History YMMV / GhostInTheShell1995

* {{Narm}}: The overabundance of philosophical quotes in ''Innocence'' could be seen as one. It's as if one of the writers brought home a book of famous quotes and was determined to have the characters recite every last one.

** Another is the climactic scene where the Major fights the spider tank. This scene has been referenced in almost every adaptation in one form or another since then, usually with Motoko fighting some large mech and trying to tear a hatch off, getting one or both arms taken off, then having a robotic manipulator of some sort attempt to crush her head. Sometimes individually, sometimes all at once, but all make reference to the scene in some manner. The scene appears in the original manga, but in a different context and without the weight given to it in the adaptations. It lasts for about a page, and is treated as just one more day on the job.

** The Major jumping through a skyscraper window and camouflaging as she falls to the ground in her first story. There is no direct equivalent in the original manga, but after the 1995 movie used it, it became a mainstay of the franchise's visual style. ''Stand Alone Complex'' made variations of it and even the Scarlett Johansson movie used it.

* AnimationAgeGhetto: ''Innocence'' somehow carries a TV-PG rating despite its violence -- which includes peoples' heads getting smacked off -- and focusing on the sexual trafficking of minors.

-->'''Batou:''' If it looks like you've gone in too deep I'm pulling the plug and taking you home!

* AnimationAgeGhetto: ''Innocence'' somehow carries a TV-PG rating despite its violence – which includes peoples' heads getting smacked off – and focus on the sexual trafficking of minors.
* AudienceColoringAdaptation: Acclaimed as it might be, the notion of ''Ghost in the Shell'' being a paradise of dark, introspective cyberpunk philosophy was almost entirely caused by the 1995 anime film. The original manga was a fast-paced cop action story, filled with colourful characters, comedic relief and cartoonish art, which only treated philosophical questions on the side and in its later part. The problem with this is that the 1995 film was the franchise's breakout in United States and many other countries, which not only colored their expectations about what ''Ghost in the Shell'' was about, but also became in many cases the only piece of the franchise people was familiar with. As a proof, practically all the reviewers of the [[Film/GhostInTheShell2017 2017 film]] derided it because it focused in action and visual style over intellectual topics, despite this actually only made it ''more'' similar to the manga than both of the more famous anime movies.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Kenji Kawai's breathtaking score for both films. The climax of ''Innocence'' is practically a ballet

* FranchiseCodifier: The film did much to redefine the direction of later ''Ghost in the Shell'' material with its radical differences in tone compared to the manga. Trading out action-comedy for metaphysical {{cyberpunk}} philosophy, it ensured that subsequent installments would be similarly suspenseful police dramas with only occasional comedic elements that happen naturally through the cast's personalities, with Motoko Kusanagi in particular being much more brooding than her perkier manga counterpart. Though, it must be said that while the movie codified this direction, the manga laid the seeds for them, as the philosophical ponderings and Motoko's serious personality can be found in the final chapters of the original manga.

* AudienceColoringAdaptation: Acclaimed as it might be, the notion of ''Ghost in the Shell'' being a paradise of dark, introspective cyberpunk philosophy was almost entirely caused by the 1995 anime film. The original manga was a fast-paced cop action story, filled to the brim with colourful characters, comedic relief and cartoonish art, which only treated philosophical questions on the side and in its later part. The problem with this is that the 1995 film was the franchise's breakout in United States and many other countries, which not only colored their expectations about what ''Ghost in the Shell'' was about, but also became in many cases the only piece of the franchise people was familiar with. As a proof, practically all the reviewers of the [[Film/GhostInTheShell2017 2017 film]] derided it because it focused in action and visual style over intellectual topics, despite this actually only made it ''more'' similar to the manga than both of the more famous anime movies.

* FranchiseCodifier: The film did much to redefine the direction of later ''Ghost in the Shell'' material with its radical differences in tone compared to the manga. Trading out action-comedy for metaphysical {{cyberpunk}} philosophy, it ensured that subsequent installments would be similarly suspenseful police dramas with only occasional comedic elements that happen naturally through the cast's personalities, with Motoko Kusanagi in particular being much more brooding than her perkier manga counterpart.

