The Ghost In the Shell

[polymorphikos]

Hving re-read The Ghost in the Shell several times, I still cannot grasp fully the significance of Kusanagi merging with the Puppetmaster. The theories on structure of the human mind and soul are all interesting enough, but since the merging-dialogue is the crux of the comic (and a very fine comic indeed) I think that it compromises the work to have several pages of impenetrable expository conversation with little inherent meaning. Have I missed something very obvious, or are there others like me out there?

 

[polymorphikos]

With an influx of new blood (mmm, sweet blood, perecious essence of life. The crimson gouts in which I revelled and lost faint traces of my immortal soul) I figured I would bump this with a more general tone, asking people what they thought of the manga (and film, too, for the hell of it).

 

[blue_cephalopod]

I've only seen the film, but I'd like to read it, it must have influenced quite a few things like deus ex and the matrix. I hope they show the sequel here in the cinema.

 

[aftermath]

Well, I watched the hell out of my tape until my dog bloody ate it.

But I loved the film. I never read the manga but I would love to if I ever come across it. I have it on dvd at home and I will watch it soon to see if I can come with an answer to the merging question

 

[polymorphikos]

In the film it is more obvious, the machine wanting to be human and all the advantages and so-forth, but in the manga we are given what is almost a chapter within a chapter of stuff about axons and cybernetics and seemingly-pointless technobabble, seemingly just to add gravity to the puppet-master's popping the question. Damn the Japanese for their love of the oblique!

 

[kaneda]

Is ghost in the shell just one book?

 

[Munkeygames]

I've watched the film several times but I know theres a ton of other materail available. It influenced a generation of Japanese animation and is probably the film that brought anime/manga to western mainstream. That said there are much better films out there, another popular one is Princess Monoke - which tbh i found rather long and dull, though its supposed to be the biggest selling.

 

[Talysia]

I read this again recently, and found that I actually understood more of this the second time around. I don't think there is any actual significance to Kusanagi's merging with the puppetmaster, short of her feeling something in common with this entity.
This is an excellent manga, and I thought that the film didn't quite live up to my expectations when I first saw it. The series - standalone complex - is much better, and although I've yet to see Ghost in the Shell - Innocence and the second standalone series, I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Steve Jordan]

I've read the manga and seen the anime, and other than common names, it almost seems they are completely different animals at times.

The feature-length anime essentially explores the significance of Self and Individuality, and wonders if robots with implanted human wetware can have "souls." It also explores whether an A.I. can have a desire for "procreation" or a survival instinct. The Puppetmaster A.I. is the mirror against which the characters and viewer have to examine themselves. The movie is much deeper than the anime on a personal, human level... it asks the viewer who, and what, they really are.

The manga's themes are essentially about the familiar foibles of man, ie, his basic sins, in a world where the network ties everything together so pervasively. It's a cop show on web/droid steroids. The main characters don't spend that much time wondering about their essential natures, they're basically just trying to stop the various national or international information theft plots of the day (as the manga, and the anime for that matter, asserts that information is the only thing worth stealing). The subplot involving the Puppetmaster is almost lost amidst the static, which the manga suggests will be commonplace as technology and complexity eventually overwhelm humanity. The manga suggests that who you are is irrelevant, that you will be assimilated, and resistance is futile.