Customer Reviews

Ghost in the shell 2: Man-machine interface

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was a huge fan of GiTS, and was delighted and overwhelmed by the story and artwork, being an art major myself. The story was complex and a bit difficult to follow precisely, but upon repeated readings I learned to appreciate the nuances of the piece. What's more, the artwork was phenomenal, and his character illustrations, urban landscapes and computer/mechanical rendering was imaginative, creative and flawlessly executed.

Along comes GiTS 2, and I have read it twice now. To be quite perfectly honest, I am thoroughly dissapointed. The story picks up years afterward the first book, with little discussion or explanation of how we got to the point we did. In only four years, the world has changed dramatically. The world is a hyper-technological impersonal place. I suppose this is a simple qualm on my part, but Motoko - the main character - keeps changing the way she looks, and in fact seems more wedded to her long-haired brunette model. Considering that she seems to have lost any humanity she had left, completely alienated me from her. Throughout the entire book, she is essentially a machine, without emotions, who speaks in dense techno-talk non-stop. Her sarcastic, caustic sense of humor is gone, and there is nothing left of the original team leader to remind me of the old Motoko, which doesn't help considering she almost never looks like the old Motoko either. This, coupled with the fact that virtually every character is the same way - emotionally stunted and too versed in a computer-specific way of speaking - resulted in my complete lack of interest in any of the characters.

The story itself relies too much on what is said and supposedly done in the cyber-world. A twist in the story could be revealed by a convoluted techno-speak observation by Motoko or some other character, so there is no real impact to be had. There is no break or reprise from this dense, constant storytelling, so there is little sense of motion or climax in the book.

What's more, there are no appealing characters in the book. Wise-cracking yet moral Batou makes a brief appearance in the last few pages with Aramaki, there's no mention of rookie Togusa or any of the other colorful characters. Everyone in this book is a corporate suit or a computer demi-god.

On to the art. Obviously, Shirow has improved on his already impeccable drafting techniques, yet he's fallen into a rut here. Almost gone are the colorful, imaginative physical environments of the first book, and we are introduced to a cyber-world of lights, electricity, virtual computer terminals and floating nude-yet-sexless big-breasted women. Don't get me wrong, Shirow draws very sexy women, but every single woman in this book has the exact same slim, lush ridiculously over-sexed body, decked out in prepostrously skimpy outfits (army girls with tiny miniskirts and unbuttoned jackets, for instance??) while the men are more varied in appearance and dress. This does strike me as a bit sexist and highly unrealistic. As a man, of course I enjoyed looking at the attractive women in GiTS when they dressed like that, but Shirow has taken it was over the edge in this second installation.

Another thing. While Shirow's computer-generated environments work at times, other times they are strikingly transparent and clash horribly with the characters in them. Also, the cyber world is a beautiful, flashy active place that is - quite frankly - completely uninteresting. There are so many things going on and lights flashing and people saying things that I just started skimming through them, trying to focus more on the story. I would want to flip past whole centerspreads of this world, since, when you got down to it, who the hell knows what that flashy bright thing is compared to the other one?

Characters are two-dimensional and fleeting, intriguing parts are swept away almost immediately (the Millenium section, for those who have read it, was a cool, extremely creepy part that was trivialized and tossed away almost immediately), the art has become perfect yet boring, and the plotline is difficult to identify.

When you get down to it, my main problem with the book was this: Who is this Motoko, what ever happened to her after her fusion at the end of the first book, what happened to the AI? Lastly, she never displays any reason for caring about anything that happens, she just investigates emotionlessly, and since she doesn't seem to care about anything, why should we care about her? She never laughs, cries, panics or becomes emotionally attached to, well... anything at all. How boring.

I gave this book 3 stars because Shirow put a lot of effort into this, the art was obviously worked on a lot, and I really enjoy his sense of visual style. But when you get down to it, I was dissapointed. I would choose GiTS 1 any day of the week, easily.

-Jonah

Before you read on, bear in mind that I'm writing this review in comparison to the first "Ghost in the Shell". While Shirow does mention that this book is not a continuation of the first, there are some major differences in style.

Let's start with the artwork. As I've noticed with Shirow's work, all the ways from Appleseed, his style has matured with each work and is at a very advanced level, in my opinion, among top comic book artists in the world. He has a certain style of coloring that, to me, is really unique in how subtle, lifelike, and tactile he makes fabrics and skin. While only roughly 35-40% of the book is colored, it is done so fantastically.