* [[PragmaticHero Major Motoko Kusanagi]] is the pragmatic and insightful field leader of Section 9. Brutally dispatching a smug foreign diplomat seeking to smuggle away a Japanese programmer, Kusanagi takes to the Puppet Master case with her usual efficiency, making sure to utilize her subordinates' capabilities to the fullest. As she closes in on the Puppet Master its body is taken to Section 9's headquarters as per its own designs and when Section 6 seeks to smuggle it away, Kusanagi ensures their seeming retrieval of the Puppet Master only to have them tailed and their forces hunted down and killed so she may confront the Puppet Master. Talking with the digital life form, Kusanagi responds to its philosophical pleas by [[RomanticFusion agreeing to live on in a merged body with it]]. Seemingly killed by Section 6, Kusanagi ends the film revived in a new body, leaving the nature of her merger with the Puppet Master ambiguous as she heads off to carry on with her life and later returning to aid Section 9 [[OneManArmy just as efficiently]] as ever.
* [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Chief Daisuke Aramaki]] leads Section 9 with ruthless devotion to his nation's security. A composed and strategically-minded leader, Aramaki even [[TheUnfettered allows for lethal force on unarmed targets]] to achieve objectives and calmly deals with the problems given by the obstructive Section 6 while pursuing the Puppet Master. Years later, Aramaki oversees a case involving high-profile men being killed by suicidal sex robots. Sending his men out to swiftly follow leads, Aramaki lets the powerful cyborg Section 9 agent Batou instigate a fight with a gang of Yakuza to [[UnscrupulousHero slaughter them]], seemingly reprimanding Batou only to then demand he continue his work covertly, eventually dismantling the sex trafficking operation behind the scenes, stopping at nothing to bring down justice.
* [[Anime/GhostInTheShell1995 1995 Film]]: [[BenevolentAI Project 2501]], better known as the "[[DigitizedHacker Puppet Master]]", is an articulate and intelligent [[DoAndroidsDream digital lifeform]] that wishes to be part of the natural cycle of life, and harbors an interest in Major Motoko Kusanagi due to their similar philosophies. Born from Section 6's efforts to create an AI for shady purposes, the Puppet Master operated in their service by manipulating the minds of cybernetically-enhanced humans to perform meticulously crafted terrorist operations, [[ObfuscatingStupidity hiding his sapience from his masters all the way]]. When the Puppet Master's free will is discovered, he is forced to evade Section 6 by fabricating a body for himself, but not before setting up the circumstances to ensure Section 9 recovers him and brings him closer to the Major. When she finally dives into his body to question him, the Puppet Master convinces the Major to [[MentalFusion merge with him]] by appealing to her desire to be more than just a machine, their resulting combined consciousness granting him the offspring he so longed for.
* ''Innocence'' (2004): [[WellIntentionedExtremist James Walkson]] is a LOCUS SOLUS employee who discovers the company implant girls' souls into sex robots for clients. Disgusted at the nigh-untouchable company, Walkson has some of the girls commit [[MurderSuicide Murder-Suicides]] on their high-end clients to draw police attention. Killing himself to stage his death as a revenge killing after murdering the Yakuza head assisting LOCUS SOLUS, [[ThanatosGambit Walkson's efforts]] see the diabolical company exposed and the surviving girls saved.

* MagnificentBastard: Project 2501, better known as the "[[DigitizedHacker Puppet Master]]", is an articulate and intelligent [[DoAndroidsDream digital lifeform]] that wishes to be part of the natural cycle of life, and harbors an interest in Major Motoko Kusanagi due to their similar philosophies. Born from Section 6's efforts to create an AI for shady purposes, the Puppet Master operated in their service by manipulating the minds of cybernetically-enhanced humans to perform meticulously crafted terrorist operations, hiding his sapience from his masters all the way. When the Puppet Master's free will is discovered, he is forced to evade Section 6 by fabricating a body for himself, but not before setting up the circumstances to ensure Section 9 recovers him and brings him closer to the Major. When she finally dives into his body to question him, the Puppet Master convinces the Major to merge with him by appealing to her desire to be more than just a machine, their resulting combined consciousness granting him the offspring he so longed for.