Why I Love Ghost in the Shell

   I remember being 15 years old, staying up late to watch all of the cool stuff Adult Swim plays late at night. There was this trailer for this new show they were gonna start showing on there soon. All I remember is the ethereal music (which sounded incredible to me by the way, Yoko Kanno is the GOAT.) and the beautiful visuals, seeing Motoko for the first time standing in the rain I thing. I was pulled in out the gate and I had to see this show. When it finally premiered one random Saturday in the mid 2000's it was nothing like any other anime I had ever seen. The characters were so well developed, they feel like real people. This being a scifi show the concepts and ideas they explore here are super interesting to me. The main subject this series covers is cyberization. most people in this society have chosen to replace various parts of them selves with cybernetics, some even replacing their entire bodies like Motoko or as she's referred to in the series "the Major".  

  We follow her as well as the rest of her team as they stop cyber terrorist who threaten the fabric of society. Many of the "villains" in Ghost in the Shell often do the things they do for idealized reasons making then a bit more morally grey. I enjoy this aspect of story telling especially in a series that tries to focus on "realism" outside of its major premise. Each antagonist was hurt by society in some way so they lash out, very similar to real life. While this show definitely doesn't try to pose a solution to these societal problems, it poses many thoughtful questions on these subjects. The theme of what it means to be human is also very prevalent through out this series. I mentioned before that some people either through choice or necessity fully cyberize themselves. These people literally no longer have any human flesh. The only thing that supposedly remains is their soul or "ghost" as its referred to in the series. Are these people still human? Does there Ghost still remain in the shell?