Gits collected manga 
cover--click to buy Meet "Major" Motoko Kusanagi, cyberspace operative for Section 9, a government agency charged with identifying and eliminating criminal activity. Kusanagi is almost completely cybernetic, as are many others, and she is an excellent officer--strong, skilled, superhuman. But this is just her shell.

Inside, in her spare time, she contemplates her "ghost," her consciousness, her soul, her self. This contemplation runs headlong into her latest assignment--apprehending a criminal called the Puppetmaster, a--pawn?--who is hacking into human brains, hacking into their very ghosts.

Ghost in the Shell is one of the most exquisitely rendered and executed films I have ever seen, whether anime or live action. A lot of work went into the making of this film, and it shows. The animation is incredibly detailed, the sound incredibly deep, and the "effects" (lighting, explosions, "computer" graphics) amazing. Together with the story, these elements combine to make Ghost in the Shell completely deserving of the awards and acclaim it has gathered.

Released worldwide in 1995, the film still stands on that cutting edge, both of animation and storytelling. It explores the very core of our existence while showing us a very possible future. It is a fitting successor to the classics Akira and Blade Runner.

The GitS manga is an eight-issue series (as released by Dark Horse in English, anyway) by Masamune Shirow, whose other credits include Appleseed and Dominion Tank Police. The artwork is incredible, and the story, though not one continuous story (as is the film), is compelling. The story covers several of Kusanagi's (and Section 9's) missions, some having to do with the Puppetmaster and others not, with the same exploration of what it means to be human as the film.

And there is something in the manga that doesn't show up in the film: Fuchikoma, personal mecha that function both as battlesuits and as independent robotic units, capable of their own (limited) thought and actions. They figure prominently in both the action and in Masamune Shirow's exploration of "life."

This is definitely the best manga I've seen, and it certainly rivals the film for my affections. Luckily, in this rivalry one can have it both ways!

(This review is reprinted by permission from elements of reviews found on In the Shell, found at neomythos.com/intheshell.)
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