Synopsis
In the year 2029, after World Wars III and IV, a Japanese-dominated Asian coalition holds global influence. This alliance preserves its international dominance through an elite security force whose members are cybernetically enhanced, capable of combating hi-tech terrorists and other threats. These augmented agents can perform "ghost hacking" — transferring their consciousness via the widespread internet into other machines or human-machine hybrids. Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cybernetically enhanced female operative, pursues a shape-shifting virtual entity called the Puppet Master with her skilled security team. The Puppet Master, a rogue creation from a rival agency, has determined it is a life form "born in a sea of information" and seeks political asylum along with a genuine physical existence, disobeying its creators.
Background
Ghost in the Shell 2.0 is a remade version of the 1995 movie made to commemorate the release of The Sky Crawlers, which opened the following month. The new edition replaced Iemasa Kayumi (Giant Robo's Chief Chuujou Shizuo, RahXephon's Ernst Von Bähbem) with Yoshiko Sakakibara (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence's Harraway, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex's Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki) as the enigmatic Puppet Master and reunited majority of the cast from the original movie for a new 6.1 surround sound recording. The animation was reproduced using new computer graphics and digital effects. Randy Thom of Skywalker Sound (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence) oversaw the new soundtrack, which included original music by Kenji Kawai as well as a final mix.
