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Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊), also known as The Ghost in the Shell, is a Japanese seinen manga series written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. The manga, first serialized in 1989 and later published as its own tankōbon volumes by Kodansha, told the story of the fictional counter-cyberterrorist organization Public Security Section 9, led by protagonist Major Motoko Kusanagi, in the early 21st century of Japan.

Plot
Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊 THE GHOST IN THE SHELL) begins in 2029, and revolves around Major Motoko Kusanagi's (commonly known as "the Major") hunt for a cyber-criminal known as "the Puppeteer" (the Puppet Master in the film), whose real identity is unknown. The Puppeteer commits a large number of crimes by the act of breaking into and taking control of human minds known as "ghost hacking". During an investigation of a missing robot, Japanese secret service Public Security Section 9 discover the robot is the Puppeteer, who is actually a unique autonomous artificial intelligence project, known as Project 2501, and was created by the Treaty Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, known as Section 6. Attempting to gather more information, Kusanagi brain dives into the Puppeteer. However, its consciousness was collapsed, and was presumed destroyed, but Kusanagi believes that it is still alive and that she can sense its presence. One year later, after accidentally killing a suspect in a covert operation, Kusanagi instigates hostage situation in order for Section 9 to avoid blame for her previous actions. She escapes with the help of Batou to find a new body for her, however she discovers the Puppeteer is still alive in her cyber brain. In pursuit of its evolution, the Puppeteer proposes to merge with Kusanagi. Kusanagi, although initially skeptical, agrees to allow the Puppeteer to merge with her own consciousness. After merging with the Puppeteer, Kusanagi awakes in one of Batou's safes house and in a new body provided by Batou. Batou asks her what she will do next, in which Kusanagi replies that she does not know but states that "the net is vast".

Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface (攻殻機動隊2 MANMACHINE INTERFACE) takes place on March 6, 2035 (five years after the events of Ghost in the Shell) and revolves around Kusanagi now known as Motoko Aramaki who is chief security officer for a giant multinational conglomerate. Motoko Aramaki digitally transfers her personality and capabilities between cyborg bodies stashed around the world, as she attacks industrial spies, assassins and cyber-hackers while keeping up a steady stream of digital communications with various robotic assistants and her secretary back at the office.

Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processor (攻殻機動隊1.5 HUMAN-ERROR PROCESSER) takes place between Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface and follows Section 9 and their covert op investigations. In the chapter "Fat Cat" begins with a young woman who calls Section 9 to investigate her father's recent strange actions, and he turns out to be operated (through his electronic brain) by remote control. In the chapter "Drive Slave", Motoko Kusanagi under her 'Chroma' alias, returns when her bounty hunt collides with Section 9's witness protection case. In the chapter, "Mines of Mind", a cyber-date gets interrupted by an arms dealer's murder, which leads to a cyborg shoot-out at the marina and the reappearance of an agent's old friend. In the chapter "Lost Past", the investigation into a kidnapping gone wrong leads to a covert operation by another government department into Okinawa terrorism.

Creation and development
While writing the manga, Masamune Shirow struggled to make it neither too complex nor too simple. Shirow said he drew approximately 40 pages per episode and it took him 40 days to finish one episode. He has also stated that he had always wanted the title of his manga to be "GHOST IN THE SHELL", even in Japan, but his original publishers preferred Kōkaku Kidōtai (攻殻機動隊). He had chosen "Ghost in the Shell" in homage to Arthur Koestler's The Ghost in the Machine, from which he also drew inspiration.

When developing Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface, Shirow initially wanted to use a new title by changing the last kanji character meaning "military unit", to the homophonic kanji for "body" so that it would translate "Mobile Unit Body Entity", but eventually he decided not to do so. Shirow considers the manga a completely different kind of work and not a true sequel, as the plot of Ghost in the Shell revolved around Public Security Section 9 and Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface follows what happens to Motoko after she merges with the Puppeteer. Shirow drew the color pages on computer, in which he states was difficult to due to technical issues with his computer. In the "short-cut" version of the manga, Masamune Shirow made the color darker and softer, but used more contrasting colors in the "standard" version.

Publication history
Ghost in the Shell ran from April 1989 to November 1990 in Kodansha's manga anthology Young Magazine, and was released in tankobon format on October 2, 1991. The dates in the chapter titles are set up in DD-MM-YYYY format. Dark Horse initially published it monthly into eight comic issues from March 1, 1995 to October 1, 1995 with the translation of Studio Proteus. It was later collected into a single volume in trade paperback format on early December 1, 1995. An uncensored version was later released by Dark Horse Comics on October 6, 2004. The manga was later republished by Kodansha Comics USA on October 13, 2009.

