Anime News Network wrote...
The website confirms the staff information, and announces that a "Ghost in the Shell Arise Production Presentation" will be streamed live worldwide on February 12 at 9:00 p.m. in Japan (7:00 a.m. EST) on Niconico, Bandai Channel, and YouTube. The event itself will be held at the nicofarre event hall in Tokyo.
A "Ghost in the Shell Arise Production Commemoration Special Night" event will also be held at the TOHO Cinemas in Roppongi Hills on February 12 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00p.m. Tickets will go on sale on January 16 and will cost 2,000 yen (about US$22.50). The event will screen the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man compilation, and the Ghost in the Shell 2.0 and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society 3D films. Additionally, the event will host a 60-minute live-viewing event for Ghost in the Shell Arise, which will include announcements, clips from the new anime, and a talk show featuring staff and other special guests. [Via Brian Ruh, Anime Anime Japan]
I can't believe it, I literally jumped out of my chair when I read this. On January 15th, 2013 it was announced on
IEEE 802.11's blog that Ghost in the Shell: Arise has been confirmed for launch in 2013. Already this news is making a huge splash across the world,
Crunchyroll,
Anime News Network and
Twitch reported it just minutes after the blog post went live.
Kazuchikla Kise is the chief director with
Tow Ubakata managing and writing the series' scripts. IEEE 802.11 also reported that
Cornelius is the composer and also posted a piece of visual art featuring the heroine
Motoko Kusanagi. According to
Crunchyroll we'll be able to see a website live for the anime at
kokaku-a with tweets being made at
@kokaku_a.
For those of you unaware of GITS, here's a little history:
GITS isn't actually the root of the series,
Appleseed is. Appleseed was a manga released in 1985 created by
Shirow Masamune with 4 volumes and ending it's run in 1989. Appleseed is uniquely famous for popularizing early Cyberpunk along with the concept of volume published manga. The first Appleseed OVA released in 1988 was one of the first full CGI movies produced. Appleseed received two OVA adaptations, one T.V. adaptation and two video game adaptations.
Ghost in the Shell also created by Shirow Masamune was a manga released in 1989 (ending in 1990) shortly after Appleseed finished it's run. The plot involves a counter-terrorism cell called Section 9 that carries out clandestine operations. I would explain the theme and world more in-depth myself but these two paragraphs on the Wikipedia page do a bang up job:
"The works of Ghost in the Shell serve as vehicles for social commentary and about humanity itself. With cybernization the boundary between human and machine is defined by a "ghost" (ゴースト gÅsuto?) which is defined as an individual's consciousness. By integrating brain tissue with electronic circuitry, a cyberbrain is created. The ghost of the user is retained within the cyberbrain. Cyberbrains are commonplace in the Ghost in the Shell world, and such prevalence has led to scenarios involving sexuality, body swapping, copying and immortality. Political corruption and terrorists are a frequent antagonists of the franchise which allows for philosophical dialogue about concepts relating to morality, nationality and humanity.
Ghost hacking, the act of taking control of another person's cyberbrain is a serious crime in the Ghost in the Shell universe. The victim is controlled by the hacker to commit any act including murder, and often the memories of the victim may be altered or deleted without the victim ever realizing it."
You can find a list of characters and their descriptions
here (Warning: may contain spoilers). Over the years Ghost in the Shell has received many adaptations, video games, T.V., OVAs you name it. The series has reached critical acclaim not only in Japan but across the world and is also famous for being a major inspiration for the well known movie
The Matrix.
The anime adaptation is now continuing with a third installment titled Ghost in the Shell: Arise. The team being put together looks great so I have high hopes for it, and I'm sure everyone else who's seen any content relating to GITS does as well. I'll post more information and revise the thread when need be, but for now all I can say is "FUCK YEAH!".