Mamoru Oshii’s awe-inspiring magnum opus about alienation and violence in cyberspace combines traditional hand-drawn cells and computer-generated graphics for a film that has aged incredibly well nearly 30 years after its initial release. 

Japan, 2029–The digital sea of information has washed over every aspect of society. Cyborg Major Kusanagi, a perfect specimen of human-brained computer engineering, is on the case to track and destroy an omnipotent entity codenamed “The Puppet Master” for its ability to control the minds of innocent victims. This unique and mysterious super-hacker is suspected of a multitude of offenses, including stock market manipulation, illegal data gathering, terrorist acts and infringement of cybernetic ethics. Section 9, Japan’s elite secret service unit, is called in to capture this elusive criminal, only to discover that the elaborate web of evidence leads back to Japan’s own Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an intelligence without physical form…a ghost in search of its shell.