In addition, Shirow has a supreme mastery of the female body form. It's simply stunning to see how beautifully he can render the female body, especially with the dynamic energy he brings to his characters. While he renders many of the panels with the female characters in the buff, he does not render "R" nudity, but rather "PG-13" nudity, except in one panel). (As a sidenote, parents of younger readers should perhaps consider this an "R" rated book. While none of the nudity is gratuitous, it can be a little too much for some).

As fans of Shirow have noticed, he has been experimenting with integrating 3D, rendered environments and objects with his 2D artwork. He shows his mastery of this technique in many of the panels, where it seems seemless; you feel as if the character is really a part of the scene. Then in others, it seems poorly done (for example, he renders pigs in a sequence of panels and the pigs just look weird). I'd also offer some criticism of his rendering of "virtual space", as it quickly becomes cluttered and very difficult to navigate, visually, especially in the low-res, black and white lineart panels.

As with all Shirow works, there is certainly enough cool technobabble and gadgets to get your geek juices flowing. From exoskeletons that envelope and "swallow" the pilot, to oddly constructed androids, to the techno-metaphysical discussions of reality, life, existence, and justice.

My main criticism with the work is the incontinuity *within* the plot itself (I fully understand and accept that this is not a continuation of the first). Without going deeply into the plot, there are some scenarios where he will start what seems like an arc, but then the arc disappears, without entering into the plot again. It seems like whole parts of the book were created just for the sake of showing artwork, and not progressing plot (to me, plot should always come first in a written work, which this is, despite the medium). It feels like the recent Star Wars movies in that they are really a showcase for Lucas's technique with fully rendered set and have lost any semblence of a cohesive plot and great acting (especially Harrison Ford) that made the first three the classics that they are. Yes, while I do appreciate the eye candy, this is still a graphic novel, and, as such, I expect a cohesive plot and not random interjections of this and that and whatever.

Some fans will also find the lack of action (compared to the first book) a bit disappointing. The first book was far grittier and more action packed than this book. It also had a richer cast of characters. "Man-Machine Interface" really only features one character (albeit in various bodies and forms) and thus loses some of the dynamic interactions between characters. Shirow never gets a chance to fully developer the chief of Poseidon police and his crew.

Overall, this book is excellent if you simply love Shirow's beautiful artwork, mastery of the female body form, and creative techno-gadgets. The plot, especially the ending, will leave you sorely disappointed. Whereas the first ended on a revelation of a metaphysical type, this book ends in a fizzle.

First a few clairifications to previous reviews...

1.

This story is unedited(other than the reversed format) by anyone accept Mr. Shirow himself.

The tentitive early release of this story in Japan only had minor differences but also lacked pages as well as the epilogue.

So feel free to get it you arn't missing anything like the original edition of Ghost In The Shell.

2. Do not expect this story to be a direct continuation of the original..

To me it is more of a spinoff but an equaly fantastic work

Synopsis:

Motoko Aramaki is the 11th "child" of Motoko Kusanagi from gits1

She works for the corperate conglomerate Posidon.

the essence of the story is simple, even with the awesome union of Motoko and the Puppeteer and their unique abillity to perpetuate themselves via their "children" survival is still in jeopardy...With the power to exist in many places and having command of vast amounts of information a cosmic stalemate insues.

What is life(information aquisition) realy worth when you know practicaly everything?

Shirows abillity to tell a story with sharp dialogue and even sharper art rivals the great dystopian storytellers of our time.

I gave MMI 4 stars only because I would have liked a glossery like in GITS1 but a superbe work none the less...

There seem to be some people who had difficulty following the story. As one of the two translators, I'm in a position to offer some hints (I don't want to simply give it away!).

Hint 1: This one is very, very important. In fact, you might try reading it again after taking just this one hint--Look at the time stamps closely. You might be surprised....

Hint 2: Not everything moves the core plot ahead. If something seems to you to be a red herring or side story, it probably is.

Bonus Hint 1: Consider the primary tenets of quantum physics.

Bonus Hint 2: Consider the work of physicist John Stewart Bell--"Reality is non-local."

Good luck. It's worth the effort.

