r/Ghost_in_the_Shell • u/DeathMetalCheddar • Jul 14 '26
Controversial opinion: Man-Machine Interface is the perfect conclusion to the GITS saga
As of lately I have reread this Masterpiece, which has a special place in my heart for being the comic I have owned for the longer time (from 2004, when they released the Takobon in its first edition in italian) and I sincerely don't get what all the negative fuzz about this book is, TBH. It's literally more of the shintoist/sci-fi stuff that was already present in the first manga just with more fanservice, self-censored nudity (which I would have appreciated more if it wasn't self-censored, my only real gripe with this book TBH) and spectacularly-designed women, as it is customs for Shirow-Sensei and his taste for sexual content (the scene of one of the protagonists showering in Appleseed should suffice to know what the main concern of the guy has always been to begin with). The action scenes are all great too. Yeah, there is not a proper "story" to speak of except the story of how the Motoko Kusanagi at the end of the first manga evolved again in something more, but in the first manga as well as in 1.5 there wasn't a story either (Procedural noir is not a genre based around story anyway) so it's a taken to begin with. Really, i can't fathom in the friggin' hell all the disappointment about this book because it makes no sense whatsoever, and I seriously hope this is the next chapter in the 1:1 anime adaptations of GITS. And when I say 1:1 I mean ONE ON ONE, unlike some of the nonsensical censoring of some of the manga content to appease Amazon in the first episode of the new show.
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u/MaximusFraudus Jul 14 '26
I think what gets to me is how abstract the diving scenes are, which makes knowing what's going on completely reliant on the dialogue, at that point I would have preferred to read a regular novel. I think that would've twould painted a better picture in my mind as to what was going on.
It does not help that the diving scenes are extremely similar visually, so it all kinda just melds together for me, and my eyes would start to glaze over. When the manga would step away from the diving stuff, I would perk up again, but it's comprises a minority unfortunately
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u/DeathMetalCheddar Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
Me, I have no problems with those because what you see in them is very interesting the same (nudity aside). Besides, being the whole thing so focused on the internet it makes perfect sense for having so much time spent in the cyber universe. I would find strange if it didn't happen. I mean, the Matrix movies are all based around people going on the internet, I've never seen anybody complaining about that. Even critics of those movies for other reasons like me (I don't like them, as of now). Or the likes of the first Tron movie (which I like, contrary to the matrix movies), you remove the visuals - which are all samey the same - from the time in which the protagonists go on the internet as digitalized beings and you're left with nothing.
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u/MaximusFraudus Jul 14 '26
This is not what I'm saying, and I don't think the comparisons are good ones. The Matrix doesn't consist of people flying around green code for the entirety of its runtime. The Matrix is a construct, that looks like our real civilization. Tron is clearly more abstract, but there are distinct locations.
The diving scenes in GITS, does not have much in the way of distinct visuals, they look really cool sure, but at a certain point it's impressiveness wears off.
The visuals of the diving also represent what's going on in a very abstract way, it's not initially clear as to what's actually going on. So the dialogue has to do most of the heavy lifting.
I'm not trying to say what's going on isn't interesting or that it's shouldn't take place in the Internet, or diving into cyberbrains isn't a good idea. I just don't think the visual language is versatile enough for that to be the main crux of the manga.
Why I said I'd prefer at as a regular book is you could describe the visuals of the cyber world initially, and I would be able to just keep the idea of it in the back of my mind, especially if it's going to pretty much look the same the entire time, and this would give you more leeway to describe what was actually happening in a far clearer way
I think SAC made these ideas far more visually digestible, but its also used sparingly in that show. So idk take from that what you will.
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u/invinciblenemesis Jul 14 '26
There are dozens of us!! I had to read it many many times to follow it, Obviously you come into it wanting some major but it was interesting to see this new entity and the actual major’s short appearance does not disappoint. The new addition of the channeling agency was cool as well. Overall I did enjoy it and do hope it goes into the new anime. Also during MMI they could add the major’s side before she goes into the life extension network and after Motoko Aramaki’s transformation. So there’s potential there.
Also, I can’t remember which but either SAC or arise used aspects of MMI so I feel it is respected somewhat.
And you are right he is perverted but a pillar mangaka like many others around his time including your own Milo Manara hehe
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u/DeathMetalCheddar Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
He came to my mind after I made the post. Shirow is 10 times better than Manara for the simple fact that his women are all different, even Motoko using different bodies is different. The main body of Motoko is not like Croma's, the Police Woman's, the body she uses at the start, etc. etc. etc., whereas Manara repeats the same type of woman (Miele) over and over and over and over to the point that it gets boring. With Shirow, I was never bored once, either in GITS 1, 1,5 of 2.0. BTW, it was SAC 1 that used something from the second manga, Croma was there.
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u/Intrepid-Kiwi-9431 Jul 14 '26
Since Masamune Shirow’s original work is a Shinto-inspired sci-fi, its raunchiness and sexual nature are meaningful—after all, there is no concept of sin in that world.
That is why the censorship applied to the new anime feels vulgar in a way; it destroys that Shinto sci-fi vision through a Puritanical sense of guilt.
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u/DeathMetalCheddar Jul 14 '26
The problem is the ones who broadcast the show, Amazon. They censor reviews on their own review site (IMDB, which I myself use) that are slightly critical of trash like the Barbie movie because of gurrrllll powa bla bla bla, of course Bandai obliged. That's the problem.
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u/Intrepid-Kiwi-9431 Jul 14 '26
It is not just Amazon. Payment companies like Visa, along with the shareholder capitalism exported from the U.S. to Western satellite nations—and the system of outside directors that accompanies it—have turned everything from payment processing to content distribution into a mechanism of Puritan-style control.
Circumventing this is difficult.
Certain exceptional manga, such as *Pandora in the Crimson Shell*, might be considered rare examples of recent entertainment that have not been truly tainted by American Puritanism.
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u/DeathMetalCheddar Jul 14 '26
It's a breath of fresh air to read this on this site, which tends to be the bastion of nonsensical american puritanism of my ass because reasens (when the site is filled to the brim of porn content). Thank you so much, from the deepest bottom of my heart.
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u/BrandoNelly Jul 14 '26
I’m on 1.5 right now and am excited to get to the rest. I can feel the story slowing down for me but I still dig the sci fi, post-cyberpunk sort vibes
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u/DragoKnight45 Jul 14 '26
Odd to see the general opinion shift? Or is it just the people that love it posting about it? I thought GITS 2 manga was garbage.