Two things I realised about this manga when I read it with one being the fact it was more relaxed with itself to spring spot of humour through unlike the anime film adaption where you were more like to hear someone quote a book and question existences of oneself in a world of technology and two….and two I realised I may’ve brought this solely for the few sweet pages of Yuri….what am I saying? I brought the manga the moment I heard about it.

For anyone who has seen the film: points of the plot are familiar but will either play out different or as mention have a tad more humour in place.

The year is 2029; the world is a different place where technology is rampant making identity and memory a blurred line of what truly exists (but that mentioned it would fit better for the film plot description). The manga can easily be described as a Cyberpunk novel with pictures from how the plot weaves in and out from the “The Puppeteer” (or The Puppet Master for anyone who watched the film) storyline while also presenting elements of the main characters personal life (Motoko Kusanagi) or a vague hint towards how she works in her personal and professional life. An interesting part of the whole manga seems to be elements that ended up in the second film to be based on the GITS universe—but I’ll leave out details about it. The paces switches nicely between fast-paced action type movie style sequences where they’re in a car chase or slowing down to calmer pace where characters are allow to grow and the humour is more pronounced—which in a way, downplays the themes of how technology and what we are can become blurred as we become more accustomed to it (something the film made itself known for).

The artwork throughout doesn’t falter to convey what’s happening, even in the faster paces section of the read where explosion have this nice way of actually conveying a explosion rather than the actual feeling of just someone scribbling something in hopes of conveying an explosion—but generally the guy got across the action without it becoming a muddled mess in places—muddle mess is a problem present in the Trigun manga which had a decent plot but problems in conveying a fight in the panel setup and drawings—but with GITS that doesn’t happen. The artwork is always clean to show off characters who become easily recognisable on their first appearance—each have their own kind of distinct physical appearance. Scenery is always detailed enough to remind you about the whole “This is the future we kind of want” it has the Blade Runner kind of chaos except we’re not fucked and it doesn’t rain constantly like the world was stuck in film noir mode (course the film was just that).

The writing throughout is like the artwork able to work in the fast-pace and slow-pace parts of the manga to get across the characters and plot, but word of warning when I said it read like a “Cyberpunk novel with pictures” I wasn’t just referring to plot—throughout you’re going to be overwhelmed with little info tabs scattered in-between panels and a page or two devoted to the explanation of certain aspects of the GITS universe (that do their job with the author telling the reader directly).

The overall experience is this: like Blade Runner except everyone (including movements) is totally A-Okay with machines….and it doesn’t rain…and it’s nicer in the whole “the world doesn’t seemed to be doomed in the long run”. Enjoyable, funny, with a good ending that is unexpected (depending on if you’ve seen the film or not) and action-packed—Ghost in the Shell is something to be read by the Cyberpunk crowd or manga fans alike.

Thought of the Day: August 20th:

Ended something and began to read something in the realm of reality instead of a reality where the insanity is kept firmly lucked up but with a added twist of surreal ideas being its companion—what I read now is the world where chaos broke out and only the ash remains—I’m simply reading “The Road” after finishing the light-hearted world of “Good Omens”.