Bandai Namco Filmworks has announced the development of a new anime based on “Ghost in the Shell.” Science SARU studio will once again handle the production, but the project's format, plot, and release dates have not yet been revealed.
For fans of Masamune Shirow's manga, this is a reason to hope that the studio will continue adapting the original source material. The first season became one of the closest adaptations to the original in the anime franchise's more than thirty-year history. Its creators preserved not only the events of the manga but also its humor, character personalities, and Shirow's attention to the structure of the fictional world. They themselves emphasized that they strived to convey the author's intent as accurately as possible, whereas previous adaptations largely reflected the views of their directors.
At the same time, a significant portion of the manga still remains outside of anime. The second volume, “Human-Error Processor,” never received a full adaptation, and the material from the intermediate volume “Human-Error Processor” was only partially used. A continuation could finally introduce viewers to these stories, especially the second volume, which previous creators did not tackle due to the complexity of the material.
It is currently unknown whether Science SARU will continue to follow the manga after the Puppet Master story or go its own way, as the creators of many previous adaptations have done.