3) An Enhanced Backstory
Something that will jump out to fans of the anime is the changes made to Johansson’s character. First of all, the character looks to have lost her usual name of Motoko Kusanagi as she’s referred to solely as the Major, presumably due to the actress’ obvious lack of Japanese heritage. However, the trailer also makes clear that some bigger alterations have been made to the Major’s backstory.
The Major, we learn, was once a human being whose life was saved by being upgraded into a cybernetic body after some unknown casualty. In exchange for her renewed life, she’s hired as an agent of Section 9 – a public safety governmental department. Unfortunately, the process leaves the Major distanced from her humanity and looking to reclaim her identity. This is at odds with the 1995 anime in which Kusanagi is heavily implied to be wholly cybernetic.
Already some fans have reacted negatively to this, labeling it as too close to the plot of Robocop. While there’s a definite similarity between the two, the new backstory is actually taken from a different anime incarnation of the character. In the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex TV series, it’s retconned that the Major was previously a human.
Though it does put people in mind of yet another classic sci-fi movie that’s come before it, the decision to recast the Major is a good one, as portraying her as an upgraded human brings into focus the themes of the story. i.e. what is the place of the soul and individual identity in a homogenized, computerized world?
Besides that, the amnesiac action hero is also tried-and-tested box office gold, especially after the likes of Jason Bourne and Wolverine.