She's a cyborg. Most of her body is robotic, but her brain still has an organic core. Motoko Kusanagi is not her real name (Kusanagi is a famous mythical Japanese sword; her name is basically "Jane Excalibur") because I believe she either doesn't remember or identify by her real name. At least in the anime, she was the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed her family and left her human body broken, so she's been a cyborg for almost her entire life. But she is still human.inu-kun said:A thought I just had, The Major is a robot right? So doesn't that make the entire "she should be japanese!" debate pointless as she isn't even human?
Regardless, why do they have a person with no acting talent be the main character....
As for her looks, I'd say Scarlett is not far off from her appearance in the anime.