If you have spent any time around cyberpunk, you have seen her: short dark hair, a red jacket, standing on a rooftop above a rain-lit city. The Ghost in the Shell Major Motoko Kusanagi is the central figure of one of the most influential science fiction franchises Japan has produced — and with a brand-new anime series airing right now, this is a good moment to find out who she actually is.
This guide is written for people who have not seen Ghost in the Shell yet. No prior knowledge is assumed, and there are no major spoilers — just who she is, what the world is about, and what the new series is doing differently.
Who Is Major Motoko Kusanagi?
The Ghost in the Shell Motoko Kusanagi is the field commander of Public Security Section 9, a covert counter-cyberterrorism unit operating in near-future Japan. She holds the military rank of major, which is why almost everyone — her team, and fans worldwide — simply calls her the Ghost in the Shell Major.
Major Kusanagi is a full-body cyborg. Apart from part of her brain and spinal cord, everything about her is manufactured: a prosthetic body that is stronger, faster, and more durable than any human frame. She can dive directly into networks, hack other people’s cyberbrains, and go invisible using thermoptic camouflage.
What makes her compelling is not the hardware. It is the question the hardware creates.
What Is Ghost in the Shell?
Ghost in the Shell began as a manga by Masamune Shirow, serialized between 1989 and 1991. It is set in a Japan where the line between human and machine has thinned: people install cyberbrains, replace limbs and organs with prosthetics, and connect their minds directly to the net.
That world produces new crimes. Someone can hack a person’s memories and make them believe a life they never lived. Section 9 exists to handle exactly this kind of case.
The manga and anime adaptations that followed have spent three decades circling one idea. If your body is manufactured and your memories can be edited, what is left that is genuinely you? The franchise calls that remainder the “ghost” — and the body it lives in is the “shell.”
Public Security Section 9 (公安9課)
Section 9 is a small, deniable unit inside Japan’s Ministry of Home Affairs. Officially it barely exists. In practice it handles cyberterrorism, political corruption, and cases the regular police cannot touch.
Its members come from mixed backgrounds — military, police, intelligence — and the unit operates with unusual independence. Being a member of Section 9 means working outside normal oversight, which the series treats as both its strength and its moral problem.
Ghost in Shell Characters: The Rest of Section 9
Motoko is the lead, but the ensemble is a large part of why the series works. These are the Ghost in Shell characters worth knowing before you start.
Batou — Her closest colleague. A heavily cyberized ex-Ranger with distinctive metal eyes, and the most straightforwardly human presence on the team.
Togusa — The newest recruit, and almost entirely un-cyberized. He came from the regular police, still uses a revolver, and has a family. He is the audience’s point of entry: the one person in the room who still thinks like a normal human being.
Chief Daisuke Aramaki — The man who assembled the unit. He handles the political side, shielding Section 9 from the ministries that would rather it did not exist.
Fuchikoma / Tachikoma — Spider-like AI tanks that fight alongside the team. They are also weirdly endearing, with childlike voices and a habit of philosophizing. Different adaptations use different names: the manga and the new 2026 series use Fuchikoma, while Stand Alone Complex uses Tachikoma.
Ishikawa, Saito, Paz, and Borma round out the field team.
The Prosthetic Body and What “Ghost” Means
Motoko’s prosthetic body is government property. She did not buy it, and she could not easily leave the job and keep it. That detail sits underneath everything she does.
Because her shell is replaceable and her memories are data, she cannot fully verify her own continuity. Is she the same person she was ten years ago, or a very good copy running on the same hardware? The series never resolves this cleanly, and that is the point. It asks whether identity is something you possess or something you keep performing.
This is why Ghost in the Shell still gets referenced whenever people argue about AI and consciousness. It got to those questions early, and it took them seriously.
The Four Versions of Motoko
One thing that confuses newcomers: there is no single canonical Motoko. Each adaptation reinterprets her.
The 1995 film — Directed by Mamoru Oshii, this is the version most people outside Japan know. It is the one that shaped the visual language of a generation of science fiction.
