Motoko Kusanagi's body was designed by the manga author and artist Masamune Shirow to be a mass production model so she would not be conspicuous.

Kenji Kamiyama had a difficult time identifying her and could not understand her motives during the first season of the anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

[4] English voice actor and director Mary Elizabeth McGlynn states she loved playing the role of Motoko Kusanagi and described her as "someone [who] was that strong, and still kind of feminine at times, but also kick-ass".

Major Motoko Kusanagi is one such person, living in a full-body prosthesic-chassis after an accident as a child; her only organic parts are her brain and spinal cord.

As the most heavily mechanized member of Section 9, she is regarded among her peers as the best hand-to-hand melee fighter and the most skilled "hacker and net diver."

Chief Aramaki described her abilities as "...rarer than 'ESP'; the kind of person that government agencies hire to assassinate without leaving a trace."

[6] The Arise video series confirms that Motoko Kusanagi earned her military rank “Major” by serving in the JGSDF.

After spending an undefined period of time in a coma, Kusanagi's "ghost" was transferred into a fully cybernetic-prosthetic body without her prior consent.

2nd GIG, Episode 17 – "DI Mother and Child – RED DATA", having taken an adolescent male to a hotel after rescuing him from yakuza, both share the same bed for the night.

The lesbian sex splash panel was cut from the original American release of the manga, as it would have entailed giving the book an "adults only" rating.

In the 1995 animated film Ghost in the Shell by Mamoru Oshii, the Major's design is significantly different from her original manga appearance.

Throughout the movie, she seeks to find answers to her questions and finally meets the Puppet Master, a rogue AI who became sentient and who is also looking for existential meaning.

In the climax of the film, Kusanagi and the Puppet Master "merge" to form a "newborn": an entirely new entity that exists free of physical boundaries and can propagate itself through the Net.

Her personality has not changed much from the first movie—she still retains her fondness for philosophy and her considerable skills in battle, though she has also gained the Puppet Master's formidable hacking abilities.

After successfully locking down the ship and uncovering the truth behind the conspiracy, Kusanagi prepares to once again disappear into the Net, but reassures a despondent Batou that whenever he logs in, she will always be beside him.

Upon awakening inside her new body, Kusanagi is told that her name is Mira Killian and that her family was killed in a terrorist attack, which is reinforced with implanted false memories.

Mira later discovers the secret behind her creation from the film's initial antagonist Kuze, who also underwent experimentation, as well as Dr. Ouelet, who played a primary role in developing her prosthetic body.

In the first season, Kusanagi started questioning the use of the Tachikoma sentient tanks, due to them showing signs of individuality and curiosity not suited for combat.

A boy who was also a victim of the plane crash continuously made origami cranes using only his left hand, as much of his body was paralyzed in the accident, in hopes of giving them to her when she woke up.

In the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society OVA, the Major has left Section 9 for two years and does not appear much in the first half of the film.

In the Ghost in the Shell: Arise (2013) OVA series, Motoko is completely redesigned from her previous incarnations, as are all members of the main character cast.

Her cybernetic body is shown as far younger in appearance and shorter in height to other versions, resembling a teenager or young adult and not much taller than Chief Aramaki.

Her hair is blue and cut in a close, straight bang form, and she is usually shown wearing full red leather pants and jackets and high heel boots.

Unlike other incarnations she wasn't technically born, having been the mind of unborn baby saved via upload to a prosthetic body; being raised by the military after her mother was in a fatal accident.

Motoko is also more prone to mischief when punishing others for insulting her; using her hacking skills to make Batou punch himself or appear naked during their meeting in cyberspace.

Motoko ranked 13th in IGN's list of the top anime characters of all time in 2009, commenting that "though she may be cool, professional, and mostly artificial, she's unquestionably human, and following her adventures through Ghost in the Shell was never less than fascinating".

[12][note 2] The original film depicts Motoko's identity and ontological concerns with the evolution of a being, resulting in full subjectivity, through a new form of reproduction with the Puppet Master.