First Picture of Scar. Jo. as Major Kusanagi in GitS Movie

[Saelune]

I don't like Attack on Titan, so I don't know what you are referring to.

That the fact that the majority (every single character, but Mikasa) of the cast is of European decent is a major fucking plot point. Including the fact that those of oriental decent have been purposefully breed out of the gene pool by the royalty.

That was ignored when the live action adaptation had a fully Japanese cast.

Are they going to say its still in Japan?

As you saying the American Empire wouldn't have assets in Japan? The AE has signed a security pact with Japan, and are trying to use espionage to co-opt the "Japanese miracle" technology, which safely contains the radioactive particulates released by nuclear weapons.

Hard to really tell in an anime. Doubt she was like "I'm gonna be white now though" but I don't think that was ever a point for her.

Who knows? Batou tells her to switch to a male model so she's taken more seriously. Though, she wants to keep the female model since it leads people to underestimate her capabilities.

If its a major plot point, then Id have to say yes, I do have issue with the Japanese cast.

Still doesn't answer if its in Japan. And what? Are they going to say that every character just decided to be non Asian people? Hey, maybe they will actually do a good job and surprise everyone, but history says that's unlikely when it comes to adaptations of such degree.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Eh, I'd have liked purplish hair. If Marvel can do--- well, everything in the MCU, then a sci-fi flick can have a lead with a slightly different hair colour. But I don't care about the property beyond the original classic film, so I'm not fussed. I just hope the film does justice to the concept, and doesn't wuss out on the endearingly pretentious dialogue.

And why does everyone love Scarlett Johansson so much? I've literally never seen her in a good role. I don't know if her bland performance is down to her being given poor roles or if she simply is like that.

Perhaps it's a bit of a Marmite film, but I thought she was exceptional in Lost In Translation, and she was pretty good in Ghost World, too. I also think she's a fine MCU Black Widow who [still] deserves her own standalone.

 

[Objectable]

Please, send more bleach to Hollywood, they must be running out of it with all this whitewashing

 

[Ftaghn To You Too]

Normally, I don't particularly care about ethnicity changes in casting. Usually, it's a fairly minor aspect of the character that's being changed, as in most of these cases the character's ethnicity doesn't play much into that character. Sometimes, though, the character's ethnicity and the cultural background is super important.

Ghost in the Shell is really, REALLY Japanese. There's aesthetic elements like the fairly traditional soundtrack and some various philosophical navalgazing, but the political world of the setting is filled with a very Japanese mindset. It's a setting that's somewhat critical of American hegemony and political control. Making the Major white sort of flies in the face of that.

I'll wait and see more about what they're doing before I make a final judgement. They may have something clever planned.

 

[Major_Tom]

Eh, close enough. I prefer the movie Major anyway, that SAC outfit is so fucking stupid.

Not a great angle, but the hair is not nearly big enough or purple enough. At first I thought she was wearing a tarp, but I guess that's supposed to be the Major's jacket?

Looks like a flight jacket, probably an MA-1.

...or are they going to pull an 'Edge of Tomorrow' and just give her a Western name?

Monica Kowalsky?

 

[Asita]

I don't really care if real life adaptations of anime are filled with non Asians...when ethnicity doesn't matter. However Ghost in the Shell is very much about world politics in a cyber-punkish future, with the US in a certain way that only the US could be, and the events taking place in Japan that is in a way specific to it. So yeah, location and ethnicity kind of does matter. I'm not really blaming Scarlet, I'm just assuming the whole thing is borked from page 1. And honestly, ethnicity aside, I think she would be fine as the Major.

Location and nationality certainly. Ethnicity...not so much. Major Kusanagi's body is fully cybernetic and consequentially isn't even sure if she actually has any humanity left (or if she had just been given false memories to make her think she was human). Her ethnicity is about as artificial as Clayface's.

You know what I meant.

The supporting cast? Yeah, they don't have nearly as much leeway...well Batou does, I guess, but Togusa and Aramaki certainly don't.

 

[Zontar]

I don't see why people are complaining about the hair. Purple hair is one of the colours that always gets translated to black in live action (Japan does live action adaptations on a regular basis).

Also, I've said it before but I'll say it again: we don't even know if the Major is Japanese. All we know about her background is that she was one of two survivors of a plane crash, she fought in World War 4 and some minor Central American conflicts (where she met the American born member of her team, and fought the other non-Japanese member of her team) and that her name isn't her real name. Her background is one of the few for such a cyberpunk setting with heavy themes about individuality, immigration and person-hood where she could be literally any race without it effecting the story.

 

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

Geeaghh... I am just so blechh on this movie. I love GitS to death, Stand Alone Complex is easily my favorite anime. But a Hollywood movie fills me with an unfortunate apathy. Scarlett seems fine, I guess, but the fact they cast a pretty bland Caucasian actress as the Major is a bad sign.

