Sitting down with Mokochan the director of the TV Anime THE GHOST IN THE SHELL
There was a lot of pressure and a lot of worry for pushing comedic scenes, most of the audience were more familiar with Mamoru Oshii's movie of Ghost in the Shell and its more serious vibes.
If you're a fan of Ghost in the Shell, then you're probably aware of the TV Anime being made by Science SARU this season, which is doing a marvelous job of sticking much closer to the source material than any entry in the franchise to date. Remarkably it's the first time Mokochan, a veteran animator who's worked with the studio on not only mega hits like Dandadan but also films like Inu-Oh as a key animator, is sitting in the director's chair. I got the opportunity to sit down with him and a translator to ask him about it.
BR: This is the first time, to my knowledge at least, that you're directing a whole series. How different is it from contributing key animation or episode directing?
Mokochan: The biggest factor is communication. The amount of communication and the amount of things that I had to talk with my co-creators about is a lot more than what I had to do before. And so, the whole idea of creating this work together with various people and being able to share the same vision with everyone was, I thought, the biggest difference between series direction and the things I've done before.
BR: Ghost in the Shell has been a much more serious property in the past. Is it daunting to take it in a much more comedic direction, considering how famous a property it is?
Mokochan: There was a lot of pressure and a lot of worry for pushing comedic scenes, most of the audience were more familiar with Mamoru Oshii's movie of Ghost in the Shell and its more serious vibes. But the original manga has a more comedic side to it, and so there was some worry that people might be surprised by the sudden shift in tone.
BR: The animation style of THE GHOST IN THE SHELL reminds me of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. Was that similarity intentional? And if so, what inspires that visual direction?
Mokochan: The style similarities are not intentional, but a lot of the things that I draw, I draw without really thinking too much. A lot of the stylistic similarities might come out of my personality. So, it might not be quite the answer that you're looking for, but you know, there weren't too many intentions in what I drew, but there were similarities that might just be from my personal experience.
THE GHOST IN THE SHELL is streaming on Prime Video in the US and is, in this oldtaku's estimation, one of the best things airing this season and the best entry in the Ghost In The shell franchise since Stand Alone Complex.