Riot Police Ghost
in the Shell. Even to this day that
original title is still used. It just
became smaller.
You may be surprised to know that this
Ghost in the Shell movie is not the first
try at a live-action version of it. Let
me introduce you to project 2501. Tt was
essentially a fan film. It featured
artists working from all over the world.
Most of which who have never actually
met in person. Oh and in that version
you'll be surprised to know that they
actually managed to find a Japanese
actress to play the Major. You could go
ahead and Google around to find their
short clip of this movie project .Fair
warning it does contain asian boobs so
definitely not safe for work!
The original Ghost in the Shell movie
was a very first animated film to get a
release date at the same time outside of
Japan. The reason the goal was to bring
Ghost in the Shell and anime to a
mainstream international audience. They
hoped that this anime film will blow up
in the US and the UK. Unfortunately the
exact opposite happened. It bombed in
theaters. Luckily it didn't later find
its audience on VHS and DVD becoming a
cult hit.
Originally the villain chosen to go
against the Major and Section Nine was
supposed to be the Laughing Man in this
live-action version. The Laughing Man
being a key antagonist hacker from
Season one Ghost in the Shell Stand
Alone Complex. As we see in this
live-action movie this was changed to
Hideo Kuze. The reason for this
change was that they wanted to make his
story more intertwined with the Major due
to their past. Even though the Laughing
character was not used Kuze still
notably has some traits from the
Laughing Man!
In the 1995 Ghost in the Shell film you
may or may not have noticed something
about the Major. Since she is a
cybernetic show housing a cyber brain
the director Oshii went ahead and had
fun with the visuals in the movie. The
Major notably never blinks once in the
movie. This is a minor detail and the
director hope this will create this doll
like creepy feeling from Motoko.
This Ghost in the Shell movie marks the third
time for Scarlett Johansson playing an
enhanced super-powered female. The first
one you're definitely familiar with
Black Widow from the Avengers. But wait
the Black Widow is not enhanced or is
she? You're left to wonder about this in
the MCU version of her but in the comics
the black widow has been enhanced
similarly to Captain America. The second
enhanced kickass female is Lucy from
Lucy. After a synthetic drug accidentally
entered her body according to the movie
Lucy is able to use more than ten
percent or brain. This somehow resulted in
her getting enhanced physical and
mental abilities including telepathy,
telekinesis, and mental time travel.
Definitely hook me up with some of that
stuff!
Finally the whole controversy revolving
around its movie. The whitewashing claims.
The major has been reimagined various
times throughout the different Ghost in
the Shell properties. In this live-action
iteration the Major AKA Motoko Kusanagi
has been renamed to Major Mira Killian.
You should know that even in the anime
series the Majors does not remember her
real name. Motoko Kusanagi is her alias
but more importantly is what everyone is
focused on. The Major being portrayed as
a non-japanese character by Scarlett
Johansson. How much of this has had an
effect on the opening box office is
debatable but the movie bombed its
opening weekend. The movie opened in
3rd place with 19 million. Half of what
had been projected. It got beat out by
films 1 & 2 Boss Baby and Beauty and
the Beast. Both of those films earned more than
double what Ghost in the Shell did. Clearly
this has been a sensitive issue for a
lot of people. This however does not
include the Japanese owners for the Ghost
in the Shell franchise. In their words:
Looking at her career so far, I think
Scarlett Johansson is well cast. She has
the cyberpunk feel. And we never imagined
it would be a Japanese actress in the first place.
This is a chance for Japanese property
to be seen around the world. It just
makes you wonder what would have
happened if they had gone with their
first choice? It turns out that Margot
Robbie was originally chosen for the
role of the Major. That eventually fell
through since she was cast as Harley
Quinn for Suicide Squad! So how about you?
Where do you stand on this whole
controversy? Hope you enjoyed this video!
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