Ghost in the Shell Character Index
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society & Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045:
Stand Alone Complex Characters
Ghost in the Shell: Arise:
Arise Characters
Ghost in the Shell: First Assault Online:
First Assault Online Characters
Ghost in the Shell (2017):
Live-Action Movie Characters

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Section 9

The Major

The Major / Mira Killian/ Motoko Kusanagi

Portrayed by: Scarlett Johansson

Voiced by: Rosalba Sotelo (Latin-American Spanish), Atsuko Tanaka (Japanese)

A cyborg employed as the field commander of Section 9.

Action Hero: Obviously. She's the field commander, she has to be a fighter.
Adaptational Badass: Zig-Zagged. On one hand, she is now physically strong enough to successfully disable a Spider Tank, something she failed to do in the first anime film, while taking somewhat less structural damage in her body; similarly, her hand-to-hand skills are also amped up, to the point that her fight against the garbageman has her throwing him around and not struggling heavily against him like in the anime film. On the other hand, she is surprised and tricked several times, ends up captured twice, and the one time she attempts a cyberhack, she's the one whose Ghost ends up compromised; also, she's also never shown holding a position of authority over the other members of Section 9. Her vulnerabilities in this iteration of the franchise are represented mainly by her lack of experience in dealing with such situations, since she's only been at it for a year. Not only that, she's actually a teenager Hanka Robotics abducted for their experiments.
Adaptation Name Change: Motoko Kusanagi is renamed into Mira Killian. This is actually a subversion, as it's later revealed that Mira Killian is the name Hanka Robotics gave to her after they used her accident as a reason to erase her identity and reprogram her with a new name and body. Ironically, the major's "real name" revealed in the movie was declared "an obvious pseudonym" in the original manga (a Japanese family named Kusanagi is about as plausible as a British family named Excalibur).
Ambiguously Gay: Played With; Major hires a female human prostitute, but it's implied that it wasn't for sexual pleasure, but to ask what she feels from her body's own touch. Also, her relationship with Batou remains largely platonic. On the other hand, she and Kuze are implied to have been lovers when they were both runaways.
The Artifact: Everyone seems to address Major Mira Killian as if "Major" was her first name instead of a military rank. (This includes the film's notorious "I am Major" marketing campaign.) Unlike the rest of Ghost in the Shell media, her backstory in this film shows that she never served in the military, nor was she even given any artificial memories of serving in the military, so there's no reason why she should be called "Major."
Barbie Doll Anatomy: Shown in the opening credits when Mira's body is created, she has no genitalia of any sort. Justified as Hanka Robotics wanted a combat cyborg, not a Sex Bot, and likely didn't care if Mira might like the option of having sex on her own initiative at some point.
Big "NO!": When she thinks Kuze is killed.
Bullet Dodge: The Major dodges a Yakuza thug firing at her, while handcuffed to a stripper pole no less.
Catapult Nightmare: The way Major rises from the operation table after she narrowly escaped a mind invasion.
Canon Character All Along: She is revealed to be Motoko Kusanagi.
Composite Character: The Major herself combines elements from all the adaptations of Ghost in the Shell: an orphan who survived a disaster and grew up in war-torn strife-filled Japan, given a full-body cutting-edge body transplant that makes her bound to the organization's bidding and unable to socialize or connect with anyone as a result of her entire identity now revolving around police work for Hanka while everyone around her has their own purpose in life, hunting down some kind of rogue program, and eventually turning out to have been given a pseudonym and fake memories, with the former coming from the comic book version's own reasoning that "Kusanagi" is a made-up name (not many people would naturally have the name 'Durandel' or 'Crocea Mors', to compare), and the latter also coming from Arise.
Conveniently an Orphan: Major's parents both died in the terrorist attack that sunk her refugee boat. This is the lie that Hanka programmed her to believe. Motoko was actually a runaway who lived with Kuze and other children in the Lawless Zone. Hanka's forces kidnapped all these children and used all of them as experiments for Project 2571.
Dance Battler: After getting handcuffed to a stripper pole in a private room in a club, the goons suggest that the Major "dance" and have a little fun. The only thing is, she's not built for dancing.
Deadpan Snarker: Definitely. She and Batou have quite a few snarking matches.
Flipping the Bird: The Major sarcastically responds with this after Batou upgrades his eyes.
Major: How many fingers am I holding up?
Batou: Funny.
Heroic RRoD: Much like the original film, Major shreds her own body apart and loses her arm in the process of defeating the spider tank.
I Choose to Stay: Kuze asks Major to abandon her body and escape with him into his network. She refuses as she's not ready to leave her friends and newly-discovered family.
Indentured Servitude: The official trailer indicates that the Major's life is no longer her own. The movie itself doesn't indicate this is the case.
Dr. Ouelet: You were dying, and we saved you. Now, you save others.
Kuze: Everything they told you is a lie. They did not save your life. They stole it.
Invisible Streaker: Although her body can cloak very effectively, she must strip "naked" in order to make use of it.
Ironic Echo: "I give my consent."
Let's Dance: After getting handcuffed to a stripper pole in a private room in a club, the goons suggest that the Major "dance" and have a little fun. The only thing is, she's not built for dancing.
Loss of Identity: At the end of the movie, Mira is standing in front of a gravestone that says "MOTOKO KUSANAGI", paying respect to the woman she used to be.
Married to the Job: You can see sparse concrete apartment the Major uses, lacking any decoration or personal items unconnected with her job or self-maintenance with the daughter's room that her mother keeps carefully preserved.
Missing Mom: Mira is lead to believe that her parents died in the accident that made her what she is now, but she later finds out that her mother is still alive and well, and is eventually reunited with her at the end of the movie.
Overranked Soldier: In most adaptations the Major is a career soldier, hence her rank. Here she's only been a soldier since completing her initial post-enhancement trials less than a year before the start of the main story, making her very inexperienced for her rank, and at times it shows (see Adaptational Badass above).
Racial Transformation: She's actually Asian. For whatever reason, Hanka Robotics gave her a Caucasian cyborg body, perhaps to better give her a completely new identity.
Sensual Spandex: The Major's distinctive form fitting optical camouflage suit puts her body on full display, though the actual costume was made out of silicone in order to conceal the parts of Scarlett Johansson's anatomy the Major's cybernetic body is supposed to lack. The sensual aspect is provided by a network of subtle surface details and incised lines that imply and accentuate the cybernetic mechanisms and access panels that supposedly lie underneath.
Single Tear: Major sheds one in the final scene, albeit more discretely than usual for this trope.
Taking the Bullet: Major takes a bomb blast that would have killed Batou, though he's still blinded enough to require cyborg eyes.
Taser Tag Weakness: Major is captured twice this way using some form of shock prod.
Toplessness from the Back: When Major takes off her diving suit.
Who Are You?: Major gets asked this several times. The question is more relevant than she thinks.
Younger than She Looks: She was originally a teenage runaway before her brain was put into an older cyborg body.

