I’m not going to lie to you; I was never a huge fan of either the original manga or anime of Ghost In The Shell when I was younger. Actually, I didn’t even want to give them a chance, being that I cared less about comics as vehicles for ideas than about the ways in which a body could be transformed. Oh, the irony, on various levels.

While I enjoyed the deep and abstract themes of comics like The Maxx, Johnny The Homicidal Maniac, Scud: The Disposable Assassin, or anime works like AKIRA and Ninja Scroll, I was more interested in what was viscerally happening to the characters, being that they looked drastically different to those in Marvel or DC comics, rather than what they were about. But when I heard that Hollywood had finally found a way to turn Ghost In The Shell into a big budget blow-em-up, I thought that now would be the right time to watch the original anime to see what The Matrix had stolen, and what Hollywood was going to mess up. I’m sorry, but when it comes to Hollywood these days, I’m a cynic.

I’m glad I did, because I instantly fell in love with the themes and characters of both Ghost In The Shell and it’s sequel Innocence. Ideas relating to loss of culture, identity, and what will define humanity once we’ve melded with the web, are all fascinating. Even if the first Ghost In The Shell anime only dedicated an hour and twenty-two minutes to those themes, it was still an intriguing ride. Not to mention the animation, score, and overall tone of both films; you’re in digital Heaven.

So I’ll leave you with a GIANT SPOILER, and this before you watch my video. If we enjoyed a film like Get Out, which turned out to be about Caucasian people taking over Afro-American bodies for a different point of view, why can’t we see the potential of what the 2017 live action Ghost In The Shell movie tried to do?