Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie

A prime minister is assassinated and the trail leads to a military contractor. As Motoko Kusanagi and Public Security Section 9 work the case, Kusanagi runs into something from her own past: a virus called Fire Starter and a memory embedded inside it. Kazuya Nomura directs. The film continues and closes the Ghost in the Shell: Arise series begun in 2013, finishing the younger Kusanagi that Arise established. Its position in the franchise is both its strength and its problem. Arise covered the period before Kusanagi built Section 9, and its character design, voice cast and tone differ markedly from Mamoru Oshii's 1995 film. The argument between those who took to the new version and those defending the original carried on through this one. What it is interested in is who a memory belongs to. Is what Kusanagi sees real or installed, and does the answer change who she is: this is the question the series keeps returning to. The action is larger in scale than in the Arise episodes and staged for the cinema format. Who it is for: viewers following the Ghost in the Shell universe and cyberpunk narrative generally. Who it is not for: do not start here. The film assumes you have watched Arise and never explains the politics between the agencies.