Ever since the live-action "Ghost in the Shell" movie cast Scarlett Johansson as the lead character, Major Motoko Kusanagi, the anime and manga fanbase have accused the film for white-washing what should have been an Asian role. However, speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, the series' original publisher, Kodansha, disagrees.
"Looking at her career so far, I think Scarlett Johansson is well cast," explained the director Kodansha's international business division Sam Yoshiba. "She has the cyberpunk feel. And we never imagined it would be a Japanese actress in the first place. This is a chance for a Japanese property to be seen around the world."
Yoshiba reportedly made the statement after visiting the set in New Zealand, where production for the film has already gone underway.
The report also explains that many Japanese fans already expected the film to cast a Caucasian actress given that it was being made in the United States. It is also pointed out that if fans wanted the cast to be Japanese then the movie should have been made in Japan and with a Japanese production studio.
It is also pointed out that both "Attack on Titan" live-action films, which were made in Japan, cast Japanese actors for characters that were depicted in the manga and anime as Caucasians. The same is occurring with the upcoming live-action film of "Full Metal Alchemist," where the anime clearly depicts the story in a European setting but the film is starring Japanese actors.
As stated in a report from IGN, the outrage against the film grew even more when it was revealed that visual special effects testing was done to make Johansson appear more Asian. Paramount has since denied this, stating that the tests were for a background character, but it is still speculated that the studios did indeed do the tests with Johansson's face without her knowledge.
"Ghost in the Shell" opens in theaters on march 31 2017.
