Ghost in the Shell: Manga vs Movie

[Azeline Arcenal]

Although I have never read the manga for Ghost in the Shell, I thought that the movie was pretty good. My only complaint was that they picked a white person, Scarlett Johansson, as the main actress instead of picking an Asian actress. I mean Scarlett is a wonderful actress, but I feel like an Asian actress like Ming Na Wen would have done an excellent job as well. Any thoughts of Hollywood white washing characters or any comments about the movie in general?

[Jaime Lync]

I have never seen the movie but I have seen enough of the anime to say that I believe that that the anime is way better. You should check out the anime. I also think that since this is a Japanese series an Asian actress would have been a better suit for the part.

[cosette1789]

I've also only seen the anime version, but I don't think the live-action version of Ghost and the Shell did the story justice, regardless of whether the protagonist was an American actress instead of an Asian one.

[ObsessedBookNerd]

I watched the anime on & off on the tv & I did watch the live action version but didn’t read the manga. I agree that they should have gotten a Asian actress to play the character. I thought it looked wrong that basically everyone else was Asian except for her. I’m not really a fan of the anime or series so I’m not sure if the movie did it justice.

[ultraboss]

I haven't read the manga nor seen the anime... I've only seen the movie and the movie seems good enough to me.
But I didn't really like the idea of the other robot getting killed and yes an Asian actress might have been better as the movie was shot somewhere in asia

[Doug Jones]

While I have not read the manga, I have seen the original 1995 anime film, which was excellent. Didn't watch the live-action film as I was apprehensive, as cosette1789 is, that it would not do the source material justice. That said, it probably can be enjoyed on its own merits.

The question of whether the ethnicity of the actors cast in the live-action film should matter runs the risk of being labelled 'racist'. However, when the story is set in 21st century Japan, and the protagonist is called Motoko Kusanagi, I don't think it's unreasonable to consider an Asian actress being considered ahead of Scarlett Johansson - irrespective of the quality of her performance. But that seems to be the consensus view on this thread.