The original "Ghost in the Shell" was a watershed graphic novel that defined the standard for the genre, but this sequel just doesn't hold a candle to the original. A huge disappointment.

The original explored cybernetics, cyborgs, the nature of consciousness in the body, and tossed in such political realities as government-sponsored wetwork, supersoldiers, and intragovernmental infighting.

In this wan and thin sequel, Motoko fights computer viruses and mentally joins with a new silicon-based life form.

Frankly, that COULD be an interesting story, but it's pretty slow, tedious going here. We get page after page of Motoko shouting anti-virus commands to her robot assistants while we gaze up her skirt.

Oh, and Motoko regularly shifts her consciousness between bodies. But don't worry, all of the bodies are Manga Barbie-dolls with pneumatic boobs and Shirow gives you an gynecological exam of each one.

Shirow uses a LOT of computer generated and enhanced graphics in this book, and also there's a greater percentage of colored pages than the original, but it doesn't help.

A lot of the images from the original book have glued themselves securely in my mind because of their outrageousness and verve, but after about forty up-the-skirt shots of Motoko's various android twats in this book, I'd had enough.

Shirow has unfortunately dumped this series right into the "Vampirella Reborn" genre.

The overall effect is like a swimsuit issue of a magazine. Nice to look at, but you'd feel pretty slimy going back for a second look.

Hi, This is Malamasomei, your number one guide to finding good manga and anime.

This book has the same good story as the first, but isn't what I consider it's sequel. This book makes very little sense until the end, and although the art work is good, it just doesn't compare to the first.

I would recomend this for the art, but the story is very difficult to follow, and I don't think that it is as wise of a purchase.

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I got this at Anime Expo for $5 and even at that I feel it was a waste of my time and money. This manga is horrible. Remember how great the first GITS manga was? Exciting stories, terrific art? Well Masamune Shirow brought back the "terrific art" part for Man Machine Interface but he forgot to write a story worth reading. The plot, or whatever it was, was buried under a huge pile of meaningless techno-babble drivel. I mean, maybe a hardcore cyberpunk fanatic can get into this stuff, but an ordinary otaku like me could not understand it at all. And I read Marcel Proust in my spare time, for God's sake, so it's not like I have poor reading comprehension. A year after reading this pile of crap, I cannot bring myself to remember a single plot detail or scene from this book. It's completely forgettable. I tried selling it on ebay and couldn't even sell it for a lousy 3 bucks! I guess other people have realized how bad this stinker is.

It's a perfect example of all style and no substance!

This story is centered around one of Motoko's "children" after merging with project 2501. The Main character is Motoko Aramaki, security officer for Posidon Industrial. Readers will see a glimps of older characters from the first GITS book. All in all this book is far more complicated that the first book, but it is worth it.

I am a self-admitted G.I.T.S. fanboy; I even enjoy Ghost In the Shell: Innocence. Keep that in mind when I say that I hate this book. I've read it three times now, over the span of 5 years, and it still makes absolutely no sense.

It's true that this is some of Shirow's finest art, and his color work is at its peak here. It's got a perty mouth, so to speak, but all the words that exit it are incomprehensible techno-babble that, while they develop the world that Shirow has created, might as well be ones and zeros. Ninety percent of this book is hacker-speak between two two A.I. entities.

Do not allow this book to turn you off from the Ghost In The Shell universe, as there are countless wonderful sotries that have been told in that universe; This is simply not one of them.

Yea this book is very cool, graphics wise: very well done!!!!

however, for those of you looking for a direct sequel to the first book, this isn't it, its a very weird story that is actually very confusing until the end, motoko becomes a hyper advanced ghost on the net and downloads her self into multiple bodies,

the story featured here, follows the journey of one of these motoko copies to its very demise. However, the story at the end dose come back to the original motoko and section 9...sorta, batu and aramaki are in this story but only in the beginning and at the end, and it dose end story wise as if it were going to sequel.

other than that the only bad thing about this is that its printed in a slightly larger "Manga" size. its not like the first book, where it was a 300pg full size graphic novel, no the book is significantly smaller in dimension and has 307 pages, the text is smaller *8pt font MAX*, and this time about 1/2 of is in full *CG* color,

so yea its a must have for all diehard shell fans..but for new comers and not so diehards alike, this book may be a bit of a let down....