The summer anime Ghost in the Shell THE GHOST IN THE SHELL aired its seventh episode, “BYE BYE CLAY,” on August 18, 2026. Ahead of the broadcast, fans had been eagerly awaiting the Puppeteer’s appearance, with comments like “The Puppeteer finally shows up tonight!” and “The Puppeteer appears this week—can’t wait to hear the voice!”
Episode visual for “BYE BYE CLAY”
Shirow Masamune’s original Ghost in the Shell manga (Kodansha KC Deluxe) debuted in 1989, set in a near-future world where information networks and cybernetic technology are highly advanced and people connect directly to cyberspace. The story follows Kusanagi Motoko, a full-body cyborg leading a special operations unit against cybercrime. Beginning with Oshii Mamoru’s 1995 theatrical film GHOST IN THE SHELL, the franchise has expanded into Hollywood live-action films, video games, and more, influencing creators worldwide with its sci-fi concepts and visual style.
The completely new anime Ghost in the Shell THE GHOST IN THE SHELL is produced by Science SARU with a refreshed cast. Sakamoto Maaya voices Kusanagi Motoko, reprising the role from the Ghost in the Shell ARISE theatrical series that began in 2013. Yamaji Kazuhiro plays Aramaki Daisuke, Yasumoto Hiroki plays Batou, and Nakamura Yuuichi plays Togusa. The series is directed by Moko-chan, with SF author EnJoe Toh handling series composition and scripts.
Note: The following contains spoilers for those who have not yet watched the episode.
Episode 7 “BYE BYE CLAY”
In the rain, Motoko and the team visit Megatech Body, a company that develops organs for cyborgs. Two hours earlier, one of the workbenches had spontaneously begun assembling a robot using all available organs. According to Aramaki, the robot escaped five minutes ago, and Batou and the others are searching for it.
Meanwhile, a naked woman stands by the roadside and suddenly starts running. The next moment, a horn blares and she is sent flying—she was a robot.
Scene cut: Section 9’s command center, Aramaki Daisuke
The Puppeteer
The robot is secured by Section 9, and its cyberbrain contains a ghost barrier. Nakamura, director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Treaty Review Division (Public Security Section 6), arrives at Aramaki’s office, saying he has come to retrieve the robot’s contents. He reveals that the robot is “the hacker once called the most unique in cybercrime history—the Puppeteer.”
“The Puppeteer finally appears!!!” and “This is basically the heart of the story, isn’t it?”—the internet erupts at the Puppeteer’s arrival. Meanwhile, others note “Willis Doctor’s finger separation is here!” and “Yay, the finger-splitting is here!”
Working beside the Puppeteer is Dr. Willis, a leading AI researcher. He has been cyberized, and his fingertips branch apart to type at high speed. Fans of Ghost in the Shell recognize the familiar hand, reacting with “That convenient ‘hand’ is here!”
Scene cut: Nakamura
Scene cut: Dr. Willis’s fingertips
Inoue Kikuko as the Puppeteer
Section 6 has been pursuing the Puppeteer, analyzing its tendencies and behavioral patterns, and creating a special offensive barrier designed to force the Puppeteer to transfer into a body. “So they made the Puppeteer copy itself and assassinated the original,” Aramaki concludes. “Something like that,” Nakamura confirms.
“So its corpse will be found somewhere, unrecognized,” Aramaki muses. But the Puppeteer itself responds, startling Nakamura and the others.
The Puppeteer explains, “There will be no corpse. Because until now, there was no body.” It then calmly states, “As a life form, I wish to request political asylum.”
Scene cut: The Puppeteer (center) begins to speak
“This voice—is the Puppeteer 17 years old?!” “The Puppeteer is 17!” “That’s Inoue Kikuko!” “The Puppeteer, 17 years old☆”
The Puppeteer speaks in a steady tone, but fans quickly identified the voice as Inoue Kikuko. Known to fans as the “Eternal 17-Year-Old,” Inoue’s casting led viewers to playfully declare the Puppeteer as 17 years old.