Sometimes it's okay to use white actors for non-white characters, mostly when the ethnic background doesn't matter to the characterization. But despite its pretty universal themes and appeal, GitS is deeply, firmly rooted in Japanese culture. It cannot be separated from it's sociopolitical origins. So whether they are transplanting it to America or just pretending that the cybernetic bodies makes a good excuse to use white actors, they have already betrayed the essence of the property.

GitS can't survive a typical Hollywood adaptation that takes truly unique, foreign ideals and concepts and distills them into a broadly North American mindset. That's one of the things I love so much about it. It's quintessentially Japanese, and in a way that anyone from anywhere can understand. I learned more about the Japanese zeitgeist from GitS than from any other more overtly loljapanese show I've ever seen.

 

[Saltyk]

So the first picture of Scarlett Jo. as Major Kusanagi in the live-action Ghost in the Shell film has been released and...I...I....

have no problems with this. Why? Because, there's a perfectly reasonable in-universe explanation for why she doesn't look the exact same as other iterations.

IT. IS. NOT. THE. SAME. SHELL.

We all know where the name Ghost in the Shell comes from... Right?

This is effectively the same thing I said to a coworker today when he showed it to me. "It doesn't bother me if she doesn't look exactly right. It's stated in the series that for all anyone knows, the Major was originally a man."

So not looking exactly like her is the least of this movie's potential problems.

 

[Paragon Fury]

So the first picture of Scarlett Jo. as Major Kusanagi in the live-action Ghost in the Shell film has been released and...I...I....

have no problems with this. Why? Because, there's a perfectly reasonable in-universe explanation for why she doesn't look the exact same as other iterations.

IT. IS. NOT. THE. SAME. SHELL.

We all know where the name Ghost in the Shell comes from... Right?

This is effectively the same thing I said to a coworker today when he showed it to me. "It doesn't bother me if she doesn't look exactly right. It's stated in the series that for all anyone knows, the Major was originally a man."

So not looking exactly like her is the least of this movie's potential problems.

I'm fairly certain that SaC and one of the movies made it abundantly clear in no uncertain terms that the Major has always been a girl, even pre-prosthetic body.

 

[Saltyk]

So the first picture of Scarlett Jo. as Major Kusanagi in the live-action Ghost in the Shell film has been released and...I...I....

have no problems with this. Why? Because, there's a perfectly reasonable in-universe explanation for why she doesn't look the exact same as other iterations.

IT. IS. NOT. THE. SAME. SHELL.

We all know where the name Ghost in the Shell comes from... Right?

This is effectively the same thing I said to a coworker today when he showed it to me. "It doesn't bother me if she doesn't look exactly right. It's stated in the series that for all anyone knows, the Major was originally a man."

So not looking exactly like her is the least of this movie's potential problems.

I'm fairly certain that SaC and one of the movies made it abundantly clear in no uncertain terms that the Major has always been a girl, even pre-prosthetic body.

I only ever watched Ghost in the Shell on occasion. Whenever I did watch it, it was always obviously a high quality show, but the narrative never really hooked me. I do remember some of the other characters discussing that no one really knows who she was before, though.

Personally, I prefer the idea that her true identity has some mystery to it. Even knowing her service history, but not knowing her exact identity makes her more interesting.

 

[irish286]

No... I've seen her acting and mannerisms and they just don't fit well with the major. Her general presence isn't right at all.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I never liked Scarlet Johannsen as an actor. Been a long time since I haven't cringed at her acting.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I'm still wondering what her actual name is going to be. She's supposed to be Matoko Kusanagi, but she obviously doesn't look Japanese, so how are they going to get around that? Are they just going to call her 'the Major' and forego her name entirely, are they going to call her 'Kusanagi' and hope her Japanese esque hairdo will sell it, or are they going to pull an 'Edge of Tomorrow' and just give her a Western name?

None of that matters. The entire schtick is that Matoko Kusanagi is just a consciousness inside a cybernetic body (hence the "Ghost" in the "Shell"). She can be any enthnicity or gender she wants because it's a synthetic body. Hell, she could probably be implanted in a cyborg dog if she wanted to be.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

No, just no.I knew it was going to be bad when they announced Johansson as Kusanagi. I don't want my memories soiled by any of this.

/brainbleach

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

Man, they couldn't even give her purple hair? You aren't a major unless you have purple hair. It's anime [http://www.riennahera.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Misato-2BKatsuragi.gif] law. [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3f/Ghost_in_the_Shell_S.A.C._2nd_GIG_Motoko_Kusanagi.png]

 

[FPLOON]

Oh, hai Lucy!

Honestly, I feel more indifferent than before... only because I still got no trailer to start feeling like if it's worth watching akin to Edge of Tomorrow... Other than that, I cannot unsee Lucy in that pic...