Image courtesy of Bandai Namco Filmworks
© 2026 Shirow Masamune/KODANSHA/THE GHOST IN THE SHELL COMMITTEE
The staff for The Ghost in the Shell (Kōkaku Kidōtai THE GHOST IN THE SHELL), Science SARU’s new The Ghost in the Shell television anime series, announced on Thursday that the anime’s first two episodes will have their global premiere as a Screening Event at this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France. The event is titled “Dive into “THE GHOST IN THE SHELL.”
The 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival will be held in Annecy, France from June 21-27.
The anime will debut in July on “Ka-Anival!!,” Kansai TV and Fuji TV’s new anime programming block that airs on Tuesday nights at 11:00 p.m.
Mokochan (storyboarder, key animator for DAN DA DAN, The Heike Story, Tatami Time Machine Blues) is making his directorial debut with the anime at Science SARU. Toh Enjoe (The Empire of Corpses novelist; Space Dandy, Godzilla Singular Point scripts) is both writing and overseeing the series scripts. Shūhei Handa (Little Witch Academia TV series, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Spriggan ONA) is designing the characters and also serving as chief animation director. Taisei Iwasaki (BELLE) is serving as music director, and is composing the music along with Ryō Konishi (Journal with Witch theme song) and Yuki Kanesaka (Dr. Stone).
Original manga creator Shirow provided a comment on the new anime:
Anime adaptation-wise, this new THE GHOST IN THE SHELL marks the fourth version
following those by [Mamoru Oshii], [Kenji Kamiyama], and [Kazuchika Kise]. Alternatively, if we separate GHOST IN THE
SHELL and Innocence, categorize the S.A.C. series into Seasons 1, 2, and Solid State
Society, divide ARISE into its own series along with The New Movie, and split SAC_2045
into Seasons 1 and 2, this would be the tenth adaptation overall.
Considering the shift in production staff, one could even consider this the first installment of
a second generation. The original manga is quite old, so I ask for your understanding on that
point (sorry!). That said, I sincerely hope this will once again be an enjoyable visual
experience in some form.
A producer on the project stated at Anime Expo last July that the anime will stay true to the original manga.
Bandai Namco Filmworks, Kodansha, Science SARU, and Production I.G are on the production committee for the series.
Bandai Namco Filmworks announced the new series in May 2024. Voice actress Atsuko Tanaka, the voice of Motoko Kusanagi in the franchise, died in August 2024 at 61 years old.
The latest anime based on Shirow’s manga franchise is Kōkaku Kidōtai SAC_2045 Saigo no Ningen (Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 The Last Human), the compilation film for the Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 anime’s second season. The film opened in November 2023.
Source: Email correspondence
Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc. (Sunrise) is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.
