Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

- 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"

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.

"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.

[...] Notably, this TPB edition includes the original adult-rated pages edited from the U.S. first edition, will be 6" x 9" format, and shrink-wrapped with an 18+ age advisory.

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Ghost in the Shell Volume 1 2nd edition TPB
By: Shirow Masamune
Genre: Classic, Action/Adventure, Manga

Format: Soft cover, 368 pages, b&w w/color, 6" x 9"
Age range: 18+
ISBN: 1593072287

* Ghost in the Shell 2nd edition will carry an 18+ age advisory and be shrink-wrapped.

Ghost in the Shell Volume 1 returns! This second edition features the original Japanese size and additional material not published in previous U.S. editions!

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.[...]

This is the ultimate Ghost in the Shell manga! The 2nd edition has 18+ rating and so it includes original adult content :-) Also it's printed on a really quality paper with A5 dimensions so it's quite handy and nice. For GitS fans who don't have the 1st edition this is a must buy. Go for it you won't be disappointed ^_^

Ghost in the shell is one of the most definitive works of graphic fiction to date.
Centering around counter-assassine Motoko Kusanagi ( a female cyborg who's entire body is nearly artificial) and her motly crew of team mates as they protect the world from foes as ingenious as they are ruthless stands as one of my favorite manga of all time.
This second edition scales down the previous unweildy format of the first edition as well as the price tag.
If you are a casual fan and already own the first edition
I do not strongly recomend this later version.
The previously unreleased material is only two pages long and some coloration of the end pages of one chapter.
This is neglagable to all but a real fan of Shirow...
On the down side this version omits several of the comic book covers found in the back of version one as bonus material.
All and all Ghost in the shell should not be abscent on the shelf of any (even casual) comic or manga fan ..
If you don't have it get it. and if you have version one,
two may be worth your time.

Amazing artwork and spectacular story. It's a masterpiece of both genres: manga and science-fiction. I can't recommend enough this manga to anyone interested in sci-fi detective stories.

If you've had a chance to see any of the Ghost in the Shell animated films or episodes, you'll probably really enjoy reading the Manga that inspired them. This graphic novel has so much character to it; there are complicated plots, thick footnotes describing the author's view of the future, and a varying art style that goes from finely detailed to absurd and surrealistic (depending on the mood of the scene).

But be warned: do not buy this for your kids. There is a very explicit and graphic lesbian sex scene about midway through the book. From a narrative perspective, it fits with the themes of the novel and helps expand on Major Kusanagi's character (and shows an intriguing vision of cyber-sex), but there is quite a lot of intense eroticism in those two-to-three pages.

Altogether, however, this is probably the best Japanese graphic novel I have ever read or will ever read.

This book excellent. The author uses great choice of words. Overall, this is a great read.

Ghost in the Shell is more of an accumulation of stories printed over several years by the mysterious Shirow Masamune instead of a deftly plotted piece, so it reads more like an anthology than a series. Major Kusanagi is the lead operative for "Section 9", a covert anti-cyberterrorist unit in 2029 Japan. In this somewhat realistic future, the bodies of humans can be modified with cyborg implants, or even more extreme, the "ghost", or soul can be moved to a fully robotic body of various shapes and sizes. Even the most normal humans can communicate with each other through the net through receptors placed inside them. The big problem this world is having is the blurring of what is machine and what is human. Another one is that because we are connected over the net, viruses and hackers can actually take over the human will and force them to commit crimes. That's where Section 9 comes in. They have to deal with political assasinations, suicidal/homicidal cyborgs, criminals who can change bodies, and machines that want the same rights as us! And they have to deal with all this behind the scenes without bringing any attention to themselves or the public will cry murder.

While the art of Ghost in the Shell can be offputting at times because of its cartoonish style, (for example, most of the male characters look like simians), once you get used to the art, you can find real beauty in it. Masamune draws attractive women particularly well, and in this second edition, some more erotic elements enter into the fray. The artist is at his best when Ghost is in more traditional action mode instead of when Shirow descends into psychobabble about the nature of consciousness. As evidenced by the voluminous notes on his sources, I'm sure HE knows what he's talking about, but does the average reader? But the notes do help on some of the plot points. The design of the book is exquisite and it makes me wonder why Dark Horse did not put out this edition originally instead of making us buy two copies.

I would highly recommend the excellent Stand Alone Complex anime, which focus more on the action elements. The two films, on the other hand, deal with the psychobabble and are inferior to the manga and the TV show.