Aramaki

Daisuke Aramaki

Portrayed by: Takeshi Kitano

Voiced by: Takeshi Kitano

The Chief of Section 9.

Badass Boast: “Don’t send a rabbit to kill a fox.” Also doubles as Pre-Mortem One-Liner
Bulletproof Vest: Aramaki's briefcase is bulletproof and saves his life from an assassination attempt.
Cool Old Guy: Has to be in his mid-sixties, and wipes the floor with the assassins sent after him.
Da Chief: Downplayed, in that he rides his team about procedure sometimes, but only because he knows it'll keep their superiors off their backs and able to do their damn jobs.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Aramaki refused to believe that the Major went rogue after Cutter framed her for Ouelet's murder.
Revolvers Are Just Better: When it's time to take on Hanka Robotics, Aramaki wordlessly places on the table a Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum encased in a leather holster, a noticeable contrast to the high-tech autos wielded by his subordinates.

Batou

Portrayed by: Pilou Asbæk

Voiced by: Idzi Dutkiewicz (Latin-American Spanish), Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese)

The second in command of Section 9 under the Major. The novels mentions that he has Swedish heritage.

The Big Guy: The most physically-imposing of the Section 9 members.
Cool Car: Uses a Lotus Esprit.
Elites Are More Glamorous: Before Batou joined Section 9, he was from the Swedish Army's Special Operations Group.^note
Eye Scream: Batou gets his cybernetic eyes after being blinded in an explosion. What we see of the aftermath isn't pretty, with fleshy smoke rising from where his eyes are (or were).
Hidden Depths: A stoic, taciturn badass who doesn't flinch under pressure... and who never allows the stray dogs he feeds to miss a day's meal. He even makes sure The Major takes over for him when he can't do it.
Married to the Job: When Major notes that Batou has gotten himself Electronic Eyes to increase his efficiency on the job, as opposed to the more discreet versions she has, Batou replies that he has nothing but the job. Later he expresses envy that Cunningham at least has the illusion that he has a family.
Trenchcoat Warfare: Batou uses his Badass Longcoat to hide a shotgun in the Yakuza club. Once the shooting starts, this trope ensues.

