See Why The New Ghost In The Shell Trailer Has Fans Furious

By Douglas Helm | Published

ghost in the shell

Netflix just hit us with a new trailer and poster for their upcoming movie Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War. The movie is set to recap the events of the first season of Netflix’s Ghost In The Shell: SAC_2045 and will be released before the second season, which is also set to hit the platform later this year. While fans of the seminal movie and manga would normally rejoice for more content in the interesting world, they’re having the opposite reaction. The animation is the main problem. You can check out the trailer and see the animation for yourself below:

If you’ve seen the original Ghost in the Shell movie from 1995, then you know that film was animated in highly detailed 2D, capturing the essence of the manga and bringing the world to life. The full-CG 3D animation is not a look that fans are enjoying. If you look at the YouTube comments for the trailer, it’s very obvious that fans have nothing but disappointment and bad things to say about this effort. The same attitude carries over to the Tweet responses for the poster, which was released by the Netflix Geeked account. You can check out the poster here:

While fan reception is negative, there must be enough viewership for Netflix to justify a movie and a second season for their version of the Ghost in the Shell universe. The Rotten Tomatoes score tells the same tale, with a 14% score from critics and a 55% from audiences. Netflix isn’t shy about cutting shows that people actually like, so it’s a bit surprising that they’re going full steam ahead with this property.

ghost in the shell scarlett johansson
Scarlett Johansson plays The Major in Ghost in the Shell from Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures in theaters March 31, 2017.

Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time that fans of Ghost in the Shell have been disappointed. The live-action adaptation that starred Scarlett Johansson was met with similar chagrin. It seems like the franchise is better left alone until someone is ready to approach it with the same care, and animation style, that was used for the beloved original. At the very least, it seems like Netflix might want to make a shift from the full CG animation. Or maybe they should take some cues from Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. This movie used CG animation to good effect and was actually quite well-received, getting an 80% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

While Netflix might not be making Ghost in the Shell fans happy, it is doing a full push for more anime content on its platform. As with many streaming platforms, having some sort of anime offering has become essential to draw in the biggest audience possible. Despite the negative reception to their Ghost in the Shell attempts, Netflix actually has several original animes that fans love, like Seven Deadly Sins, Violet Evergarden, Devilman Crybaby, Castlevania, and Baki. They even adapted the beloved Cowboy Bebop into a live-action series, which was also met with mixed results. Maybe in the near future, they’ll change things up and give fans the Ghost in the Shell adaptation they actually want.