Ghost in the Shell
1995’s Ghost in the Shell was meant to be the Japanese anime that cracked the world market wide open. It didn’t work, but that’s not to say it wasn’t successful in its own way. A slew of sequels, TV shows and eventually a highly contested Hollywood remake followed (on account of Scarlett Johansson playing its lead character), and it was also influential on James Cameron, who namechecked it as a reference for Avatar. But most of all it was the Wachowskis who came and saw Mamoru Oshii’s movie, then conquered the world with The Matrix, which so obviously lifts from Ghost in the Shell that you can tick off the ideas as they … Read more