I REALLY ENJOYED this book and story. This was a page turner. It took me a few days to read this book. As I read this book I enjoyed that each chapter started out with color. I thought that was really nice. The color pages helped to bring me into each beginning of the chapters. It was like an opening preview to each chapter. It is rare that manga has any color in it but the cover art. So that made this manga even cooler with a dash of color in the beginning of each chapter.
If you have seen Ghost In The Shell, this manga will show you what is in the movie, some stories that were not in the movie, and some parts of the movie that were different in this manga. Shirow Masamune did a great job to keep the reader informed with what he wanted them to know, and keeping the reader entertained. I will say The Ghost In The Shell is for a mature audience.
The opening of the story introduces the reader to the Japan of 2029. Almost everyone uses cyberspace and VR-like headsets. A lot of people have become cyborgs and have a Ghost in them. The Ghost is their cyber consciousness. They hook up their Ghost to the cyberspace viewport hole on the back of their neck. The first time you see that tech is when Major Motoko Kusanagi has wires hooked up from her cyberglass that run to the back of her neck so she can be in touch with her partner Batou. He checks with the Major to make sure that she was set to start her missile. The Major reports that she is ready. She activates her clone battle suit and starts her missile that she was assigned to do. I enjoyed the part after this where The Major completes her missile launch, then jumps out the window looking up and smiling. The artist showed The Major’s face fade in first, then fade back out to blend into the night.
The second major part of the story is when they introduce the Puppet Master’s Ghost, which had been uploaded into a nude female body for Megatech Body, Inc. The Puppet Master ran out of the body and got hit by a truck. The police department’s Section 9 squad picked up what was left of the Puppet Master’s body. They hooked it up to a body computer to learn how this had happened. The Puppet Master fought back and blew up the room where they were holding it.
Then Major Motoko told their Chief that she was ready to dive into the Puppet Master’s mind. Batou was next to her to make sure that everything went well and that Motoko was safe while exploring the Puppet Master’s mind.
As Motoko was linked to The Puppet Master she learns about The Puppet Master’s inner workings and how special The Puppet Master’s Ghost is. As Motoko look deeper into The Puppet Master’s mind The Puppet Master starts to merge its Ghost with Motoko’s Ghost. As Batou sees that happening he rips Motoko away from The Puppet Master before its Ghost could take over Motoko’s Ghost.
Batou took what was left of Motoko back to his place. He hooked her up to a machine to keep her ghost alive. Then he goes and finds an empty lady robot body and brings it back to his place so he can upload Motoko’s Ghost into the new body. Motoko wakes up in her new body, lays back in a chair, and looks at Batou sitting in a chair looking at her. Motoko picks up a mirror to see what see looks like now. Then she tells him that The Puppet Master Ghost did merge with her Ghost but her Ghost was the dominant force. Motoko gets out of the chair. She leaves Batou’s place and takes a breath of the fresh air in to her new lungs. Motoko thanks Batou for what he did and that lets him know that he will see her later on. Motoko walks to a scenic viewpoint of the city, and says to herself “What should we do now?”
I am looking forward to see what is going to happen in the next two Deluxe Edition manga. I know they are going be page turners and I am looking forward to diving into more soon.
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