This is why the style of the two films seem so strangely similar.

The idea for the massive "solograms" in Ghost in the Shell 2017 was a direct imitation and attempt at "updating" the more ethereal building-tall holograms in Blade Runner.

Essentially any time you see a "worn out, rainy, neon-infused dystopia", it's a reference to Blade Runner (intentional or otherwise). Blade Runner is the single most influential work in defining the "cyberpunk" visual aesthetic in film.

• Blade Runner was released in 1982.
• Oshii's Ghost in the Shell was released in 1995/1996.

As Mamoru Oshii himself has stated in an interview:

"There was a time in Japan when every anime movie borrowed from 2001: A Space Odyssey or Blade Runner or The Terminator," he remembers, "and there has to be a certain time when people copy somebody."

The artists who worked on Ghost in the Shell 2017 did a great job of realising Sanders' vision. As Oshii states, however, Sanders himself was using a stylistic palette that no longer has any original feeling left. That's why you might feel that "one film is ripping off the other" sensation in the trailer for Blade Runner 2049:

"When [that inspiration] becomes the norm, then the whole world is ready for the next step of making something of their own. That's what I think any kind of creation is like."

Blade Runner 2049 is continuing its own aesthetic. Ghost in the Shell 2017 was trapped in Blade Runner's shadow. Hopefully future live-action Ghost in the Shell films create their own visual style rather than recycling ideas that were done definitely over thirtyfive years ago, and endlessly since then.

Combined with the great roster of artists available today, a director with fresh vision could accomplish, as Oshii notes, "next step of making something of their own". Maybe Blade Runner 2049 can offer a signpost for moving beyond its own tropes. At the very least, the quality of the direction, production and casting choices will give a stronger definition of what's possible in a Blade Runner world -- so that future films might have a clear point of departure.

And hopefully, we'll finally see some new visual touchstones beyond holograms on the facades of buildings.