When DreamWorks confirmed they were making a live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell with Paramount, fans didn’t know what to expect. Hollywood has had a lackluster history with its manga adaptations, and Ghost in the Shell is not a franchise that fails quietly. The beloved manga is one of Japan’s best, and fans are famously protective over the series.
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So, it’s nice to hear Japanese fans are loving what they’ve seen of Ghost in the Shell thus far.
Recently, the full trailer for Ghost in the Shell debuted and featured Scarlett Johansson as Major Motoko Kusanagi. The cyberpunk heroine was seen toting guns, kicking butt, and taking charge of military ops while chasing hi-tech bad guys. In a word, the footage is intense, and fans from Japan have been floored by the big-budget project.
On Youtube, fans have flooded the Ghost in the Shell trailer with complimentary comments. “Wow! I wasn’t expecting anything from this live-action version, but I’ll watch this, I really want to see it. Paramount and DreamWorks, this is more than enough to convince me! And Scarlett has just the right feel for it! I take back what I said about this turning out to be a piece of crap,” Afro na Samurai wrote.
“What a difference it makes if you have money. This is a completely different level to Japanese live-action films,” uramasago@K4 said.
So far, the foreign praise stands to potential school critics who continue to question Ghost in the Shell‘s authenticity. Rupert Sanders’ live-action adaptation has been heavily criticized by fans who were outraged over Johansson’s casting. Many felt the star of Ghost in the Shell should be Japanese given the source material’s origins, but both Western and Eastern creators have since defended Johansson’s involvement.
“Looking at her career so far, I think Scarlett Johansson is well cast,” Sam Yoshiba, director of the international business division at Kodansha’s Tokyo headquarters, told The Hollywood Reporter. “She has the cyberpunk feel. And we never imagined it would be a Japanese actress in the first place.”
Even Mamoru Oshii praised the live-action film, a move which surprised many naysayers. The director was in-charge of the original 1995 Ghost in the Shell animated feature, and Oshii has said Sanders’ vision for the franchise is one of the best he’s ever seen.
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Still, there are those fans who will hold their reservations until the film debuts and reviews are released. Fans of Ghost in the Shell can take heart knowing Japanese fans have given their seal of approval to the film so far; Hopefully, Sanders and his team won’t let them down with the full feature premieres next year.
Ghost in the Shell opens in theaters March 31, 2017.
[H/T] THR
