Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Vol. 1: Section 9

攻殻機動隊 Stand Alone Complex #1

by Yū Kinutani

Stand Alone Complex takes place in the year 2030, in the fictional Japanese city of New Port. The story follows the members of Public Security Section 9, a special-operations task-force made up of former military officers and police detectives. The manga presents individual cases that Section 9 investigates, along with an ongoing, more serious investigation into the serial killer and hacker known only as “The Laughing Man.” When a high-ranking government official is kidnapped, the Prime Minister must call in his top crime fighting force known as Section 9. Lead by the beautiful (and deadly) Major Kusanagi, the cybernetically enhanced squad must use all their skill to take down the kidnappers and rescue the hostages. But that’s only half of the mission; can Kusanagi and company find out who’s behind the kidnapping, and, more importantly, just what they’re after? Find out in this thrilling first volume of The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex!

Genres: Manga, Comics, Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Graphic Novels, Seinen, Fiction

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 6, 2010

Reviews

[Lexie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prelim Review: I adore Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex. Its one of my top five animes of all time quite frankly, so when I saw Kodansha America releasing the manga I got excited.

Except this is literally a scene by scene rehash of the first episode of series one (the 'Laughing Man' season). I'm pretty sure if I read this while watching the first episode it would match up almost perfectly. I don't know how I feel about that. I was hoping this would be more stories with the Section 9 crew (canon with Solid State Society or not).

There is also the matter of the artwork, which is good and sufficient for the purposes, but leaves many of the characters looking...flat. Devoid of emotion. The Major (Motoko) especially as she is fully cybernetic. The spark that the anime gives her because of movement is lost here unfortunately.

Full Review to be posted at Poisoned Rationality

[Frédéric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being a huge fan of GITS since its first release decades ago I am strongly disappointed by this volume. I didn’t expect something as good as Shirow’s original series but it’s so far out it hurts.

The book follows the SAC anime’s first episode so it’s ok; I liked it then, I’like it now. Not mind blowing but good decent cyberpunk.

My problem is with the art. Functional at best. No soul, no dynamics. Poor settings. Not even as good as the anime’s. It looks like Kinutani is under poorly digested western influences. It doesn’t look like your classic manga; rather like a westerner trying to draw like a mangaka but with too much influential background to really do that. Weird. And unconvincing.
Storytelling and pacing are barely functional too. In a series that deals with a lot of action it feels flat, it falls flat.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, I like Ghost in the Shell! I read all three volumes of the original manga and just could not get into it, but this is more like it. This was a cool espionage story with sci-fi elements and plenty of action that never went too deep into the cyberpunk elements that ruined the original series for me. I did think the art was better on the original series, but I was so happy to read a story I could follow it made up for any differences in art.

If you were like me and didn't care for the original Ghost in the Shell, you may want to give this series a try because this is more what I was expecting when I read the first series.

[Darren-lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Will Fenton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always cool to go back and see where one of my favorite animes got its start. Pretty fun, even if the show itself did essentially a shot-for-shot recreation of this for the 1st season or at least first couple of eps, if I remember.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really just thought this was kind of meh.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This version of Ghost in the Shell is a continuation of the of the anime's recent re-interpretation of Masamune Shirow's original manga and anime. Major Kunsanagi remains a central character but the cyberpunk is dropped a little bit more in the background and the other members of Section 9 are given a chance in the spotlight. Here Togusa, a former policeman, uses his detective skills to unravel the threads of the case. effective storytelling, but even work inspired by Shirow still leaves me a little cold. No warmth for the characters.

[Gabigabigabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like it.

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just a straight up almost word for word scene for scene adaption of the Anime Series by the same name. It is good, the art is good, the bonus story was amusing. Good stuff.

[Mark Stratton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compared to the other GiTS material, it was "meh" with a bullet.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ghost in the Shell has a long and convoluted history.

Known as Mobile Armored Riot Police / 攻殻機動隊 / Kōkaku Kidōtai in Japanese, it started life as a manga series, written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow, in 1989. There was a major anime movie in 1995, and a high-profile sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, followed in 2004. I watched both those films, and that was the limit of my exposure to Ghost in the Shell until now.

In 2002 came Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, a Japanese anime television series written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama. A Japanese manga series, drawn by Yu Kinutani, was launched in 2009 in Weekly Young Magazine. “Episode 1: Section 9" is the first volume. The English translation was published in 2010 by Kodansha Comics. There are also various spin-offs, in film, TV and manga.

I haven’t read a lot of manga but in relation to what little I have read (Tezuka Osama’s Buddha and Mizuki Shigeru’s Ge-Ge-Ge-no-Kitarō), this doesn’t compare well. There’s some stunning artwork depicting futuristic scenes and sexy cyborg women, and some thought-provoking concepts about the evolution of the mind in the digital age, but the storytelling lacks clarity. In its busy complexity it seems rather a biproduct of the high-level concepts and ravishing visuals. In all these respects, it’s rather like the two films I saw. They’re achingly beautiful at times, and sexy, and some of the philosophical questions relating to mind and self that they explore are fascinating and important - but they’re confusing and, unless I’m missing something (and I could be), I can’t help suspecting that they’re more style than substance. That said, this manga is less confusing than the films.

