Almost thirty-five years after its creation by the pencil of Masamune Shirow, Ghost in the Shell is considered one of the greatest Japanese representatives of science fiction, and in particular the cyberpunk genre. From the opacity of Shirow's manga to the social conscience of Stand Alone Complex, including the philosophical reflections of Mamoru Oshii's cult diptych, this work explores the behind-the-scenes and themes of the franchise as a whole. In addition to describing the process of creating manga, series and films, Rémi Lopez plunges body and soul into the heart of the work in order to extract its essence. Philosophical debates on consciousness in the age of cybernetics and posthumanism, political-industrial intrigues inspired by real events, reflections of contemporary social crises in Japan: all aspects of Ghost in the Shell are dissected and analyzed here.