Shirow Masamune’s manga Ghost in the Shell is one of the most successful science fiction franchises in Japan, as well as one of the longest and most complex sagas. The first movie version was a worldwide success, and this sequel is set in the same world with some of the same characters.
In 2032, the human race has learned how to augment itself with cyber-modifications. Modified people — cyborgs — and purely mechanical androids occupy most roles in society, and unmodified humans are increasingly rare and marginalised. But any cybernetic system can be taken over or illegally copied. The highest-grade cyborg is vulnerable to having his or her brain and spirit — the ‘ghost’ of the title — hacked. Original director Mamoru Oshii makes this sequel as breathtaking, both visually and in story terms, as the first film, turning a science fiction thriller into a meditation on the meaning of innocence, intimacy and self-determination.