Ghost in the Shell 1.5 is a frustrating read at times, filled with half-baked and under-developed ideas; however, it’s partially-redeemed by Shirow’s artistic flair and a couple of strong chapters.
Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Shirow Masamune
Translated by:Frederik L. Schodt
Adapted by:
What They Say
Deep into the 21st century, the line between man and machine has been inexorably blurred as humans rely on the enhancement of mechanical implants and robots are upgraded with human tissue. In this rapidly converging technoscape, the covert-ops agents of Section 9 are charged to track and crack the most dangerous terrorists, cybercriminals, and ghost hackers the digital future has to offer. Whether dealing with remote-controlled corpses, lethally malfunctioning micromachines, or cop-killer cyborgs, Section 9 is determined to serve and protect . . . and reboot some cybercrook ass!
Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processor presents for the first time in America the “lost” Ghost in the Shell stories, created by Shirow.
The Review
Packaging:
Fans of Shirow’s female characters, be warned: in place of his beloved female leads, the cover of Ghost in the Shell is populated with the (now all-male) cast of Section 9. The grayscale artwork is remarkably drab when compared to the elaborate color illustrations of Kusanagi that grace the covers of the previous two Ghost in the Shell collections. However, it does appropriately set the tone for the more-serious story inside, in which Shirow’s fan-favorite female character designs play a much-diminished role.
Much to my disappointment, Dark Horse continues their tradition of shrinking the pages of Ghost in the Shell’s individual comic-size releases down by about 25% for the trade paperback collection. While this may not sound like a substantial change, Shirow’s artwork is so dense that this change in form factor has a major impact on readability. I do not know whether this change was made to more closely mirror the Japanese release, or simply for cost-cutting reasons. But given the major drop in legibility, I encourage readers to seek out the original comic-book-style releases of the individual chapters instead, which can be had for only a few more dollars total than this collected release.
Dark Horse includes no extras at all — not even the standard one-page author biography.
Artwork:
Shirow’s artwork is, as always, elaborate and highly-detailed. His obsession with minutiae complements Ghost in the Shell’s cyberpunk atmosphere, as the ridiculously-complex micromachines and futuristic weaponry are rendered in painstaking detail. There are a handful of full-color pages included which, while not comparable to the CGI-filled color artwork of Shirow’s later work, are on par with his other early-90s titles.
Dark Horse has chosen to print this volume on a nice glossy paper stock, which does a fine job of preserving Shirow’s artwork. Colors are reproduced in deep, saturated tones, and the black-and-white pages reveal an appreciable improvement in contrast over your standard mass-market manga. Unfortunately, as noted above, Dark Horse’s decision to reduce the paper size by 25% for this collection makes the artwork cramped and excessively busy at many points throughout the story.
Text/SFX:
The problems created by shrinking the artwork persist in the text. Normal conversational text, which was already tightly-packed in the comic book releases, are even more challenging to read in reduced form. Shirow’s copious footnotes are borderline illegible, and the SFX translations in the margins are printed in a millimeter-high typeface that will force many readers to use a magnifying glass.
Legibility aside, the translation reads about smoothly and coherently as can be expected from a Shirow work. I noticed one minor grammatical error in the text, which is disappointing but hardly a deal-breaker.
Contents: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Shirow collects four stories here which, as the title suggests, take place chronologically between Shirow’s two previously-released Ghost in the Shell collections. “Fat Cat” follows Section 9 as they attempt to find the root cause of noted businessman Hayasaka Toshiyuki’s unusual behavior. It seems that Hayasaka has begun making massive contributions to powerful Japanese politicians . . . no mean feat, considering that Section 9 believes him to be clinically dead. As Section 9 tries to track down the terminal that is controlling Hayasaka remotely, Aramaki uncovers a notable pattern in the list of Hayasaka’s beneficiaries, leading him to suspect that Section 9 is up against an opponent with deep political ties.