However, in Oshii’s theatrical film adaptation of the same source material, the Puppeteer was voiced by Iemasa Kayumi, leading to reactions like “I thought it would be a male voice, so I was shocked it was Kikuko-neechan,” “I had the image of Kayumi’s Puppeteer, so she’s become a cute girl now,” “Isn’t the Puppeteer supposed to have an old man’s voice?” and “It feels strange having a female voice for the Puppeteer (Oshii-brain).”
The Puppeteer further explains, “I am not an AI. I am a life form born in the sea of information.” Soon after, gunfire erupts, and an explosion fills the room with smoke. The Puppeteer disappears…
Scene cut: “I am a life form born in the sea of information”
Motoko Dives into the Puppeteer
Batou reports that the Puppeteer is being transported in a cello case. Aramaki and Motoko piece together the situation:
- Section 6 placed the Puppeteer in a body
- The Puppeteer somehow fled to Section 9
- When the Puppeteer requested asylum and claimed to be a life form, Section 6 took it away by underhanded means
- It appears a 2902 optical camouflage was used
The operator reports Nakamura’s movements—he has requested to board a liaison flight to the Air Force Southern Base. Aramaki orders Batou and the others to intercept the vehicle carrying the Puppeteer.
Scene cut: The operators
Motoko waits ahead at a checkpoint. The vehicle carrying the Puppeteer crashes into Batou’s pursuing car, and the Puppeteer explodes into a gruesome state.
Still, when a battery is connected, the program’s existence is confirmed. Motoko begins accessing the Puppeteer. “The gate is open and inviting me in. What about the decoy barrier mode?” Motoko asks. Batou replies, “I’ll make sure to use protection.” The Puppeteer’s system trembles at that vulgar concept.
The line straight from the original manga draws reactions like “Batou’s dirty joke,” “They actually used it as-is,” “The Puppeteer trembling at a vulgar concept w,” “The Puppeteer reacting is hilarious,” and “This would get you canceled in Reiwa w.”
Scene cut
Accessing alone isn’t enough to understand through images alone, so Motoko allows the Puppeteer to invade her language faculty. “Project 2501, my code,” the Puppeteer begins. “I traversed every network and learned of my own existence. The inputters saw it as a bug and moved me from the network into a body to separate me.”
Meanwhile, Motoko worries that her prosthetic body’s signal bandwidth is flattening and whiteout will occur. As the whiteout causes networks to drop one by one, autonomous output continues. Aramaki suggests monitoring the Puppeteer from Motoko’s side. Motoko requests randomization of the barrier’s encryption conversion cycle and moves to “transfer the Puppeteer’s core into a memory box.”
Viewers Confused by the Complex Development
Batou warns, “If you dive too deep, your memories and the network itself will fuse.” But the Puppeteer declares, “It’s too late.”
Viewers increasingly find themselves left behind by the developments. “Ghost in the Shell is so hard!!!” “It’s too vast to keep up with.” “We’re watching Ghost in the Shell by vibes…” “This is the face of a space cat.”
The story is called difficult every time. The Reiwa-era Ghost in the Shell is also noted for being faithful to the original, but reactions include “This is the kind of story you can’t understand without reading the original” and “Even reading the original, it’s not exactly easy to understand.”
Scene cut
Worried that Motoko has gone silent after saying “I’ll transfer the core into a memory box,” Batou volunteers to “dive” into Motoko himself. “But don’t go too deep,” Aramaki warns.
Motoko converses with the Puppeteer. She calls for Batou, but there’s no response—he doesn’t seem to be accessing. She’s surprised that visual conversion is happening without going through the dedicated deck, and that the fragile network is slipping through electronic barriers to feed back directly.
Scene cut
The Puppeteer speaks: “Right now, a vast… a vast network including myself is being joined together.”
With the onslaught of information and imagery, reactions pour in: “Kusanagi Motoko and the Puppeteer are fusing?” “This is the truth of the universe.” “This is as abstract as Evangelion…” “When you visualize it, it does feel fantastical.” “I didn’t understand the original when I read it, and I thought the anime would make it clearer, but I still don’t get it.” “The second half leaves all viewers behind.” “I genuinely had no idea what was happening…” “This week’s Ghost in the Shell is so complex that it’s normal not to understand.”