A lot of people love Ghost in the Shell, and reading this has made me want to rewatch the films but (and despite, incredibly, the whole thing being available for free on the Manga Reader app for the iPhone) I probably won’t be reaching for Episode 2 of this particular manga series just yet.

[osoi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Эта серия полностью повторяет некоторые главы из одноименного аниме, и какого-то революционного подхода ждать не стоит. Первая серия затягивает даже неподготовленного зрителя - тут тебе и кибервзломы, и технологии, и буквальный обмен мозгами, и гейши, и тема киборгов vs людей, и тачикомы, и море годного экшона, и Кусанаги в очаровательно непрактичном наряде (определенная ностальгия по той Мотоко, что в первом GITS рассекала пространство только в трусах (и при этом расследовала преступные преступления!)), и минимальная детективная компонента для поддержания сюжетного развития. Чтобы влиться во вселенную и получить достаточное понимание происходящего перед появлением Смеющегося человека (он же главный антагонист серии) - самое оно.

Все хорошо, но только в формате манги оно теряет свою притягательность. Мало слов, много экшна - и в итоге страницы пролистываются без особого интереса на раз-два. Все это мы уже видели в гораздо более ярком воплощении на экране. Ну и не могу молчать - Тогуса на бумаге превратился в какого-то красавчика с львиной гривой. Неправильный Тогуса.

lukk.svbtle

[Clodjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vol. 1 faithfully adapts the story from episode 1 “Section 9” of the anime TV series. It include a bonus short story from the “Tachikoma Days” manga by Masayuki Yamamoto.

I am already a big fan of GITS and of cyberpunk stories, but I particularly like this manga series because it offers strong designs and art, excellent storytelling and constitute an easy read. It is quite enjoyable if you like investigative stories with lots of action (sometime quite violent), rich socio-political themes and that are set in a cyberpunk future. I must admit that it has been a long time since I took so much pleasure in the reading a manga. I highly recommend it.

Read my full comments on https://clodjee-blog.com/2020/03/26/g...

[Kari · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's nothing technically wrong with this but I would rather watch the episode than read a comic version of the episode. I thought the subtitle was just because they needed a subtitle ("Section 9") but no, they are really just putting the first episode of the SAC (also called "Section 9") in print format.

The plot and such are the same; it was a little cool to see some very minor questions I had answered due to the different format, but I didn't like this enough to seek out more of this style. However, if you need to entice someone into reading and they already like GitS, this might not be a bad entry. Just not a match for me.

[Brit (Circus_of_Damed) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex Section 9, so I was curious to see what the manga was about. The first volume is the exact same as the first episode of the anime, so if you have seen the anime this won't be anything new. The manga was very good though and I greatly enjoied the manga. Would highly recommend if you love the anime or want to try the manga before the anime. All around a good read and aa great way to start the Get Graphic Read-a-thon.

[Xavier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great art and interesting story but the pacing is very slow. It takes so long to get to the main part of the mission and they recap after every chapter. At least the art is different in the recaps.

I've read a lot of Alita so naturally I compare the two. This series seems more grounded in reality but I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I'm expecting the rest of it to be mostly centered around dialog rather than action

[Michael Reilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great art but the book lacks depth in its characters, action and political intrigue – all hallmarks of the Ghost In The Shell series. The plot is quite slow and overall rather dull due to its panel presentation (a lot of panels feature little or no text, just sound effects), and the dialogue lacks energy, which therefore produces a disappointing, pedestrian result. A very quick read for diehard fans only.

[Etain · Rating 3 out of 5]

apparently this is a direct adaptation of the first episode of the anime (which I haven't gotten around to watching yet) and yeah it feels sort of annoying simple and shallow especially compared to the original manga. it's not really a problem for the episode yk cause it's one 20 minute episode but using 200+ pages of a manga to just 1 to 1 adapt it without adding anything just feels well literally reductive

[Jennifer Sigman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat interesting story in this first one, but I was annoyed with the art (especially the only woman character being half/mostly naked most of the time and her Battle Angel Alita face) and I was annoyed at how they repeated pages (they were legit copied and pasted, they should have been edited out). Will not continue reading.

[Steven Gernandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic revisited

Enjoyed the anime and definitely recommend the Manga so far. The complex storyline was familiar but good to revisit all the same. Plus bonus amusing story about the tachikoma at the end.

[Courtney Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved watching the anime when I was in high school. A great concept in manga. Almost everyone is a cyborg in 2030. Section 9 is like the special police that solves the toughest cases. It’s a pretty quick read if you’re in between books.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid story about a police squad that tackles difficult cases in the Ghost in the Shell world full of cyborgs and the like. The opening story is a hostage situation with one of the countries ministers. I'd read another one.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not quite sure what the point here is -- adds nothing to what was in the show, which was better, so you may as well watch that.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manga version of the Stand Alone Complex anime. Nice art, and story is solid addition to the GITS series overall.

[Rafael Cejas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't waste your time. It's the same plot of the anime, which has way better art

[Artemis]

Read till book5

[GuizmoEnOz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

(2 * + 1 just because I love the genre)

[SSRI · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent enough introduction to the series' second universe but the anime covers it better.
Felt incredibly Western.

[Edward Rathke]

Trying this out too.

Just a big action setpiece so far.

[Matt Jeske · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically a by the numbers cyberpunk action piece. I'm not complaining though, it does what it says on the tin.