Netflix Releases First Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Image

Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell is one of the most prolific manga and anime franchises among fans, and the franchise will be having a major anime return (following its less than stellar live-action outing) with Netflix. Being brought to life by Production I.G. and SOLA Digital Arts, Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 will mark the first time that the series will be completely done with CG animation. To better prepare fans for its premiere next year, Netflix dropped the first real look at the upcoming series.

According to Variety, the series has also confirmed that the character designer for the new anime will be Ilya Kuvshinow, an artist who's been gaining a ton of traction among anime fans and whose work can currently be found in the upcoming film, Birthday Wonderland. Check out the new image below!

And if that wasn't enough cyberpunk goodness for you, the first character art for Ghost in the Shell just released and it. is. Stunning. pic.twitter.com/Bxxl6kOlQL

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) June 11, 2019

Though there's currently not much information about this new series revealed just yet, Ghost in Shell: SAC_2045 is currently slated for a 2020 worldwide premiere on Netflix. Co-directed by Kenji Kamiyama (director for Stand Alone Complex) and Shinji Aramaki (director of Appleseed) for Production I.G and SOLA Digital Arts, the series is still in the midst of production so there's still a lot of mystery as to the rest of the staff.

But Production I.G. USA President Maki Terashima-Furuta has confirmed that the new Ghost in the Shell anime will have two seasons at 12 episodes each. So that will be good news to fans of the franchise for sure. For those unfamiliar with Ghost in the Shell, the series was created by Masamune Shirow (as Mobile Armored Riot Police in Japan) in 1989.

Collected into three volumes by Kodansha, the series has spawned an entire media juggernaut with anime, OVAs, videogames, and even a Hollywood live-action film adaptation in 2017. Set in 2029 Japan, the series follows the Public Security Section 9, a counter-cyberterror organization led by Major Motoko Kusanagi (a woman forced to live with a cybernetic body due to an accident when she was young) as they investigate the crimes committed between machines and humans.

The series first made its major break in 1995 with a film, and then another anime series in Stand Alone Complex that told an alternate story from the film. This is arguably the most popular version of the series, but it's one of many.