title_name=Ghost in the Shell
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250px
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Original Japanese cover
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攻殻機動隊
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Kōkaku Kidōtai
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Seinen
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Cyberpunk
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Animanga/Manga| Information
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is a ''.
The manga is notable for the proliferation of footnotes and commentary by Shirow himself on both the technology and the socio-political background of the setting (in the complete, English language
Graphic Novel edition, these take up more than 30 pages).
The overarching story of the manga is of the hunt for a cyber-criminal, The Puppeteer (known as ", that is, breaking into and taking control of human minds. As the agents of
Public Security Section 9 start to unravel the mystery of the Puppeteer, it becomes clear that it is no ordinary criminal, but a unique autonomous artificial intelligence project (Top Secret
Project 2501 ) created by another government agency, the Treaty Bureau of the
Ministry Of Foreign Affairs (MFA), also known as
Section 6 . The Puppeteer escapes Section 6's control in pursuit of his evolution through merging with
Kusanagi . Kusanagi, although initially skeptical, finally agrees to allow the Puppeteer to merge with her own consciousness, sharing her body, in what is no doubt intended to raise even more questions about the nature of human identity in a world where human consciousness is no longer unique.
An
Eponymous Film adaption was released in
Japan in
1995 . The film stars
Atsuko Tanaka and
Akio Ōtsuka as the voices of
Major Motoko Kusanagi and
Batou respectively, and was directed by
Mamoru Oshii .
- ''The Ghost In The Shell (Kokaku Kidotai)'' : Publisher: 1991 , original Japanese
- ''Ghost In The Shell (English Edition)'' : Publisher: Dark Horse Comics / Studio Proteus ISBN 1-56971-081-3, Release: December 1995, English adaptation