A sequel titled Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface was penned by Shirow later. The dates in the chapter titles are set up in YYYY.MM.DD format along with the time in "AM/PM HH:MM" format except for chapter 6 in which it has the time in "HH:MM AM/PM" format. The manga series ran in Young Magazine from September 1991 to August 1997 and was originally released in hardcover format along with the original manga in a limited edition box set titled Kōkaku Kidōtai SOLID BOX (攻殻機動隊SOLID BOX) on December 1, 2000. The box set also contained a booklet titled ManMachine Interface Inactive Module, a poster and a Fuchikoma robot action figure. Kodansha later released the standard edition in tankobon format on June 26, 2001. The SOLID BOX version added over 140 pages of new content and more changes were added to the tankobon version such as 24 color pages and large modifications to over 20 pages. However 200 pages from the original version that ran in Young Magazine were not included in neither SOLID BOX nor the tankobon version. The manga was then distributed in English by Dark Horse Comics into 11 comic issues from January 29, 2003 to December 31, 2003. Masamune Shirow manually redrew the manga for the English version so that it could be read from left to right. It was later collected into a single volume in trade paperback format on January 12, 2005. The manga was later republished by Kodansha Comics USA on August 10, 2010.

Four chapters that were not released in tankobon format from previous releases, were later collected into a single volume titled Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processor serving as an interquel. The manga was published in July 23, 2003 by Kodansha. It contained a booklet and a CD-ROM featuring the full stories, adding music to the manga scenes, and a screen saver. Dark Horse Comics announced an English version at the 2005 San Diego Comic-Con. The series was released as eight individual comic issues from November 1, 2006 to June 6, 2007 and was the first of the Ghost in the Shell manga released in the United States to read right-to-left. The four original titles were each split into two each, to make up the 8 in this series. It was later collected in a single volume in trade paperback format on October 10, 2007. The manga was later republished by Kodansha Comics USA on September 25, 2012.

A box set titled Kōkaku Kidōtai Cyberdelics (攻殻機動隊Cyberdelics) was released on July 8, 1997. The box set contains a collection of posters illustrated by Masamune Shirow, a booklet and a puzzle. An art book titled The Ghost in the Shell: Fuchikoma Papercraft (攻殻機動隊フチコマ立体図鑑) was released by Kodansha on July 24, 2000. The book contains several different artwork and paper cut out figures of the Fuchikoma.

Reception
Ghost in the Shell had received mainly positive reviews. Publishers Weekly praised the manga for its artwork: "Masamune's b&w drawings are dynamic and beautifully gestural; he vividly renders the awesome urban landscape of a futuristic, supertechnological Japan." Leroy Douresseaux of the website ComicBookBin gave the manga an A stating: "It is visually potent and often inscrutable, but its sense of wonder and exploration makes its ideas still seem fresh two decades after its debut." Peter Gutiérrez of the website Teenreads praised the manga, writing: "In short, Ghost in the Shell is hard sci-fi of the best possible sort: the type that’s so full of both undiluted artfulness and philosophy that it’s arguably a must-read even for those who don’t usually take to the genre." The website Read About Comics praised the artwork, however criticized the manga for it's story pacing and collection of short adventures stating, "I’m glad I got to experience Shirow’s artistic view of the future and am a little interested in the idea of his Intron Depot art books, but on the whole Ghost in the Shell was a massive shell game: flashy and fascinating from a glance, but ultimately empty when you decide to dive in."

Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface had sold over 100,000 copies from its initial printing in Japan. Diamond Comic Distributors ranked the manga #7 in its Top Performing Manga list of 2005. Mike Crandol of Anime News Network criticized for being too complex and overwhelming stating it is "too technical for its own good" but praised the new artwork, stating that Shirow's "canny drawing skills are supplemented by an innovative use of CGI graphics that represent the series' boldest artistic endeavor." Publishers Weekly praised the artwork as "the color and b&w graphics are stunning, brilliantly evoking the nonvisual world of data transmission" but criticized the story can be confusing.

Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processor was ranked #10 in The New York Times Manga Best Seller List on October 19, 2012. Scott Green of Ain't It Cool News praised the manga for its footnotes that "alone are worth the price of admission. The degree to which he apparently takes every aspect seriously and the amount of information he'd like to convey verges on a disorder."