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New Ghost in the Shell 3DCG Anime Project to Premiere on Netflix in 2020 (Updated)

Netflix's sci-fi focused Twitter account announced on Friday that the new Ghost in the Shell anime is titled Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045. The anime will premiere on Netflix in 2020.

The post shared a visual, pictured below, and confirmed that Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki are directing. Netflix also revealed that the project will be in 3DCG, and that Production I.G and Sola Digital Arts are the production studios.

Kodansha and Production I.G announced a new anime based on Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell manga in April 2017. Production I.G. USA president Maki Terashima-Furuta previously stated during an interview that the anime would have two 12-episode seasons, with Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) directing one of the seasons, and Aramaki (Appleseed) directing the other.

Production I.G previously produced Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence films in 1995 and 2004, respectively, as well as the 2002 Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex television anime and its TV sequel, original video anime (OVAs), and film. In 2013, Production I.G adapted the material into the Ghost in the Shell Arise prequel OVA, which it later remixed into a television series. Most recently, the studio debuted Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie in 2015 and the Ghost in the Shell VR Diver smartphone video in 2017.

Dark Horse Comics and later Kodansha Comics published Shirow's original 1991 manga and its sequels in North America.

DreamWorks and Paramount's live-action film adaptation starring Scarlett Johansson opened in the United States in March 2017, and opened in Japan in April 2017.

Aramaki and Kamiyama are also directing the anime of Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi's Ultraman manga, which will premiere on Netflix globally on April 1. Additionally, the two will also co-direct an upcoming Blade Runner — Black Lotus anime series based on the Blade Runner 2049 film. Kamiyama and Aramaki will work on Blade Runner — Black Lotus after Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045.

Update: Netflix referred to the project as an "original anime series" and " a next generation anime film" in a press email. ANN is reaching out to confirm the format of the project, and will update this article after confirmation. More background information also added about other projects Aramaki and Kamiyama are working on together.

Update 2: Netflix confirmed with ANN that the anime project will have a series format and not a film format.

Sources: Netflix press email, NX on Netflix Twitter account