Ghost in the Shell II: Man Machine Interface

by SHIROW, MASAMUNESHIROW, MASAMUNE

• ISBN13: 9781593072049
• ISBN10: 159307204X
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2005-01-25
• Publisher: Dark Horse Manga

Summary

March 6, 2035. Motoko Aramaki is a hyper-advanced cyborg, a counter-terrorist net security expert heading the investigative department of the giant multi-national, Poseidon Industrial. Partly transcending the physical world and existing in a virtual world of networks, Motoko is a fusion of multiple entities and identities, deploying remotely controlled prosthetic humanoid surrogates around the globe to solve a series of bizarre crimes. Meanwhile, Tamaki Tamai, a psychic investigator from the Channeling Agency, has been commissioned to investigate strange changes in the temporal universe, brought about by two forces, one represented by the teachings of a professor named Rahampol, and the other by the complex, evolving Motoko entity. What unfolds will be all in a day's work...a day that will change everything, forever.

Author Biography

Shirow Masamune was born in Japan on Nov. 23, 1961. Shirow studied drawing and oil painting at the Osaka University of Art, and while there, he wrote and drew his first published comic, Black Magic, for fanzine Atlas. After graduating, Shirow taught high-school art. During those years, he created Appleseed, the first volume of which was published in 1985 by Seishinsha. Dominion followed in 1986. That same year, Appleseed won the Galaxy Award - equivalent to the U.S. Hugo - for best science-fiction comic. Shirow continued to release volumes of Appleseed at regular intervals, until the publication of the fourth volume in 1989. After assisting in the direction and character design of the Black Magic M-66 animation video, Shirow began work on Ghost in the Shell. The first episode appeared in 1990 in Kodansha's Young Magazine. About this time, Dominion was made into an extremely successful animated video series, now available in English. After writing and drawing several new episodes of Appleseed, Shirow decided to take a hiatus from producing the series he considers his "life's work." He had also been working for Fujimi Publishing on the Neurohard series, a "bible for a shared world" which, when complete, will serve as a blueprint other creators can follow to make animation, games, comics, etc., based on the world Shirow has created. In 1995, Shirow released Dominion: Conflict 1. November of 1995 featured not only the release of the feature-film version of Ghost in the Shell, directed by Mamoru Oshii, but the initial chapter of the Shirow's Ghost in the Shell sequel, Man-Machine Interface. When finally collected in 2001, Shirow had completely re-imagined the original work, adding over one hundred pages of stunning color art, utilizing state-of-the-art digital imaging unlike anything seen before in a work of graphic fiction. The Ghost in the Shell franchise again expanded in 2002 with the acclaimed animated TV series, Stand Alone Complex, and 2004 saw not only the release of another spectacular Ghost in the Shell animated feature, Innocence (again directed by Maroru Oshii), but a second adaptation of Appleseed, Japan's first full-length CGI film, directed by Shinji Aramaki. Over the years, Shirow has produced a vast body of design and illustration work, much of this material being collected in the ongoing Intron Depot series of art books.