Prime Video will serve as the streaming home for Science Saru's The Ghost in the Shell anime. While we've known about the highly anticipated anime project since 2024, it was only this week during the Prime Video Presents: International Originals that we found out where the anime would stream.
Prime Video is competing with Crunchyroll and Netflix to become “the preferred destination for anime content globally," and acquiring the streaming rights to The Ghost in the Shell is one way to achieve that goal.
Speaking during the first Prime Video Presents: International Originals online showcase, Prime Video’s Vice President for APAC & ANZ, Gaurav Gandhi described The Ghost in the Shell as “the most influential Japanese sci-fi work of all time.”
The first major Ghost in the Shell anime project since Netflix's Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, Science Saru's The Ghost in the Shell is a new adaptation of the original manga written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. The series is expected to offer a fresh take on cyberpunk themes, exploring a future where human and machine boundaries blur.
The original manga was serialized in Kodansha’s Young Magazine from April 1989 to November 1990. An English edition, available through Kodansha, describes the story as “an epic dystopian tale of politics, technology, and metaphysics.”
The manga has gone on to spark multiple adaptations across film and television. The most celebrated remains Production I.G.’s landmark 1995 anime film Ghost in the Shell, followed by its 2004 sequel Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.
The franchise later expanded to television with Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, which debuted in 2002, and more recently with Netflix’s Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045. A Hollywood live-action adaptation, directed by Rupert Sanders and starring Scarlett Johansson, was released in 2017.
"Anime adaptation-wise, this new THE GHOST IN THE SHELL marks the fourth version following those by Oshii, Kamiyama, and Kise," series creator Shirow Masamune said back in April 2025. "Alternatively, if we separate GHOST IN THE SHELL and Innocence, categorize the S.A.C. series into Seasons 1, 2, and Solid State Society, divide ARISE into its own series along with The New Movie, and split SAC_2045 into Seasons 1 and 2, this would be the tenth adaptation overall."
"Considering the shift in production staff, one could even consider this the first installment of a second generation," he continued. "The original manga is quite old, so I ask for your understanding on that point (sorry!). That said, I sincerely hope this will once again be an enjoyable visual experience in some form."
The Ghost in the Shell anime is scheduled to release this July 2026. Prime Video has worldwide streaming rights except for in Russia and China.