Staff for the new The Ghost in the Shell (Koukaku Kidoutai THE GHOST IN THE SHELL) TV anime series have revealed the anime’s first promotional video and key visual, and confirmed that the anime will premiere in July 2026.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl8bNn3BRRM]

The Ghost in the Shell anime key visual

[https://x.com/thegits_animeEN/status/2017085863893795082?s=20]

The anime will premiere in July 2026 on Kansai TV and Fuji TV’s new anime programming block, which airs on Tuesday nights at 11:00 p.m. JST. The anime is directed by Mokochan at Science SARU studios, and Honda Shuuhei is the character designer and chief animation director.

The Ghost in the Shell Anime Teaser Visual

The anime is based on Shirow Masamune’s original manga, The Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊), which ran from May 1989 to November 1991 in Kodansha’s Young Magazine. Kodansha published the original manga’s tankoubon volume in October 1991.

The Ghost in the Shell Manga cover

Kodansha USA releases the manga digitally in English under the name The Ghost in the Shell, and it describes the story below:

“Deep into the 21st century, the line between man and machine has been inexorably blurred as humans rely on the enhancement of mechanical implants and robots are upgraded with human tissue. In this rapidly converging landscape, cyborg superagent Major Motoko Kusanagi is charged to track down the craftiest and most dangerous terrorists and cybercriminals, including “ghost hackers” who are capable of exploiting the human/machine interface and reprogramming humans to become puppets to carry out the hackers’ criminal ends.

When Major Kusanagi tracks the cybertrail of one such master hacker, the Puppeteer, her quest leads her into a world beyond information and technology where the very nature of consciousness and the human soul are turned upside down. From Shirow Masamune, the award-winning creator of Appleseed and Dominion, comes The Ghost in the Shell, the breakthrough manga that inspired the internationally acclaimed animated film. An epic dystopian tale of politics, technology, and metaphysics, The Ghost in the Shell has been hailed worldwide as an unparalleled visionary work of graphic fiction. And now it’s ready to dazzle the imagination in its second millennium.”

The manga has since inspired various manga sequels, prequels and spinoffs, TV anime, anime films, live-action shows, and video game adaptations.