Togusa

Portrayed by: Chin Han

Voiced by: Eduardo Ramírez Pablo (Latin-American Spanish), Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese)

A member of Section 9. Like all other incarnations, he's the only one who doesn't have a lot of cyberized parts in his body.

Badass Normal: The least enhanced member of Section 9, but still more than capable of holding his own in a fight. Those assassins never knew who they were up against.
Revolvers Are Just Better: Togusa uses a Chiappa Rhino 60DS, the updated equivalent of the Mateba autorevolver he carries in the anime.

Ishikawa

Carlos Ishikawa

Portrayed by: Lasarus Ratuere

Voiced by: Gerardo García (Latin-American Spanish), Yutaka Nakano (Japanese)

The covert intelligence, information warfare and technology specialist in Section 9.

Don't Make Me Destroy You: Ishikawa makes an armed civilian drop a sharp instrument after shooting an armed man in a raid on a cyberhub.
Named by the Adaptation: He's got a first name, Carlos. The other GITS versions (including the manga version) didn't indicate his first name.
Race Lift: Ishikawa is played by Australian actor Lasarus Ratuere.
The Alcoholic: Ishikawa is introduced by showing off the surgery scars for his new enhanced liver. Togusa expresses his disbelief that he got a new liver just so he could drink more.

Saito

Portrayed by: Yutaka Izumihara

Section 9's resident tactical sniper specialist.

All There in the Manual: The interview with Izumihara mentions that this version of Saito used to be with the Navy SEALs prior to being a mercenary and then, joining Section 9.
Elites Are More Glamorous: Used to be a Navy SEAL.
Friendly Sniper: Covers the Major by taking out the gunship trying to attack her in the slums.
Improbable Aiming Skills: Thanks to his cybernetic eye.
Private Military Contractors: The novel hints to his mercenary past prior to being recruited for Section 9.

Borma

Portrayed by: Tawanda Manyimo

Voiced by: Daniel del Roble (Latin-American Spanish)

Section 9's explosive weapons and bomb disposal specialist.

Race Lift: Borma, also assumed to be Japanese,^note is played by New Zealander-Zimbabwean actor Tawanda Manyimo. It might be a deliberate artistic license, as "Borma" sounds phonetically more African than Japanese (his name spelled in Japanese is an ambiguous "Bōma").

Ladriya

Portrayed by: Danusia Samal

Voiced by: Yadira Aedo (Latin-American Spanish), Haruyo Yamaga (Japanese)

Section 9's advanced weapons specialist, who's skilled with a knife. A British woman of Indian origin, according to the novel.

Action Girl: The other female in Section 9 who fights against armed criminals.
Canon Foreigner: She's a character created specifically for this movie.
Expy: Considering that Ladriya's mentioned by story material to be good with a knife, she's most likely a female counterpart of Pazu.
Informed Attribute: Some info released mentions that Ladriya is good in using a knife, which is not seen in the movie.

Hanka Robotics

Cutter

Portrayed by: Peter Ferdinando

Voiced by: Manuel Campuzano (Latin-American Spanish), Masaki Terasoma (Japanese)

Hanka Robotics' CEO.

Big Bad: Creates and manipulates the cyborgs to use as weapons and plans to kill the Major when she finds out too much, putting them at odds.
Bond One-Liner: After he shoots Dr. Ouelet through her heart for freeing Major he says, "that's the problem with the human heart." While this is probably intended to have a double-meaning (the human heart is fragile and easier to destroy than a cyborg and also a person's metaphorical 'heart' makes them unreliable killers) it comes across as a Cold Ham Card-Carrying Villain moment.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: He uses his company to perform illegal experiments on people to turn them into living weapons.
Flat Character: Pretty much nothing about Cutter or his backstory is revealed to the audience. Why is he so deeply committed to Hanka's cyborg project, to the point where he will personally murder someone that interfere's with it? The most motive Cutter ever gets is Money, Dear Boy
Improbable Aiming Skills: When Cutter shoots at Dr. Ouelet a wall of bullet-resistant glass separates him and his target. He places two shots in the exact same spot, the first is stopped by the glass but the second pierces through it and Ouelet's chest. Perhaps a Downplayed Trope since he was only about 15 feet away from his target and this is the only time Cutter is seen firing a personal weapon.
Meaningful Name: He oversees Hanka's research into combat-cyborgs, which involves kidnapping vagrants and literally cutting their brains out of their bodies. As Kuza puts it, "they discarded my body like garbage."
Non-Action Big Bad: Despite having some combat prowess hinted at with a minor instance Improbable Aiming Skills and his choice to personally control the Spider-Tank against Major he ultimately goes down in a Single-Stroke Battle shooting against the elderly Aramaki.
Red Right Hand: Cutter has mismatched eyes: one, seemingly natural, eye is icy-blue and the other is pale yellow. Despite heading the world's biggest promoter of cybernetics this is one of the few visible signs that Cutter himself has been cybernetically modified, which causes this to verge on Supernatural Gold Eyes.
Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Cutter believes that running the largest and most powerful tech corporation in the country makes him untouchable. All it really means is that Aramaki has to seek permission from his superiors in the government before executing him.

