Reviews and Comments

This is quite different from the movie. Major Kusanagi is goofier, more fun and more humane than the seriously detached moving image heroine. She makes fun of her superior to the point of insult, she exchanges jokes with her peers, she even manages to get some days off from work (which she promptly puts to virtual, raunchy use with her real life, female friends). Still, nothing she does seems over the top (leaving aside her justified superhuman physical strength), she is overall a clearly human (still) character.

That being said, the story gets quite complicated and serious from the get-go. The story and the ideas explored are broadly similar to those in the movie just more branched out. Lots and lots of side-notes to explain obscure technical details and make geopolitical references to real-world issues at the time of writing. This is a thoroughly fleshed out world both in micro- and macro-scale. International politics, intra-departmental arm-wrestling, philosophy, human relations, trans-humanism, there's a lot to peel through.

The drawings alternate between 2d caricature insets to realistic claustrophobic urban decay. They never attain an Otomo-level of realism, but they always get the point across with an authenticity that reflects the seriousness of the issues at hand.

One more story by Inio Asano that I peeled through its layers in repeated readings. The story leaves bits and pieces throughout to be connected later on. I caught many subtle hints only during my second read-through, I really needed the hindsight to make things click. You need to pay attention or you'll miss important connective tissue.

The two protagonists, each carry different issues, each one tries an approach that simultaneously abuses the other but, crucially, themselves as well. In the end there is progress and a kind of salvation for all those involved, call it surviving puberty, call it surviving love.

Inio Asano's signature photo-realistic images are once again used masterfully. Probably his most daring depictions I've read so far, yet never feel out of place or over the top. Everything felt grounded on reality. Characters are coupled with meaningful locations and an overarching song to bind them all together.