The Ghost in the Shell Making-Of: Japanese Fans Thank the Staff for Staying Faithful

Prime Video Japan posted a behind-the-scenes documentary for The Ghost in the Shell, Science SARU's new adaptation of Masamune Shirow's original manga, taking viewers inside the studio as staff talk through character design, direction, and effects work.

Across the video's 256 comments, the reaction has been near-unanimous gratitude. The top comment, with 404 likes, thanks the young production team for adapting a decades-old manga with a modern sensibility, and dozens of replies underneath echo the same disbelief: after roughly 40 years, someone finally made a manga-faithful Ghost in the Shell, and they're watching it happen in real time. Several commenters point to specific evidence from the documentary itself — hairstyles changed to match the manga by episode 6, a two-week turnaround on a detailed background — as proof the crew isn't just coasting on the name.

By the end of the thread, gratitude has already turned into a request for a second documentary.

Prime Video Japan uploaded a behind-the-scenes documentary for The Ghost in the Shell, Science SARU's new anime adaptation of Masamune Shirow's original manga. The video takes viewers into the studio to watch staff talk through character design, direction, and effects work on the production. It's pulled in 256 comments so far, and almost none of them are about the anime itself — they're about the people who made it. That's a little unusual for a promotional video from an official channel, where comment sections are more often full of hype for the next episode than praise for a lighting setup or a background painter.

The single most-liked comment sets the tone for basically the entire thread.

That's basically the whole thread in miniature: gratitude, repeated a dozen different ways, for something a lot of longtime fans apparently never expected to actually happen.

A few commenters try to put into words what that must actually feel like for the crew, and a couple more just want to thank the staff directly, one name at a time if they could.

It's not just vague appreciation, either — a chunk of the comments dig into specific production details the documentary shows off, treating them as proof the crew is taking the source material seriously rather than just riding on the name.

One comment goes further, connecting the show's quality to something less visible on screen: the production side.

There's also a running acknowledgment that this isn't the first Ghost in the Shell anime — it's just the first one this faithful to Shirow's original manga.

One reply pulls the cast into the same thread of gratitude, tying the acting together with a broader point about the industry behind it.

By the time the thread winds down, gratitude has already turned into a request. One commenter, having just watched an entire documentary about the visuals, wants a sequel.

Nobody in the thread actually disagrees with any of it, either — for a promotional upload from an official channel, that's its own small story. The comment section ends up reading less like hype for an anime and more like a room full of people saying thank you to a staff who'll probably never scroll down far enough to see most of it.