content: I think they should have had an Asian person instead. I mean, if it's set in Japan, then it would just make sense to have an Asian character playing that role and not someone who's white. That would be like having a medieval era film and having King Arthur being played by a black actor (inb4 we wuz kings).  They could have cast a 300 pound black eskimo as the lead, and wouldnt have to change the story at all. Your spirit/soul/conciousness whatever is just a ghost in your shell.  Sure, but she isn't depicted as a 300 lb black eskimo in the anime. Most of the time she has the same appearance. Appearance is closely connected to identity and her identity was that of an Asian woman. Her shell is just as much as her identity because that's the appearance she prefers the most.  However, knowing Hollywood and seeing Edge of Tomorrow, a film adaptation of a manga set in Japan, I think they'll just move the setting to America or Europe to get around casting a white character. So really, this begs the question, how faithful is the film adaptation of Ghost in the Shell?