Ghost in the Shell: Japanese Fans Say Oshii's Film Is the Outlier — "Not 'Having Seen' Oshii's Version. Having Seen ONLY It."

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Japanese fan reactions (excerpted from 569)

• I love that the manga has this "the world's a dump, but let's live in it with a smile" energy.

  原作版は「クソみたいな世界でも明るく生きていこうぜ！」って感じがあって好き

  — @ツナクマ-g9c668 likes

• That's the whole appeal of cyberpunk, honestly.

  サイバーパンクの醍醐味だよね

  — @思ったことしか言わない縛り45 likes

• Finally, an adaptation that follows the comic. I'm so happy.

  ようやくコミック準拠のアニメ化で嬉しい

  — @catmur5372304 likes

• I'm ridiculously happy it's manga-accurate. Oshii's version is the one that strays way too far from the source.

  原作準拠でクソ嬉しいんよなぁ 押井版が原作とかけ離れすぎなんだよ

  — @メビ臼45 likes

• Oshii's film has been beloved for so long that now the manga itself — and a new anime that's faithful to it — get written off as "too different from the Oshii version." lol. Oshii's is the one that departs from the manga.

  押井版が長らく愛されすぎて 原作と原作準拠の新作アニメが『押井版と違いすぎる！』と落胆されるの草 押井版が原作から離れてるだけって言う

  — @otocolobusmanulcat462 likes

• The one that's "basically a different work" is Oshii's, but it came out first and picked up this cult following, so now the whole thing is upside down.

  「もう別作品」なのは本来押井版の方なのに、先に出た上にカルト的人気を獲得しちゃったせいでよく分からんことになってる

  — @とりぴ族97 likes

• This, Patlabor, Urusei Yatsura — people have been saying it for years: Oshii's versions are fun, but they're separate works from the original.

  コレにしても パトレイバー にしても うる星やつら にしても、押井版は「おもしろいけど原作・原案とは別物」と以前から言われていること。

  — @あるえふ_jp13 likes

• An Oshii version is only ever an Oshii work. The original author already told him as much back on Urusei Yatsura.

  押井版は押井作品でしかないからな うる星ん時に原作者から既に言われてるけどさ

  — @zuruzurub13 likes

• Same thing happened with Kiki's Delivery Service — the novel and the live-action version that actually follows it got trashed for being "too different from the Ghibli one." And it's not just Kiki; Ghibli's adaptations are usually nothing like the books.

  "魔女の宅急便"も原作本と原作準拠の実写版が『ジブリ版と違いすぎる！』と酷評されてたとか "魔女の宅急便"に限らず、ジブリ版って原作と全然違う作品ばかりなんだけどね

  — @hdaougibliagaglilafb-sl2un26 likes

• It's like someone who's only seen the Doraemon movies picking up the manga and going "who the hell is this Gian?"

  映画版ドラえもんしか観てない人が、原作やアニメ版見て「なんだこのジャイアンは？」と言うのと同じ様な物

  — @mrcanbe22 likes

• Sorry to the people who love it, but I'd read the manga first, so Oshii's anime felt so off that it left me genuinely unsettled.

  好きな人には申し訳ないけど、原作漫画を先に読んでたから押井版のアニメは違和感デカ過ぎて相当モヤモヤした。

  — @kota-bozu185 likes

• Right? Seeing that machine-like Major and that dead-serious Batou, I was like, who are these people?

  わかる、押井版のあの機械みたいな少佐やすっげーシリアス全開のバトー見て誰これ？ってなった

  — @都々逸-n8r15 likes

• Manga Motoko says cynical stuff, sure, but she's hot-blooded, warm, charming, messily human — that's what makes her great. Oshii's Major just looked like a doll to me and I was like, huh?

  原作の少佐はシニカルな言動はするものの熱くて人情味溢れててチャーミングで人間臭い魅力的な存在なのよ。 押井版の少佐は人形にしか見えなくてはぁ？と思ったもん。

  — @はるるん-y3r3 likes

• Oshii's version even rewrites the characters' personalities — it's basically officially-licensed fanfic. I read the manga for the first time recently, then rewatched Oshii's film: Motoko came off as insufferable, Batou came off as creepy. Manga Motoko, tough and rolling with everything, is the cool one.

  押井版ってキャラの性格設定まで変えていて公式許可済の二次創作みたいなもんだよね 今回初めて原作読んで、あらためて押井版みたら 素子→めんどくさい奴　バトー→キモイ　 原作版の逞しく順応してる素子がカッコいいな

  — @yun20103 likes

• A heroine who suddenly breaks into a goofy face — I love how expressive that is.

  突然ギャグ変顔するヒロインって表情豊かで大好きなんだよね

  — @niziko-g2v179 likes

• I love that old-anime thing where the expressions flip around a mile a minute.

  昔のアニメでよくあった表情コロコロ変わるの好きよ

  — @Kyubei42711 likes

• Maybe it's because Masamune Shirow is from Kansai, but his characters are all fundamentally tough and full of life.

  士郎政宗が関西人だからかキャラが基本みんな逞しいんだよな

  — @Elchivo-ct6kd2 likes

• The manga slips its philosophy in casually, half as a joke. Oshii's version declaims it like a middle-schooler who discovered existentialism yesterday: BEHOLD, PHILOSOPHY. You can tell which one is cooler, right?

  原作は哲学っぽいことを冗談交じりにサラッと入れてくる。押井版は昨日、実存主義を知った中学生みたいに哲学で御座いますって大仰に語りまくる。どっちがクールか分かるよね？

  — @Kenzou-f9l5 likes

• All I ever got from Oshii's version was "why are you being so pointlessly grim," so I prefer this manga-faithful direction.