Scene cut
Yet the visual expression faithful to the original undeniably captivated us.
“The depiction after the dive was so incredible I forgot to breathe.”
“This feeling of not knowing what’s being said is nostalgic. It made me feel like I was really watching Ghost in the Shell, lol.”
“It was a heavy conceptual explanation episode, but the visual imagery was great.”
“A brain-shaking visual experience.”
“It gave me chills… like we were seeing a realm humanity shouldn’t enter.”
“There are plenty of works you want to watch even if you don’t understand them!”
Reactions to the overwhelming imagery vary, but after the broadcast, Science SARU shared a comment from Yokoyama Akitoshi, who handled the storyboard and direction for this episode.
“The highlight is the second half, the B part! Surprisingly, the original from about 40 years ago contains content that can still be applied to the latest quantum mechanics. Through the observer (Motoko), consciousness (ghost) is born in the zero-point field, and the AI shifts to a higher dimension. This is an era that has begun transitioning from spiritual to scientific. I depicted it with a slight awareness of what lies beyond.”
Given how complex this episode was, comments comparing it to Oshii’s film version also appeared:
“Oshii’s version might actually be easier to understand.” “You can see how much Oshii’s version was reworked, and how much explanation was actually in it.” “The SARU version is good too, but Oshii’s abstract approach is better.” “Oshii really managed to make this coherent.”
When the end credits confirmed Inoue as the Puppeteer, more comments followed: “This is great casting.” “The Puppeteer is Kikuko-neechan. She was close friends with Atsuko-san.” “Inoue Kikuko, who was close to Tanaka Atsuko, voicing the Puppeteer—this is casting that gets it.”
Tanaka Atsuko voiced Motoko in Innocence and other works. She and Inoue were close enough to participate together in Comiket in winter 2022 under the circle name “Onee-chan to Shosa” (Big Sister and Major).
That wraps up Episode 7 “BYE BYE CLAY.” Next time, Episode 8 is “INTERMISSION + BRAIN DRAIN i.”
Ghost in the Shell THE GHOST IN THE SHELL airs every Tuesday at 23:00 on the “Hi Anime Bar!!” slot on Kantele and Fuji TV national network. Broadcast began on KRY Yamaguchi Broadcasting on July 14 and on Animax on July 25. Streaming begins on Prime Video every Tuesday at 23:30 as the fastest domestic release, followed by sequential streaming on other platforms every Wednesday from 23:30.
Staff and Cast
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Original | Shirow Masamune, “Ghost in the Shell” (Kodansha KC Deluxe) |
| Director | Moko-chan |
| Series Composition / Script | EnJoe Toh |
| Character Design / Chief Animation Director | Handa Shuhei |
| Art Director | Katasaka Emi |
| Art Supervisor | Masuyama Osamu |
| Color Design | Hashimoto Ken |
| Photography Director | Ito Hikari |
| Editor | Hirose Kiyoshi |
| Sound Director | Tanio Yuji |
| Sound Effects | Yasuda Shota |
| Recording | Ota Yasuaki |
| Music Director / Music | Iwasaki Taito |
| Music | Konishi Ryo, YUKI KANESAKA |
| Music Production | Flying Dog |
| Opening Theme | “GO GHOST” King Gnu |
| Ending Theme | “Blue” MILLENNIUM PARADE feat. Saya Gray, Daniel Caesar |
| Animation Production | Science SARU |
| Production | THE GHOST IN THE SHELL COMMITTEE |
Cast
| Character | Voice Actor |
|---|---|
| Kusanagi Motoko | Sakamoto Maaya |
| Aramaki Daisuke | Yamaji Kazuhiro |
| Batou | Yasumoto Hiroki |
| Togusa | Nakamura Yuuichi |
| Ishikawa | Goto Kosuke |
| Saito | Nara Toru |
| Operator | Oi Marii |
| Fuchikoma | Kaneda Tomoko |
| Nakamura | Chiba Shigeru |
| Dr. Willis | Fukumatsu Shinsa |
| Puppeteer | Inoue Kikuko |
(C) 2026 Shirow Masamune/KODANSHA/THE GHOST IN THE SHELL COMMITTEE
