reveal that the Puppeteer was a fragment of herself, but Batou already knew from being linked to her during the dive. Batou concludes that the ultimate identity of the Puppeteer will remain unknown and that incident will be written off as a scandal. Kusanagi implies that she will permanently rejoin Section 9 after years of wandering the net on her own. Cast Production The film was initially hinted as a new anime project collaboration with Bandai Visuals and Production I.G. The film was officially announced by Production I.G at the 2006 Tokyo Anime Fair. Whether the film would be released theatrically, broadcast on television, or released direct-to-DVD was undecided at the time. The film had a production budget of 360 million yen (equivalent to US$4.3 million). It was produced in Hi-vision format and was made by the same staff that originally made the TV series. The production team used a 3-D layout system to render the interior shots ahead separately and in advance. The art team was tasked to draw lighting boards to show the position of light sources in the scene to improve the overall quality of the animation. One of the themes in the series was "Motoko Kusanagi's rebirth". The team had a difficult time portraying Motoko Kusanagi and her return to Section 9. Kenji Kamiyama stated that he felt the characters have obtained "ghosts" of their own and that Kusanagi needed a convincing story in order to return to Section 9. Shotaro Suga noted that Kusanagi was more going back to her old self rather than showing the new strength she found when she left Section 9. For the music, Yoko Kanno read the scripts of the film in order to compose music that would synchronize with each scene, rather than composing music ahead of time. Sound Director Kazuhiro Wakabayashi returned to provide music menus, which made up of 70% of the scores Yoko Kanno composed. As part of the Nissan sponsorship, the movie features two concept cars designed by Nissan. Togusa drives a white Nissan Sport Concept sports hatchback, Aramaki and Ichikawa are seen travelling in the 7-seater Infiniti Kuraza that premiered at the 2005 New York International Auto Show and North American International Auto Show. Releases The film debuted in Japan on SKY PerfecTV! on September 1, 2006. It premiered in North America at the 2007 New York Comic-Con screening from February 23–25, and also