“Drive Slave”, the second of the four stories, brings back the “zombies” from the previous chapter. This time, the victims are remotely compelled to launch suicide attacks on Section 9’s key witnesses. Unbeknownst to Section 9, Kusanagi invites herself along on the investigation, using cutting-edge robots to track and take down the parties involved. Her reconnaissance mission leads her to the hospital where Section 9 is holding a witness; she warns Section 9 of the impending arrival of a fully-armed mecha tank, and helps provide cover for Batou in ensuing firefight.
“Mines of the Mind” brings Section 9 to the forefront again, sans Kusanagi. Aramaki’s men are enlisted to find the killer responsible for a string of grisly murders involving ex-military personnel. Togusa and Azuma follow clues found at the latest crime scene to (surprise, surprise) remotely-controlled cyborg assassins, while Batou inadvertently discovers that military intelligence has taken an active interest in the investigation. Despite Aramaki’s objections to the military’s involvement, military man Kim tags along with Batou to the scene of the crime when one final victim is discovered.
Shirow wraps the collection up with “Lost Past”. Section 9 is brought in during the aftermath of a grisly traffic accident. Among the wreckage is the corpse of a brutally-murdered 17-year-old woman, and the two Section 6 officers who were driving the car. In the wake of the accident, Section 6 reveals that the two operatives were providing protection for Fukatani, the former head of the government’s Asia Department, and that the woman in the car was a suspected member of a terrorist organization that is targeting Fukatani for his controversial policies with respect to China. However, Section 9’s investigation is interrupted by the sudden arrival of noted Chinese Army sniper Yuen Shohoi into the country, who may or may not be connected to the terrorist plot on Fukatani’s life.
One of the most frequent criticisms leveled against Shirow’s work is that his attention to artistic detail comes at the expense of the story. While Ghost in the Shell 1.5 is nowhere near as incomprehensible as its sequel, it’s also unlikely to change the opinion of many of Shirow’s detractors. The individual stories here are reasonably straightforward and consistent in execution: Section 9 discovers some kind of aberrant cyborg behavior, its members are repeatedly shot at and blown up while trying to uncover the root of the problem, and the perpetrator hides behind a series of technological red herrings and dead ends. The problem is that, once these stories seem ready to reach some sort of resolution, Shirow pulls the plug and simply lets the plots skid to a sudden halt. The responsible parties evade capture, Section 9 is still in the dark about their real motives, and the reader is ultimately left hanging with a half-completed story line.
These problems are underscored by the fact that Shirow draws only superficial connections among the four cases included here, such as the repeated use of remotely-controlled assassins or Kusanagi’s continued meddling in Section 9’s affairs. Likewise, he reveals no apparent rhyme or reason in suddenly abandoning one story to shift to the other, much to the detriment of the plot’s overall flow and development. There are some pithy attempts to tie these cases into the main storylines of Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2, but these connections generally never amount to much more than name-dropping the Puppetmaster and bringing back Kusanagi for extended cameos.
In Summary
I’m willing to cut Shirow a little bit of slack, as there are other positive elements at play here. Before being suddenly cut off without resolution, the stories are generally well-plotted, and they continue to provide an interesting look at some of the less-obvious challenges that society may face with the convergence of man and machine. Fans of the franchise should especially get a kick out of the second chapter, which marks the return of a familiar face and makes the only appreciable attempt to bridge the plot of Ghost in the Shell with its controversial sequel. Shirow’s artwork is also at its usual top-notch form, allowing Ghost in the Shell 1.5 to almost work purely on the level of eye-candy. But ultimately, I can’t shake the impression that these four stories are simply aborted attempts to restart the Ghost in the Shell storyline which Shirow shelved once he grew tired of them, rather than a coherent work in and of themselves. Readers who like the sound of “lost” Ghost in the Shell chapters will want to pick this one up as a curiosity piece; others will need to consider how hard they’re willing to work to extract some kind of coherence out of these disjoint parts.
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: C-
Text/Translation Grade: B-
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: October 1st, 2007
MSRP: $17.94
