The Deluxe Edition of the first volume of the classic Ghost in the Shell wraps a great story in a beautiful package.
Creative Staff
Story: Shirow Masamune
Art: Shirow Masamune
Translation/Adaptation: Frederik L. Schodt and Toren Smith
What They Say
This hardcover edition of The Ghost In the Shell volume 1 features story and art by Shirow Masamune.
Deep into the twenty-first century, the line between man and machine has been blurred as humans rely on the enhancement of mechanical implants and robots are upgraded with human tissue. In this rapidly converging landscape, cyborg superagent Major Motoko Kusanagi is charged to track down the craftiest and most dangerous terrorists and cybercriminals, including “ghost hackers” who are capable of exploiting the human/machine interface and reprogramming humans to become puppets to carry out the hackers’ criminal ends.
This deluxe edition will mark the first time the book has been published in its original Japanese right-to-left format in English and was supervised by the creator. This will be the definitive edition of The Ghost in the Shell.
Released simultaneously with new deluxe editions of the other two books in the original series.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I have loved the Ghost in the Shell series since I was first able to see the movie way back in 1995, and I count the two TV series among the best anime ever produced. But no matter how much I loved it, I’d never taken the opportunity to sit down and read the manga. With the re-release of the entire series in three glorious hardcover volumes, I have now done just that. This first volume collects the original 1989 manga in one book.
The volume is hardcover, and the comic is printed on a high-quality heavy-weight paper. For the first time in the US, the comic is printed in its original Japanese, right-to-left format. Most of it is in black-and-white, but the first few pages of each chapter are printed in full color. The printing is clean, and the full color pages look glorious. I know the economics would be against it, but I would have loved to have seen the entire thing in color. The pages they give us in color are so well done, and the color adds a lot to the effect of the action. The rest of the pages feel lesser somehow. Again, I know why it’s not done, and this is more wishful thinking on my part, but I enjoy wishing. Overall, this is a really well done package for this manga. Very high quality throughout the entire volume.
If you have seen the first Ghost in the Shell anime movie from 1995, then much of what happens in this volume will be familiar to you. The story in this book introduces us to Major Makoto Kusanagi and her crew in Public Security Section 9. Section 9 is a top-secret agency that deals with cyber-terrorism, and the Major is their top agent. She is a full cyborg; her “ghost” (a semi-vague term that encompasses mind, soul, and anything else that would determine “self”) has been implanted in a fully cybernetic body. Her keen analytical mind, unparalleled physical traits, and hacking abilities make her the perfect person to lead the missions assigned to Section 9. In the course of their everyday activities, they come across the handiwork of an entity they can identify only as The Puppeteer. The Puppeteer is an entity whose hacking skills match the Major’s and who seems to be involved in a lot of activities. And the more that Section 9 investigates, the more mysterious The Puppeteer seems to become. All that becomes obvious is that The Puppeteer seems to set his/her sights set on the Major, and only The Puppeteer knows why.
As noted above, much of what the original movie does is lifted from this original manga tale (and many of the plot points that don’t make it in the movie are then seen in Stand Alone Complex, the first season of the TV series). If you know Ghost in the Shell at all, then you know what to expect in this. If you don’t, what we get here is some interesting detective work, a ton of violence, and a significant amount of philosophizing about what it means to be “human.” Is it the appearance of humanity (the Shell)? Is it the presence of a Ghost? Or is it the presence of a Ghost in the Shell? (What!? See what I did there? I’m so bloody clever). It really is cyberpunk at its best.
As a veteran of the various anime, what I wasn’t expecting was the irreverence of the Major throughout this volume. In the anime, she is portrayed as a determined, and mostly serious, person who is dedicated both to her job but also to her own mysterious motives. While she has a sense of humor, it’s a dry, wry sense of humor that often just adds to her mystery. She’s very secretive about everything, and for every question we get answered about her, six more pop up. But the Major in the manga has a very silly side too. Having read Dominion Tank Police and Appleseed prior to this, I’m well aware of the goofy moments Masamune’s female protagonists can have sometimes, but it was kinda odd to see it in the Major. It was definitely a bit of a different take on her character than what I am used to (though I suppose it’s really that what I am used to is a bit of a different take on her character). It certainly doesn’t take away from the manga at all, though. Different does not equal bad in this case.
The last thing that I was both fascinated (and, at the same time, put-off) by was all of the footnotes that Masamune has written. He fleshes out a lot of the story in those footnotes, pointing out details that are in his head but that don’t necessarily make it to the page. At first, I was reading these along with the comic, but after a while, I found them to be getting in the way, too. I was spending more time reading those than the actual story, so I left them behind. Then at the end of the volume, there’s a short afterword written by Masamune where he talks about the footnotes, and he suggests reading the manga at least once first without reading them, and then going back after so that the story flows. Wish he’d told me at the beginning, because I certainly recommend it too!
In Summary
The first volume of the Ghost in the Shell manga is a great blast from the past. Where I’ve seen all the anime plenty of times, everything in this volume was pretty familiar to me, but it was more like visiting an old friend who has a new face. The whole package is really well put together, and the manga is a lot of fun. It’s cyberpunk, but it’s not the over-the-top, “what the hell is going on?” cyberpunk that usually litters the genre. Even if you own a previous edition of this manga, I’d say this is well worth the upgrade. Highly recommended.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: M 18+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: February 21, 2017
MSRP: $29.99
