{"id":69618,"date":"2026-07-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=69618"},"modified":"2026-07-14T18:50:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T09:50:40","slug":"the-ghost-in-the-shell-director-says-his-eccentric-pseudonym-came-from-a-desire-to-abandon-his-ego-and-become-a-drawing-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-ghost-in-the-shell-director-says-his-eccentric-pseudonym-came-from-a-desire-to-abandon-his-ego-and-become-a-drawing-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ghost in the Shell Director\u00a0says his eccentric pseudonym came from a desire to abandon his ego and become a \u201cdrawing machine\u201d\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mokochan, the director of Science SARU\u2019s brand-new adaptation of Masamune Shirow\u2019s Ghost in The Shell<\/strong> series, has been gaining attention not only for his work on the anime, but his eccentric approach to animation and directing in general. Just last week, he said his method for achieving a truly faithful adaptation of the original manga was to \u201cseek spiritual communion\u201d with Shirow<\/a> and even pray to an imaginary image of the (still very much alive) author. But now, the origin of Mokochan\u2019s unusual alias and the has gone viral among Japanese anime fans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recent interview with Pen Online<\/a>, Mokochan \u2013 whose career in the anime industry was kicked off by a passion for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and solidified through his contributions to the Dandadan anime, says his nickname is not at all intended as a joke. \u201cThere was a time when I thought to myself, \u2018Just discard your ego and become a drawing machine!\u2019 and from that moment, I started thinking of myself as Mokochan. I\u2019m not fooling around with it, I believe it\u2019s my own way of taking responsibility with sincerity,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quite appropriately for his \u201cdrawing machine\u201d ideal, Mokochan says he has \u201cabsolutely no intention\u201d to flaunt his own sensibilities when working on anime. Rather than individual sensibility, he considers \u201cphysicality\u201d to be much more important for anime production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As he explains,\u00a0\u201cAnimation production involves enormous and complex organizations, with people fulfilling a wide variety of roles. The process is highly specialized, and there are times when, rather than expressing originality,\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0required\u00a0is the technical ability to draw according to instructions. But the moment something passes through your own hands and becomes your\u00a0output,\u00a0it\u00a0inevitably begins to bear the imprint of its creator. Once I came to trust that kind of physical signature, I stopped feeling any\u00a0particular need\u00a0to express myself.” According to Mokochan, this stance of his has not changed even now that he’s made his directorial debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ghost in The Shell anime is airing now via Prime Video<\/a>.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ghost in The Shell director Mokochan talks about his emphasis of “physicality” over ego in anime creation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":69621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[73,17],"class_list":["post-69618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-anime","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Ghost in the Shell Director\u00a0says his eccentric pseudonym came from a desire to abandon his ego and become a \u201cdrawing machine\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Ghost in The Shell director Mokochan talks about his emphasis of "physicality" over ego in anime creation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-ghost-in-the-shell-director-says-his-eccentric-pseudonym-came-from-a-desire-to-abandon-his-ego-and-become-a-drawing-machine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Ghost in the Shell Director\u00a0says his eccentric pseudonym came from a desire to abandon his ego and become a \u201cdrawing machine\u201d\u00a0 - 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