Ghost in the Shell (Book)
Padraig Cotter
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Written by Andrew Osmond
Distributed by Arrow Books
Despite its pretty visuals and elaborate production design, it’s fair to say this year’s live-action remake of Ghost in the Shell didn’t work so well. Despite ripping images right from Mamoru Oshii’s groundbreaking 1995 anime, the movie’s understanding of the key themes of the story was only surface level, making it feel awful hollow as a result. The movie may have failed to kick off a live-action franchise, but it only cemented how great the original anime is.
While the movie version took over twenty years of development to come together, the anime’s influence can be seen in everything from The Matrix to Avatar. Ghost In The Shell from Arrow Books is a brisk but informative breakdown of the original anime, analyzing the themes, the animation, the wider franchise – including the live-action version – and Oshii’s other works, including the Patlabor series. The words “Blade” and “Runner” may get mentioned a few times too.
At just over a hundred the book hardly sounds exhaustive, but author Andrew Osmond manages to pack it with informative info throughout. It’s a very easy book to pick up and read, flowing naturally from a breakdown of a key sequence and right into a discussion of recurring subjects in Oshii’s work. The book also focuses on lesser discussed topics, such as the contributions made by the various animators on the project.
The book even looks at the explosion of popularity of anime in the West during the nineties, including the rise of Manga Entertainment. While anime at the time was typically being sold on gore, nudity and English dubs littered with naughty words, Manga realized there was a lot of junk ou there, so they co-financed Ghost In The Shell as a way to get something of quality on the market. They were mostly hands off on the production and only insisted the poster be of Major Kusanagi in a Terminator-style pose – complete with sunglasses and handgun.
The pacing of the book makes it a fast read, though it feels like it whizzes right past juicy subjects, to the point certain topics read like slightly more in-depth Wikipedia entries. Comparing the Scarlett Johansson version of The Major to the anime would have made for worthwhile discussion, for example, but the book sidesteps this. Nonetheless, for fans of Ghost In The Shell this book is jam-packed with information and analysis, and it’s worth a read if you’re interested in a thoughtful breakdown of the anime.
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