Do we like them?

Do we like Motoko Kusanagi?

A character from Ghost in the Shell (1989–present)

Our score: 8 out of 10. A brilliant, loyal commander who protects her team and chases the truth. She's cold and ruthless when the job needs it, and we'd back her.

Motoko Kusanagi is a full-body cyborg: only her brain and a trace of her 'ghost', or soul, are left of her original self. She commands Section 9, a small, covert unit of Japan's public security apparatus that handles cybercrime and terrorism. The story is set in a networked future where bodies can be replaced and minds can be hacked.

The Major is calm, sharp and physically unmatched, and she's a skilled hacker. She trusts her team and is trusted back, but she's guarded, and she keeps asking what makes her human when almost everything about her is manufactured. That question runs through every version of her story.

We score her an 8. She does a lot of good and is loyal to the people around her. Her methods are often brutal and sit in a legal grey zone, and her detachment can be unsettling. The adaptations tell her story in different ways: the 1995 film, the Stand Alone Complex series, the Arise prequel and the 2017 live-action film.