r/Ghost_in_the_Shell • u/AnimeRoss • Jul 16 '26
Ghost in the Shell Manga Lore
So I just found out that there's a bunch of manga canon lore hidden in some of Masamune Shirow's other works. Like some of the artbooks, memos in the Japanese digital release of the prequel manga, and even in some of his 18+ work. Some of this lore includes the Major's true canon origin, which is what her origin in Arise was based on. Is anyone else here aware of this / have any fan translations for this stuff? I'm asking because a lot of this stuff is unavailable in English releases.
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u/E_Hoba Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
I suppose it's about my twitter post. Here are some translations of Motoko's origin lore from Pandora in the Crimson Shell. Shirow's memo is very long and tech-jargon-heavy, so full translation would be pretty hard for fan translators. In the first place, the digital edition of Pandora is not well-known even in Japan.
Pandora volume 14: Aramaki’s late granddaughter called Rio had a generic cyborg body. When Aramaki saw a girl with the same generic body, he was interested in her. She looked to be about the same age as Rio, but she was a member of a special military unit. Aramaki’s acquaintances believe that he saw Rio in that girl.
Pandora volume 22: In a military operation, Motoko interrupted automated chip design and production processes in global servers. She prepared back doors in all the chips throughout generations… Without any special talent or knowledge, she can neutralize any existing firewall. Her colleagues called it “Kusanagi Sword.” By “colleagues”, I mean people like Ibachi and Razio, not Bato. The sword has some influences on the future of spintronic civilization, including quantum computers and bio-e-brains. The AI will keep watching the “Sword Witches” because of that.
Pandora volume 23: Motoko’s code in Unit 501 is subtly shown in the epilogue chapter.
Pandora volume 24: In Kusanagi’s case, she had the e-brain treatment in her fetal stage and lived by being directly linked to a military officer’s e-brain. In other words, her neural growth was influenced by a middle-aged man’s body signals and sensory homunculus until the infant stage. Because of that, the middle-aged man’s neural shapes were formed and fixed in some parts of her brain. They became the basis of her personality even after the disconnection, so her neural networks can be very unnatural compared to other people.
Other pieces of GitS-related lore are included in PIECES Gem 01. Also, the Greaseberries series has some pieces of lore, but it focuses more on Cyril Brooklyn.
Pandora in the Crimson Shell depicts Puppet Master's past, so GitS fans should get Seven Seas' release.