This is truly one of the greatest mangas. A MUST READ before the movie comes out - or after you watch it. It is a fantastic universe in a sort of dystopian future that poses the same basic questions as the I Robot series by Asimov - how will artificial intelligence change human kind and at what moment is an android sentient. I also read the sequel and watched the associated anime that it inspired. Two more volumes of Appleseed followed before he began work on Ghost in the Shell.ĪWESOME! I mean seriously, the movie will be coming out soon as I write this in late Feb 2017, but I read the comic in English translation over 20 years ago and LOVED it. After a professional reprint of Black Magic and a second volume of Appleseed, he released Dominion in 1986.

The story was a sensation, and won the 1986 Seiun Award for Best Manga. The result was Appleseed, a full volume of densely-plotted drama taking place in an ambiguous future. His work caught the eye of Seishinsha President Harumichi Aoki, who offered to publish him. While in college, he developed an interest in manga, which led him to create his own complete work, Black Magic, which was published in the manga fanzine Atlas.

Shirow is also known for creating erotic art.īorn in the Hyōgo Prefecture capital city of Kobe, he studied oil painting at Osaka University of Arts.

He is best known for the manga Ghost in the Shell, which has since been turned into two theatrical anime movies, two anime TV series, an anime TV movie, and several video games. Masamune Shirow ( 士郎正宗) is an internationally renowned manga artist.

The ghost in the shell masamune shirow