Stand Alone Complex (2002–) — Kenji Kamiyama’s TV series, running as its own continuity. The Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex run leans into procedural storytelling and the day-to-day work of the unit, and it is where the Tachikoma became fan favourites. A later CG series, SAC_2045, continued this line on Netflix. Across this series Motoko Kusanagi is closer to a team leader than a lone philosopher.
The 2017 live-action film — A Hollywood adaptation starring Scarlett Johansson, which drew significant criticism for casting a white actress as a character named Motoko Kusanagi.
The 2026 anime series — The newest, currently airing, and the reason this is a good time to start.
The New 2026 Series
Kōkaku Kidōtai THE GHOST IN THE SHELL premiered on 7 July 2026. It is the fourth anime adaptation, and it takes the same title as the original manga — a signal of intent, since this version deliberately returns to Shirow’s source material.
The production is worth knowing about:
- Studio: Science SARU, known for Inu-Oh and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, working alongside Bandai Namco Filmworks, Kodansha, and Production I.G.
- Director: Mokochan, making his directorial debut. He previously worked as assistant director on Dan Da Dan and storyboarded episodes of The Heike Story and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
- Script: EnJoe Toh, an award-winning science fiction novelist — winner of the Akutagawa Prize, and co-author of The Empire of Corpses.
- Character design: Shūhei Handa (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Spriggan).
- Voice of Motoko: Maaya Sakamoto.
The story is set in 2029 and follows the formation of Section 9 itself: the Major, Kusanagi, is leading an elite team when Daisuke Aramaki recruits her to build a dedicated counter-cyberterrorism unit. The investigation that follows leads toward an unidentified hacker known as the Puppet Master.
There are two points worth noting for those who haven’t yet seen Ghost in the Shell. First, this is a completely new story with no connection to previous adaptations, so no prior viewing is required. Second, the production has leaned hard into fidelity to the manga — the appearance of Fuchikoma rather than Tachikoma being the clearest signal.
Where to Watch
In Japan, the series airs Tuesdays on the Kansai TV / Fuji TV national network. The fastest streaming option is Prime Video, which carries new episodes from 23:30 on Tuesday, the same night as broadcast. From Wednesday at 23:30, episodes roll out across U-NEXT, d Anime Store, Hulu, ABEMA, FOD, Netflix, TELASA, and DMM TV. BS11 also carries a weekend broadcast.
Outside Japan, Prime Video is the licensed platform, though availability varies by region. Streaming rights shift, so check your local service directly.
The older entries are widely available too. The 1995 film and the Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex series both circulate across major streaming platforms, and SAC_2045 is on Netflix.
Where Should a Newcomer Start?
If you want to start with the new series, you can. It assumes no prior knowledge, and starting with a currently-airing show means watching it alongside everyone else.
If you would rather begin with the classic, the 1995 film runs under 90 minutes and is the most efficient introduction to the franchise’s ideas.
If you prefer episodic storytelling and want to spend time with the whole team, Stand Alone Complex is the better entry point.
There is no wrong order. The adaptations are not sequels to one another, and each one rebuilds the same premise differently.
FAQ
Is it “Kusanagi Major” or “Major Motoko Kusanagi”? In English the correct form is Major Motoko Kusanagi, because major is a military rank and ranks come before the name. You will sometimes see Kusanagi Major written the other way around, since Japanese places titles after the name — but Kusanagi Major is not how it is written in official English releases.
Why is she called “the Major”? It is her military rank. Her team addresses her by rank rather than name, and the habit carried over into English-language fandom, where “the Major” functions almost as a name in itself.
Is Motoko Kusanagi human? Partly. Her brain — or part of it — is organic. Everything else is a prosthetic body. Whether that still counts as human is a question the series asks rather than answers.
Do I need to watch the older series before the 2026 one? No. The new series is a standalone story with no continuity connection to previous adaptations.
What is the difference between Fuchikoma and Tachikoma? They are the same concept under different names. Fuchikoma appears in the original manga and the 2026 series; Tachikoma is the Stand Alone Complex version.
Is Ghost in the Shell based on a manga? Yes — Masamune Shirow’s manga, serialized from 1989 to 1991. Every anime adaptation since has been an independent interpretation of that source.