Science SARU’s new Ghost in the Shell anime is just 48 hours away — and today’s Anime Expo 2026 panel in Los Angeles delivered the soundtrack reveal fans have been waiting for. King Gnu will perform the opening theme “GO GHOST”, with MILLENNIUM PARADE’s “Blue” bookending every episode as the ending. Singapore fans can catch the international exclusive on Prime Video from 10:30 PM SGT this Tuesday, July 7 — no waiting for a delayed Asian release.

Back to Where It All Started: The Original Manga, Animated at Last

Officially titled Ghost in the Shell THE GHOST IN THE SHELL, this new TV series is the first direct anime adaptation of Shirow Masamune’s original 1989 manga — the text that launched a global franchise spanning Mamoru Oshii’s landmark 1995 film, the Stand Alone Complex TV series, and a Hollywood live-action remake. Where those productions each carved their own artistic path, this series returns to the source: Shirow’s densely plotted, visually idiosyncratic cyberpunk world, now given a full weekly TV run for the first time.

The story unfolds in the year 2029, a Japan where the internet has merged with the human nervous system and fully cyberised bodies are commonplace. Major Motoko Kusanagi — a full-body cyborg officer — leads Section 9, a black-ops police unit created to fight crimes that blur the line between human consciousness and digital network. Threading through the early episodes is the Puppet Master, a ghost-hacker who can rewrite memories and identities without leaving a trace, whose true nature becomes the series’ central philosophical mystery.

King Gnu Confirmed for “GO GHOST” — A Double Debut at AX 2026

King Gnu — the four-piece alternative rock band known for Hakujitsu, their explosive run of anime tie-in tracks, and a reputation for pairing jazz-influenced arrangement with stadium-ready hooks — will open every episode of the series. PV5, released today alongside the Anime Expo announcement, sets the track against a rapid-cut sequence of Kusanagi and the Section 9 team, and you can watch it here.

For the ending, MILLENNIUM PARADE’s “Blue” was confirmed earlier in the production cycle. Tsuneta Daiki (常田大希) is the connection between both acts: he co-leads King Gnu as its primary songwriter and founded MILLENNIUM PARADE as a separate collective project. The two groups sharing theme duties on a single anime is a first — King Gnu and MILLENNIUM PARADE have never appeared on the same series before — and the pairing gives the show a rare sonic coherence between its opening and ending moods.

Science SARU and a Literary Screenwriter You Should Know

Animation production sits with Science SARU, the Tokyo studio founded by Masaaki Yuasa and Eunyoung Choi, whose recent output includes Dandadan, Inu-Oh, The Heike Story, and The Cat and the Dragon. Science SARU is not a house style operation — each project looks and moves differently — but the studio consistently works with directors who lean toward expressive character drawing over photorealistic finish. For Ghost in the Shell, that orientation aligns well with Shirow’s original manga, which prioritised kinetic action and dense detail over the moody darkness of the Oshii films.

Direction is handled by Moko-chan (モコちゃん) in their TV series directorial debut. Series composition and screenplay go to Enjō Toh (円城塔) — an unusual and exciting hire. Enjō is a celebrated literary SF author: his novel collection Self-Reference ENGINE is considered one of the most formally experimental Japanese SF books of the 2000s, and his short story Dōkeshi no Chō (道化師の蝶) won the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s most prestigious literary award, in 2012. Bringing that kind of philosophical weight to the Ghost in the Shell screenplay feels right for a franchise that has always used cyberpunk trappings to ask hard questions about consciousness, identity, and what it means to be human. Character design and chief animation direction are by Shuhei Handa (半田修平).

One curiosity heading into the premiere: as of today’s announcement, no voice cast has been revealed for any character — a rare degree of secrecy for a show less than 48 hours from air.

When and Where to Watch in Singapore

Prime Video holds the international streaming rights as an exclusive, with episodes dropping simultaneously alongside Japan’s TV broadcast. Episode 1 streams from 10:30 PM SGT on Tuesday, 7 July 2026. New episodes will follow weekly in the same slot. The series airs in Japan in the late-night “火アニバル!!” (Tuesday Anival) slot on Kantele and Fuji TV.

For more of this season’s anime highlights, our full anime coverage has everything currently airing and confirmed. The official Ghost in the Shell anime site (Japanese) will carry updates on the still-unannounced voice cast and weekly episode information going forward.