Ghost in the Shell is a franchise that has spawned a number of remakes due to its immense success. What started out as a manga really brought itself to center stage with the 1995 anime-adaptation film Ghost in the Shell, which inspired directors like James Cameron and movies like the Matrix franchise. It helped bring science fiction to the mainstream and is still considered a masterpiece by many.

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Believe it or not, Major Motoko Kusanagi has gone through a bit of a transformation since her manga debut. Her anime character wasn't exactly true to the source material. It strayed pretty far from the original manga in spots, purposefully to change the tone of the series. Here are the ten major differences between the anime and the manga of Ghost in the Shell.

10 HUMOROUS TONE

For one, the manga was much more humorous than the later adaptations depicted it. There were plenty of jokes and silly faces, and the creator even included tons of notes in the margins further breaking down the story, explaining concepts, or simply cracking jokes.

The anime adaptations obviously took a different route, deciding to opt for a more serious and philosophical story. That's not necessarily a bad thing though - watching the anime, one can only wonder how the series could have ever been anything more light-hearted than it was shown to be.

9 SEXUALLY CHARGED

Not that there weren't any near-nude scenes in the anime (well, as nude as robotic technology can get) but at the same time, the creator of the original manga certainly wasn't hesitant about showing off the girls' bodies. He was prone to drawing crotch shots and posing the girls in seductive poses whenever he got the chance.

Although it may seem surprising given the tone of the anime, it's not too unexpected considering the large amount of fan service depicted in many anime and manga series today. It's always been present, unfortunately, but it doesn't seem like fanservice in the anime series. Instead, it seems contingent on advancing the story in some way.

8 THE MAJOR'S PERSONALITY

Major Motoko Kusanagi wasn't always the strictly serious person she's shown to be. She was always a tough tomboy but was less strict in the original version. The manga was much more light-hearted and humorous, and so was she.

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She had an easy-going relationship with her colleagues and was one of the characters prone to using silly faces or joking around. Again, this is something they decided to change when they made the movie and different anime adaptions. It's hard to imagine that same character making any silly faces now, especially after the 1995 film portraying her as deeply philosophical and stoic.

7 KUSANAGI THE FLIRT

Major Kusanagi is a bit of a different character in the manga. Not as serious, more playful, and definitely more sexual. She often had romantic partners, going through a few different flings in the manga, and she often winked at others.

She was also openly bisexual, so her advances weren't exclusive to one gender and she was very open about her sexuality. Strange considering the major that most people know is too busy have inner conflicts about the meaning of existence to have time for casual flings.

6 PHILOSOPHY

Anyone who's watched the movie or anime knows how philosophically inclined it is. It often throws in themes questioning the concept of the self, in addition to deep thoughts about consciousness in general. That's not to say that the original source material wasn't, as the same themes exist, but due to its light-hearted tone, the themes weren't nearly as strong and they were drawn out over much longer arcs.

The movie placed the major in an existential crisis, highlighting her inner conflict with her self and her consciousness. The anime makes the major point about philosophy, while the manga was much laxer in this area, though diving into it intermittently.

5 PACING

The anime is also much slower than the manga. While the original manga had many different events happening in a single issue, the anime moves much slower, magnifying certain concepts or adding prolonged silences meant to spark thoughts about what was just said.

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This is natural for most anime adaptations, however. Dialogue takes longer to speak than read, and still pictures can't imbue the same tone and heaviness of a series as a well-timed pause or look can. The anime does follow the main story laid out in the first issue of Ghost in the Shell, albeit at a much slower pace. Something similar happened to Death Note, but they're still fantastic stories.

4 MAJOR BODY TRANSFORMATIONS

Though fans of the movie might notice its setting takes place mainly in the city, the settings in the manga were very diverse.

The Major could quickly travel from a military hearing in the city into dense jungle thousands of miles away in a few panels. That's because she used different bodies she had stashed throughout the world to travel to these locations, taking on a new form each time. She did this body-hopping frequently, though we don't see this nearly as much in the anime.

3 STAND ALONE COMPLEX STANDS ALONE

Ghost in the Shell Major Kusanagi shooting a rifle.

For the most part, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex does just that. It takes place mainly in an alternate universe but keeps mainly the same characters. The actions and events that happen here don't have much at all to do with the manga.

Instead, the directors decided to explore their own concepts and ideas by creating a completely new product. It was also unique in its decision to blend 3d animation with regular, hand-drawn animation. The major also is almost a hybrid - not quite as comical as in the manga, yet not as deep and stoic as the movie.

2 BATOU'S PRESENCE

The Major's partner, Batou, our favorite cyborg with implanted eyes, has a much lighter presence in the original manga. He's all serious and commanding in the movie, but he wasn't such a force in the other renditions.

He was always a capable partner and a great fighter, but he also wasn't hesitant to crack a smile in his first incarnation. The anime tended to make all the characters more intense and contemplative to stress the philosophy and gravity of the situation.

1 THE SCOPE OF MATERIAL

For the most part, the villains and stories in the anime follow the events of the manga. However, there are many more cases that the manga explores that no other version does.

The anime film only takes a couple of these, and Stand Alone Complex does its own thing, expanding on the world with new stories. But the original manga has at least twenty different storylines that are explored.

The Puppetmaster line is the most widely created, but many of the others are unknown to anyone who hasn't read the manga. So if you truly love Ghost in the Shell, you can get a lot more of it from the original source!

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