The ‘Ghost In The Shell’ Original Anime Cast Will Voice The Live-Action Version For The Japanese Market

With all the turmoil churning around Paramount Pictures’ upcoming release of the live-action remake of Ghost in the Shell, the studio seems to be continuing their efforts to build bridges with the fans of the original anime. The Japanese-language dub of the film will feature many of the same voice actors as had been part of the prior anime feature films. Hollywood has long all but ignored the quality or suitability of voice talent engaged in the creation of foreign-language dubs (such as with the famously bad Japanese dub of The Avengers). 

The voice actors reprising their original roles will include Akio Otsuka as the voice of Batou (The Major’s second in command, played in the live action version by Pilou Asbæk), Koichi Yamadera will be voicing Togusa over Chin Han’s original, and Atsuko Tanaka will be dubbed over Sharlett Johansson’s role of The Major.

The backlash of casting Johansson in the role had only begun to subside when news that the character’s name had even been changed from the Japanese original of Motoko to Mira. Now it would seem that the studio is trying to help avoid the negative impact that other American films have when dubbed by poorly-cast voice actors for foreign markets, and also building another connection to the fans of the original.

Based on the internationally-acclaimed sci-fi property, “GHOST IN THE SHELL” follows the Major, a special ops, one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid, who leads the elite task force Section 9. Devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, Section 9 is faced with an enemy whose singular goal is to wipe out Hanka Robotic¹s advancements in cyber technology.