Ghost In The Shell Volume 1 - 2nd Edition (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) (v. 1) [Paperback]

Masamune Shirow (Author, Artist)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1593072287 | ISBN-13: 978-1593072285 | Publication Date: November 16, 2004 | Edition: 2nd

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 landscape, cyborg super-agent Major Motoko Kusanagi is charged to track down the craftiest and most dangerous terrorists and cybercriminals, including "ghost hackers," capable of exploiting the human/machine interface by re-programming human minds to become puppets to carry out their criminal ends. When Major Kusanagi tracks the cybertrail of one such master hacker, the Puppeteer, her quest leads her into a world beyond information and technology where the very nature of consciousness and the human soul are turned upside-down and inside-out.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. First published in English in 1995, this classic cyberpunk manga is the story of a future society dependent on cyborgs (humans with machine parts). It's 2029, and Japan has gathered a troop of military cyborgs in Section Nine, a secret paramilitary security squad. The S-9 squad leader is the tall and sexy female cyborg Major Kusanagi, and the men under her command include the gruff Batou and the uncertain (and mostly human) rookie Togusa. Bafflingly metaphysical and utterly gripping, the book is an episodic chronicle of S-9's missions that illustrates the fluid nature of crime, espionage and geopolitical skullduggery in a world where human personality, vast data networks and cybernetic technology have essentially fused into a single social matrix. The team tracks criminals, spies and terrorists who hack networks or illegally copy the ghosts (or souls) of enslaved humans into black market cyborgs. Their ultimate case is the Puppeteer, a deadly cyberterrorist who turns out to be a ghostless, "self-aware" artificial intelligence spontaneously created out of the vast sea of networked information. Masamune's b&w drawings are dynamic and beautifully gestural; he vividly renders the awesome urban landscape of a futuristic, supertechnological Japan. This new edition restores material (including graphic sex scenes) deleted from the earlier U.S. edition.
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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse; 2nd edition (November 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593072287
• ISBN-13: 978-1593072285
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #706,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A cyberpunk oldie that hasn't lost its cerebral age, November 4, 2005

By 

Del Keyes "Elaborate Chattering Nut" (In The Middle of the Sunshine) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Ghost In The Shell Volume 1 - 2nd Edition (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) (v. 1) (Paperback)

- REVIEW

From what I can tell, there are two kinds of cyberpunk-manga readers out there: (a) the kind that loves manga filled with emotions and subtle context on human nature, and (b) the kind that loves manga that challenges their minds on the complexities of how we function; if there is another kind out there, I didn't look into it. If you're on the column A side, chances are, you're better suited for "Battle Angel Alita", but if you hunger for more understanding on column B, then this 2nd edition of "Ghost In The Shell" will fill you up. If I had to choose one over the other, I have to say "Alita", because it's more accesible to read and engaging because of it. Nonetheless, I have my share of enjoyment with the manga that rises an anime global fanbase.

We, as the otaku, should all know the characters of this series: Batou, Togusa, Chief Aramaki, and the main femme fatale, Major Motoko Kusanagi. She's feisty, a real ass-kicker, knows her way around a tough situation, and she might be a lesbian, but some of us know about that; in this manga, she's also has a funny bone, so to speak. They represent Section Nine of some law-abiding force as they take on terrorists in a series of stand-alone chapters. When they're not arbitrarily kicking some terrorist butt and engage in dialogue-heavy crime explanations, they are on the search to find the notorious ghost-hacking anomaly called The Puppeteer. Yes, this is the same plot-theme as used for the first movie, but not as convouluted.

Compared to the seriousness and ultra-realistic look of its animated bretherens, the manga is surprising...well, goofy. This is the first time I've seen Batou actually acting like a pinhead, not to mentioned a total pig. The characters are serious in their work, but whenever there's a moment where the characters start acting weird like how most of the anime are, they will. Thus, the light-hearted aspect of the manga keeps it fresh from being seriously dull.

The best thing about "Ghost in the Shell" is its well-combined emphasis on science, technology, and spirituality. As the stories progress, Major ponders so deeply about her existance as a "ghost", a soul possessed in a cybernetic mind thus having the power of will. With so many robots and cyborgs in world, plus the lovable fuchikoma (no, not the tachikoma; they exist only on the TV show), she's only part of the margin that possess individuality like a human being. As she faces The Puppetter, who doesn't know whether it's a living soul or an AI, she was confronted by its own philosophies. Influenced by those who theorized such ideas, he debated on things that determine its effect and the purpose of survival. One of the morals to this climax is that no matter if we're human or machine, our mind functions no differently than the other.

Even though the art isn't at the level of the movie and TV series, the illustrations are still amazing to look at. In color pages, Shirow shows his true talents with his own creativity of a cyberpunk universe, and impressive designs of the charcters and their costumes, or lack of it for the women; no wonder people like his works. However, I don't think he excels on the b&w pages as there are nothing special to look at.

No matter how attractive the manga is, I spend most of my time reading through the text than actually looking at the pretty pictures. Reading through over 300 pages in this manga was an exercise in patience; I stopped reading the manga halfway for the next eight months 'till I started reading the remains, it was overwhelming. I know dialogues are the fundamental part in graphic novels, but that's the problem with the manga: there's too much talking going on and it interferes with the flow of the manga, especially when there's a lot of techno-jabbering and dialects that only a technical student would understand. Not even the four-page lesbian scene would have me overlook the fact that reading a character having a detailed monologue about how the crime scene was planned is extremely exhausting.

