GHOST IN THE SHELL Returns With ARISE

Ask your average person on the street to name one all time classic, landmark anime and - should you get any answer at all - I would wager that you would get one of four responses better than ninety percent of the time. There is Akira. There is Astroboy. There is Neon Genesis Evangelion. And there is Ghost In The Shell. And Ghost in the Shell is on its way back to screens.

Announced today with minimal details is the coming of new anime series Ghost In The Shell: Arise. Due to launch sometime in 2013 - which means work has been progressing on the sly for some time now - Kise Kazuchika (a veteran who has worked on the Blood: The Last Vampire, Dennou Coil and Neon Genesis Evangelion franchises as well as, yes, previous Ghost In The Shell projects) will direct with Mardock Scramble creator Ubukata Tow writing. How this will connect to previous screen adaptations of Shirow Masamune's original manga creation is not yet known.

For the uninitiated, Ghost In The Shell is set in a far future world in which technology has allowed for human augmentation to the point where people are commonly retrofitted with cybernetic implants that offer increased abilities but also open the possibility of individuals being hacked. the principal story in other incarnations has followed the work of a special police force set up to police this sort of mind-hacking with the action packed storyline also affording many opportunities for more philosophical discussion of the nature of the soul, human consciousness and human identity, those latter issues being particular drivers of the Oshii Mamoru feature film projects based on the title.