Koukaku Kidoutai 2.0  

On July 12th, five Japanese theaters will showcase a new edition of Mamoru Oshii's first Ghost in the Shell cyberspace film called Ghost in the Shell 2.0. The enhanced version includes updated computer graphics and digital effects for select scenes, as well as a reunion of many original cast members for a fresh 6.1 surround sound recording. Academy-Award-winning sound mixer/editor Randy Thom (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, The Incredibles, The Right Stuff) has overseen the new soundtrack with Kenji Kawais original music and a final mix produced at Thom and Lucas Digitals Skywalker Sound studio in California. In this edition, Yoshiko Sakakibara will portray the enigmatic Puppet Master character, while Iemasa Kayumi played the role in the original version. The film will be screened in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sapporo. Notably, Oshii's latest movie, The Sky Crawlers, is set to release one month after Ghost in the Shell 2.0 on August 2nd.

Ghost in the Shell 2.0 is a remade version of the 1995 movie made to commemorate the release of The Sky Crawlers, which opened the following month. The new edition replaced Iemasa Kayumi (Giant Robo's Chief Chuujou Shizuo, RahXephon's Ernst Von Bähbem) with Yoshiko Sakakibara (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence's Harraway, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex's Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki) as the enigmatic Puppet Master and reunited majority of the cast from the original movie for a new 6.1 surround sound recording.The animation was reproduced using new computer graphics and digital effects. Randy Thom of Skywalker Sound (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence) oversaw the new soundtrack, which included original music by Kenji Kawai as well as a final mix.