MAJOR MOTOKO KUSANAGI

I was experimenting with backgrounds with this pic. A couple of weeks ago I drew an outline of Motoko Kusanagi's body. When I make characters, I usually draw them naked first before dressing them up by drawing clothing over them. Many artists use this technique for accuracy. When I revisited the pic again I thought to myself "Hang on a minute I have not seen a single artist interpretation of Motoko Kusunagi from the first Ghost in the Shell film".

Now I've seen a lot of Motoko Kusanagi pics as the one form the "Stand Alone complex" series (I've done a few myself and posted in my gallery) and I am tired of seeing them. I know that the series version is sexy and all but the one from the first movie was even better looking. I know, because i was there in Tokyo, japan when the movie was launched back in 1995. I loved the cold dark theme that the movie emitted to the audience especially that eerie haunted chant music, which drew in me in when i first watched it.

Obviously Motoko's character drew me in. She looked more artificial in appearance than the one in the "Stand alone complex series. That attribute is the purely essence of what the movie was all about. In her perspective and the audience, her body was viewed as a shell and Motoko asks and questions that and sometimes theorizes that she's purely a machine programmed to think that she is a human. Her hair was black and she had cold blue gray cybernetic eyes and an almost expressionless face which characterized her a lot as a cyborg. Those attributes also characterized the entire theme of the movie and was completely lost when the "Stand Alone Complex" series were made.

Although I have not seen the first ghost in the shell movie for many years, I tried to make my interpretation of Motoko Kusanagi. There were not many good reference pics available on the net so i had to use my memory of what the character looked like in the film. I must admit her appearance in the movie was more erotic than the series. I vaguely remember that she wore a skin tight suit that is also the same color as her skin (thus making her appear as if she's naked). I think i know why her appearance was toned down when they made the series. I still consider "ghost in the shell" to be the best anime I've ever watched and it had influenced me quite a lot (I was 13 at the time I watched the movie) and got me hooked in animes.