Netflix To Distrbute Brand-New 'Ghost In The Shell' Anime Series in 2020

Netflix has announced via Twitter that a new “Ghost in the Shell” anime series will be coming to their streaming service, scheduled for release in 2020. Titled “Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045,” this new show is being produced by SOLA Digital Arts in collaboration with Production I.G. (the studio behind all of the franchise’s anime and most of the films).

It was also announced that this new series (with an unknown number of episode) will be directed by both Kenji Kamiyama (“Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex“) and Shinji Aramaki (“Appleseed“). Given that these roles are filled by mostly those who have already worked within this franchise before, it’s already sounding very likely that this new show will be in good hands and will help us all forget about the disastrous 2017 American film adaptation.

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This will be the fourth TV show from the franchise, and the first to be produced for a streaming platform. Since this is one of the biggest streaming services handling one of the biggest anime franchises, it’s safe to say expectations are high. “Ghost in the Shell” first appeared as a manga in 1989 and has had numerous iterations as films, TV shows, and other manga editions, notably the acclaimed first movie in 1995.

Netflix concluded their tweet with this ambiguous (and rather meme-y) line: “desire to explore the true meaning of human consciousness intensifies.”

This is yet another boost for Netflix’s exclusive anime content, along with Kyoto Animation’s Violet Evergarden,” Science SARU’sDevilman Crybaby,” and “Aggretsuko,” and SOLA Digital Arts’ own upcoming “Ultraman” anime revamp, not to mention their acquirement of Gainax and Tatsunoko Production’s original and legendary “Neon Genesis: Evangelion,” set to be on their service next Spring.

Looks like this streaming juggernaut is causing some serious competition for Crunchyroll.