Dr. Ouelet

Portrayed by: Juliette Binoche

Voiced by: Rebeca Patiño (Latin-American Spanish), Kaori Yamagata (Japanese)

Redemption Equals Death: Ouelet has killed over 90 'test subjects' in order to perfect cyborg technology. However she gives her life to help Major escape Hanka Industries.
Reluctant Mad Scientist: Dr Ouelet turns a blind eye to where the test subjects come from, and regards their deaths as 'sacrifices' for the goal of advancing human evolution. However she refuses to terminate the Major simply because Cutter wants an unquestioning weapon as opposed to a thinking human-machine hybrid.
Token Good Teammate: She's the only employee at Hanka Robotics who helps the Major rather than hunt her down.

Dr. Dahlin

Portrayed by: Anamaria Marinca

Voiced by: Marisol Romero (Latin-American Spanish), Chiaki Kanou (Japanese)

Hanka Robotics' Section 9 consultant.

Crazy-Prepared: Was able to put some sensitive data Related to Project 2571 with attack barriers on as a safety measure.

Antagonists

Kuze

Portrayed by: Michael Carmen Pitt

Voiced by: Gerardo Alonso (Latin-American Spanish), Rikiya Koyama (Japanese)

A hacker who targets Hanka Robotics.

Adaptational Personality Change: He's noticeably angrier than in Stand Alone Complex.
Adaptational Wimp: While Kuze's still Made of Iron, he's less effective than in other forms of media.
Anti-Villain: Type II. Kuze is a good man who was driven to insanity and goes to extremes to seek revenge.
Badass Longcoat: Wears a hooded trenchcoat earlier on in the movie.
Big "NO!": He shouts "No!" when he thinks the Major is killed.
Boom, Headshot!: Kuze is taken out by a sniper this way in the climactic scene, much like Project 2501 from the original movie.
Composite Character: Kuze, the main villain, is the primary antagonist of 2nd Gig. The official trailer shows him unveiling himself from the same heavy winter parka that the Laughing Man walked around in. Early drafts of the story combined them together as the same character. Kuze's ultimate goal is to form a super-network that allows people to transcend their bodies and limits born out of a desire to break free from limits imposed on them, just as the Puppet Master did, right down in trying to merge his ghost with the Major before being sniped. Above all else, though, his goal is revenge - just as with Kuze and the Laughing Man.
Disposable Vagrant: Hanka Robotics turns out to use runaways extensively in their experiments, which included him.
Finger Gun: Done by a Defiant to the End Kuze facing a spider tank at point blank range. Cutter seems to approve.
Machine Monotone: Kuze speaks like this, with noticeable glitches in his speech patterns.
Made of Iron: Kuze's body is a mish-mash of various parts, yet he's able to take Five Rounds Rapid right into the chest without so much as any signs that he was even shot.
Psycho Prototype: Hideo/Kuze is revealed to have also been subjected to having his identity wiped and a new one planted into him by Hanka Robotics, but in his case it also left him unbalanced.
Tragic Villain: Kuze is in many ways, a profoundly wronged man.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Kuze truly does believe in the righteousness of his plan of downloading the minds of many people to creating a super network will benefit everyone.

The Geishas

Portrayed by: Rila Fukushima

A group of robotic geishas that are hacked by Kuze to commit a terrorist attack on a Hanka Robotics business conference.

Expy: They're based on the same geisha robots in SAC.

Characters / Ghost in the Shell (2017)

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