  押井版は「何無駄に深刻ぶってんだよ」としか思わなかったから、今回の原作準拠路線の方が好き

  — @アバババアバババ-p1v10 likes

• Oshii's version is Buddhist: it starts from the premise that living is suffering and looks for salvation in enlightenment. That's why it's dark. The manga is Shinto: take everything humans produce — sacred and profane, clean and filthy — accept it, use it, and if you can, merge with the natural order. Just live! That's why it's oddly positive.

  押井版は仏教的な、生きることは苦しむ事が大前提での、悟りに救いを求める感じ。だから暗い。 原作版は神道的な、人の生み出す聖邪清濁まとめて受け入れ使いこなせ、出来れば自然摂理とも同化する事が出来るかもしれんから兎に角生きろ！てな感じ。だから妙にポジティブ。

  — @隕石一撃2 likes

• The manga has this incredible drive to stay alive.

  原作は生きようとするバイタリティがすごいのよ

  — @underholdYT7 likes

• I love both. The faithful version has everyone being cute and rowdy, which is fun. Oshii's version focuses on the state of that world and how horrifying the crimes in it are, so you feel the ugliness and dread of people. I love that too.

  どっちも好き。 原作準拠はみんな可愛いしワチャワチャ感が楽しい 押井監督版は、そんな攻殻機動隊の世界の事情とか起きてる犯罪の恐ろしさとかにフォーカスして、人間の汚さとか恐ろしさが感じられて好き

  — @フェルディナントポルシェ9 likes

• Oshii's version is built on the director's interpretation, after all. I like them both.

  押井版は監督の解釈で作られてるからねぇ どっちも好きだよ。

  — @kiikass-e5b2 likes

• Oshii's and Kamiyama's versions are the manga rebuilt through a director's interpretation. The manga is the author's original, built from nothing. This season's anime is an attempt to be as faithful to it as possible. They shouldn't be argued about as if they're the same kind of thing.

  あくまでも押井版/神山版は原作を監督の解釈で作り直したもの。原作は原作者が一から作り上げたオリジナル。今期のアニメは原作をできるだけ忠実に作ろうとしたもの。 同列で論じるべきものではない。

  — @Ambsace87822 likes

• Personally I was overjoyed that it's manga-faithful. Ideally I'd have wanted Hiromi Tsuru for the voice, but I knew that wasn't possible, so I was anxious about how it would turn out.

  自分は原作準拠で大歓喜だった。できれば声優は鶴ひろみさんがよかったけど無理なの知ってたからどうなるかと思ってた。

  — @チーズハンバーグ-v9z209 likes

• You mean the PlayStation Ghost in the Shell. For Oshii's Motoko, Atsuko Tanaka was the right answer — but for manga Motoko, the right answer is unquestionably Hiromi Tsuru.

  PS攻殻機動隊ですね。 押井版素子なら田中敦子は正解でしたが 原作素子の正解は間違いなく鶴ひろみ

  — @たなかやん-e1v17 likes

• Comparing them, I was genuinely moved to realize how much of the manga Oshii's version actually kept, despite the completely different atmosphere.

  押井版って、雰囲気が全く違うのに結構原作準拠だったんだなぁと、ちょっと感動した。

  — @鈴木一郎-n4m2 likes

• A whole crowd of people is now feeling the exact confusion I felt when I went from Oshii's film to the manga 30 years ago, and I'm standing here with my arms crossed like Ou Ki lol. Though the confusion manga fans felt watching Oshii's version back then was probably on another level entirely (sweating).

  30年前オシイ攻殻から原作読んだワイと同じ戸惑いを感じる人たちが大量発生して王騎の腕組み状態ですｗ 多分原作好きだった人がオシイ版見た時の戸惑いはこんなものじゃなかっただろうなぁ(滝汗

  — @Saizans19931 likes

• Honestly, if today's manga-faithful anime had come out first, people might be trashing Oshii's version as "pointlessly serious, completely misreads the source" lol

  これ、今の原作準拠のアニメ版の方が先に公開されてたら、押井版の方が「無駄にシリアス過ぎて解釈違い」とか酷評されてたかもなw

  — @タイペイ-j9z2 likes

• Manga → Oshii's version → the SARU version. I'm enjoying them in that order, but Oshii's version has this foreign-object feel, like what you'd get from a Hollywood adaptation.

  原作→押井版→サル版 この流れで楽しんでるが、 押井版はハリウッド映画化した結果、みたいな異物感がある

  — @hondacb400f54 likes

• Wait — so we get to enjoy this twice? That's incredible.

  え？これ2回も楽しみがあるの凄すぎるんだが

  — @regret31049 likes

• It's the tragedy of people who had a false memory called "the Oshii version" implanted in them.

  押井版という疑似記憶を植え付けられた人の悲劇ですね

  — @XYTEDO0 likes

What are Japanese fans comparing in this thread?

The 2026 manga-faithful Ghost in the Shell anime against Mamoru Oshii's 1995 film, after a reaction compilation lined the two up side by side.

Why do Japanese commenters call Oshii's film the "different" one?

Commenters noted that Oshii rewrote the tone and even the characters' personalities — one called it "officially-licensed fanfic" — while the new series sticks to Masamune Shirow's manga. They argued the film only feels like the standard because it came out first and became a cult hit.

Does this mean Japanese fans dislike the 1995 film?

No. Several commenters said they enjoy both and value what each does differently, and one even said the comparison made them realize how much of the manga Oshii did keep.

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