Summary
When the originalGhost in the Shellmovie was first released in 1995, the manga it was based on already had a solid fan base and had been a presence in pop culture since 1989. Now, the franchise includes video games, TV shows, and a live-action adaptation, in addition to the profound influence it has had on other artists and their creations.
Ghost in the Shelldidn’t just take mecha and dystopian movies to a whole new level; it also created the cyberpunk genre and made animation for adults less niche and more mainstream. There are severaltelevision shows, both animated and live-action, that are similar toGhost in the Shell,all of which fans of the 1995 movie or its sequels and adaptations should check out.
Love Death + Robotsisn’t about a single character, nor does it have a single overarching story. It’s an anthology of short, animated episodes that all have a common theme: robots. For those who likeHeavy Metal, this show was created by David Fincher and Tim Miller, who have been trying to produce a reboot of that classic anthology film for decades.
The showutilizes several different animation studiosand directors for its variousepisodes, which is why each episode has a distinctstyle, tone, and genre. Some episodes are multi-parters and have sequels, but for the most part, each episode is a standalone story that speaks for itself.
Inspired by the popular video gameCyberpunk 2077,Cyberpunk: Edgerunnersshares the same lore and setting, also taking place in the shattered metropolis of Night City. The main character is a prep school star named David Martinez, and when personal tragedy strikes, he leaves his prestigious school behind, ultimately ending up on the streets.
This is where he meets Lucyna Kushinada, also known as Lucy, a type of Hacker called a Netrunner, one of the playstyles that exist in the game. David takes on the title of Edgerunner, a high-tech mercenary who works in the Black Market, and joins a team that works outside of the law. These are people that the Major fromGhost in the Shellwould be either hunting down or working with to find someone else.
Set ina not-too-distant future Singapore,Plastic Memoriesis about an android namedIsla who is nearingthe end of her limited lifespan. She’s what’s known as a Giftia, the most advanced type of robot produced by the SAI Corp. Despite their remarkable realism, they only live for nine years and a few months, or 81,920 hours, to be exact. Those who do not deactivate voluntarily are hunted down and retired by the forces of Terminal Service One.
If a Giftia isn’t deactivated before its expiration date, it degrades in chilling ways, including violent outbursts and the loss of its personality and memory. Isla, the protagonist, is one such Giftia, and she’s nearing the end of her life. However, she and her work partner, Tsukasa, have fallen in love, and they have only a limited time together.
The only animated offering in the vastTerminatorfranchise so far,Terminator Zerotakes place in the same timelinecreated by James Cameronfor the original movie. This story is set in Tokyo instead of California, and focuses on a character named Malcolm Lee, who is developing an AI program called Kokoro to compete with Skynet.
The series jumps between the human resistance fighters of 2022 and Lee and his family in 1997, on the run from a killer cyborg on the day before Judgment Day, which is supposed to take place on August 27th. Not only is the Terminator targeting Lee, but also Kokoro, which is more inclined to help preserve humanity and presents a threat to Skynet’s apocalyptic intentions.
Lazarusbegins in 2049, where a brilliant neurosurgeon, Dr. Skinner, has produced a miraculous analgesic before disappearing completely from society. The name of the drug is Hapna, and it’s one of the most effective painkillers that humanity has ever developed, so naturally, it skyrockets in popularity, and almost everyone takes it for everything.
In 2052, however, Dr. Skinner emerges in an online video and announces the drug is deadly,and has a timed releaseof three years, which means anyone who took it only has weeks to live. A task force of experts, adventurers, and computer techs—codenamed Lazarus—is assembled to find the doctor and stop the deadly drug from killing half the planet.
The only selection here that’slive-action, as opposed to animated,Altered Carbonutilizesa lot of special effects and a grotesque art style that overlaps into both mecha and body horror, so it still feels strangely cartoonish. Its plot is based on the notion that humans can transfer their consciousness and memories into a device called a Cortical Stack, which can be transferred to anyone else’s body, effectively allowing them to live forever.
The setting is a shining modern metropolis known as Bay City in the year 2384, and not everyone can afford the luxury of immortality.The best and most securetransfers and new bodies, or “sleeves,” are only available to the wealthy, known as Meths because of the long-living biblical figure Methuselah, and this is where the story begins. A Meth named Laurens Bancroft revives an Envoy, Takeshi Kovacs, a soldier of the old world, to help solve a murder, and in return, maybe he’ll get to live again.
