Project 2501: An Incredible Homage To "Ghost In The Shell"

Illustration juggernaut Ash Thorp finally unveiled Project 2501, a tribute to Mamoru Oshii's groundbreaking 1995 adaptation of Shirow Masamune's classic cyberpunk manga. Project 2501 being a reference to the original antagonist of Ghost In The Shell, an aggressive artifical AI that escapes the confines of the bureau that created it, Section 6. While the project began as a visual tribute by Ash Thorp to some of the iconic imagery present in the timeless opening of the 1995 feature, his take ultimately attracted a worlwide collective of artists from various mediums eager to contribute to what a remake of the movie would look like.

While I must admit that I was expecting an actual CG rendered remake of the 'creation,' opening due to the way it was teased- It turns out that Ash and his team actually did an entire series of visual pre-production pieces instead. Proof of concept shots, CG renders, posters with an intent focus on the iconic opening sequence of the 1995 film. In this groundbreaking sequence, we witness Colonel Motoko being created to a haunting accompaniment of a vocal track featuring the ancient Japanese Yamato language (View below).



What Ash Thorp and his team did was really awesome, creating a series of tribute images as to what a 'respectful' western adaptation of the movie might look like. I absolutely loved looking through all the imagery created by the likes of Thorp, Furio Tedeschi, Maciej Kujiara and many other talented artists. Here's to hoping they find a way to actually recreate the entire sequence via crowdfunding, or expand this tribute project into something much larger sometime soon. You can check out a collection of stills and illustrations from the project after the break.

A respectful homage to Shirow Masamune’s manga and Mamoru Oshii’s seminal film Ghost in the Shell, this is a modernized direction that still tries to stays true to the original creator’s vision. What started as a photo tribute directed by Ash Thorp and Tim Tadder (photography), soon became a worldwide collaboration of more than 20 artists from around the world, with each and everyone coming together to help breath life into the project, resulting in the artistic interpretation you see below.