New ‘Ghost in the Shell’ Anime Will Have 2 Seasons

Production I.G. is bringing Ghost in the Shell back to anime, with some of its most influential names in tow, and now fans can rest easy knowing that the new anime series will last for two seasons.

In an interview with YouTube channel Nuke the Fridge, Production I.G. USA President Maki Terashima-Furuta confirmed that the new Ghost in the Shell anime will have two seasons at 12 episodes each.

When Production I.G. (who have produced each of the Ghost in the Shell anime projects to date), first announced a new anime based on Masamune Shirow’s manga, they revealed that it would be co-directed by Kenji Kamiyama (director for Stand Alone Complex) and Shinji Aramaki (director of Appleseed) but weren’t too clear on the particulars.

Kamiyama and Aramaki will be dividing the duty as each of them will direct one of the 12 episode returning seasons. Though it’s still unclear as to which director will handle each season, but there will most likely be still time to decide as the new series has yet to even get an official release date.

The new anime series is currently in the production phase, meaning that the staff isn’t quite sure the names of the seasons or other concrete details, but at least they have an idea of how they want to produce it.

Regardless, the fact that the series is getting a new anime at all should be great news for fans that are still having trouble getting over the last major Ghost in the Shell project, the live-action film that unfortunately did not release to critical or commercial success.

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 as recently as last year.

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.