I'm complaining too much about the dialogue; this manga IS a crime drama, albeit a crime drama that makes "The Shield" look like a whimpy "Law & Order" episode. Even though it's slightly-more comical than its adaptations, it's still the "Ghost in the Shell" the otaku know and either love or hate. The fans (that can handle it) can still love it for its look and its complex-yet-rewarding storyline, but the rest might have trouble getting into it because they don't know what the hell the characters are saying. I may choose "Alita" over this, but I still give "GitS" a high recommendation, because Shirow Masamune did a great job on the elements that he delivered.


This is Del Keyes, saying "I'm giving up the ghost if I read this twice"

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, and uncensored..., January 5, 2007

By 

DJ (Auckland, New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ghost In The Shell Volume 1 - 2nd Edition (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) (v. 1) (Paperback)

Well, what can I say... If you're a Ghost in the Shell fan, and you don't like getting your mangas censored (as in, entire pages removed), then get this edition of the Ghost in the Shell manga. It's much easier to follow when compared to the second manga (man machine interface) - which actually has very little to do with the first one. I'm not going to go over the story as I'm sure most of you who are looking at this item have seen either the movie or the TV series, and now wish to read the original work. So I thought I'd be a little more technical with my review, firstly, I would say that the paper is awesome quality, not the standard dull paper which is normally used for paperbacks, in terms of color pages, unfortunately, that's where the second manga kills the first, the second manga had so much in color (about half) it was almost hard to believe, this manga is for the most part just black and white with the occasional 3 color pages thrown in here and there. I've given this 4 stars because I think it is not as enjoyable as some of the other mangas I have read, but overall, not a bad purchase, do note that the drawing style is quite old, don't expect the same style as the second manga as that is much newer than this one.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What we can learn through "Ghost in the Shell", December 22, 2005

By 

Kenta Toyoda "Moon Rabbit" (Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ghost In The Shell Volume 1 - 2nd Edition (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) (v. 1) (Paperback)

"Ghost in the Shell" is the SF comic written bi Japanese caricaturist,Masamune Shirow in 1991. This story became a movie and won a high popularity all over the world. Recently it gained popularity again since many short stories and the second movie of it, "Innocence" were produced.

The title "Ghost in the Shell" implies the topic of the story rather than the original Japanese title, "Power Suit Assault Force (Koukaku Kidoutai)." Ghost means human mind and spirit and shell means the hard outer parts. SO the ghost in the shell describes the human mind and spirits moved into electric brains of mechanized bodies.

The time is the nearly future, "highly information-intensive, with a vast corporate network covering the planet, electrons and light pulsing through it." People changed some parts of their bodies into machine as cyborg and can access to the vast network of information. The main character, Motoko investigates the incidents and fights to seize the criminals as a member of security group, Power Suit Assault Force.

The criminals for the plots mainly account for the political corruptions and illegal trades. High technology of computer, such as computer virus and network have share on those incidents. Most of people can connect to network and communicate by their own brains since they changed their brains to the electric ones. For example, the hacker controls other people by changing the memories of their electric brains through the network system as if we erase and paste the data by using the computer on the Internet. Internet was not well developed in that time but the author prospected what would happen in the future with high technology of Internet system.

Motoko is worried about her own existence. "Sometimes I wonder if I've really died, and what I think of as "me" isn't really just an artificial personality comprised of a prosthetic body and e-brain." It shows the paradox that people get more worried with immortal mechanic body than with human body. Mortality of body is an aspect that living things have. And the other factor to define existence is concept of ghost, only-human soul or heart, appearing in the title. It is not clearly defined in the story but it is working like human instinct. Like Motoko said when she decided to attack, "A little voice is urging me on..." "My ghost!" Some people say they hear little voice inside when consider starting an action. So ghost is our desire for actions.

I think the author is basically criticizing things that we are doing in this world, not SF future world. There is an interesting conversation between Motoko and Aramaki, her boss. Aramaki said, "Whether it's a simulated experience or a dream, the information that exists is all real...and an illusion at the same time." Then Motoko responded, "You mean in the same way novels and films change people?" Reality and illusion are same in the way they influence actions of people, as perception. I remembered some people commit crimes by being inspired by TV programs and movies. Aramaki added, "People are only exposed to a limited amount of information in their lives. In this case, the fate of a single nation and the life of a single person have been treated as through they're worthless. Most people will never know a thing..." For me the author seemed to emphasize the limitation of information even we get the technology to access a large amount of it. I remembered people tend to choose information that they prefer unconsciously. It is also a social, Marxism critic between people on the top and on the ground, between ones manipulating information advantageously and ones getting information from them and being controlled. Aramaki said, "People get caught up in worldly events and seek nothing but pleasure, becoming machines pursuing profit and efficiency, or mere consumption units..." He criticizes ones only seeking pleasure, like a form of profits even through the crimes, and likened people to machines which do not know to stop and think independently, can only work dependently on programs. It is also like Marxism critic not that people create and control society but that society has existed to control people. Aramaki added "As an adventurer once said long ago: "Sometimes people need time just to stop and think...", "...And people are the only ones who can do that..." The author seems to entrust a possible action to improve human society to this adventurer's word.

The author is questioning the human history in the other scene. Motoko responded to Batou, her coworker, asking whether she know the word human right, "That's a term that emerged from the interface of morality and reality..." and "I understand the concept, but I've never seen it in action." It is also an irony that humans haven't done what they have wanted to do. For example, discriminations against African Americans were banned long time ago, but it took long time until all American citizens really live together. We have created many definitions from our wishes. But it takes long time until these definitions came true.

The Ghost In The Shell is not just a SF story but has many theme criticizing how people are right now. Don't think The Ghost In The Shell is just a cyborg SF story--because it is completely misunderstanding. This story gave us great understanding about the relationship between individuals and society and between wishes and reality. And one thing I want to tell you at last is that this original story's scenes are dispersed into others such as Stand Alone Complex series. So if you have watched other series, you will find many scenes in this book that you have ever seen in other episodes. It is a very good aspect.