More Ghosts

It is a collection of "Shirow stuff" issued by Kodansha just as the author began ManMachine Interface. The box itself is gorgeous, printed on iridescent paper. The deluxe art box contains: 10 posters of Ghost art (three are new illustration plates), printed using different techniques on various paper (including silver mylar); two sheets of thick paper with paper model cut-outs of a Fuchikoma; a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle of Motoko Kusanagi. Inside a folder are a scratch card, a phone card order sheet, a certificate of product showing that it is one of 10.000 limited edition prints of Cyberdelics, two sheets of stickers (16 stickers representing the posters about Motoko and 18 about Fuchikoma) and a booklet by Shirow discussing the various artworks in the box (Japanese text).
Attention: somewhere it's called GitS Deluxe Portfolio.

It's rather expensive and a limited edition (actually Kodansha has no plans to reprint the boxes). It's available only the Japanese edition since the project to print it in US was abandoned because the price would have been too high (not below $150 due to the high cost of the exotic printing techniques used in the set).

ISBN4063363015
9,000 yen
Published by Kodansha on July 1997

GitS Official Art Book
Thanks to Lucas Loh!

This art book is about the PlayStation GitS 3D action/shooting game. There's just around 10 pictures (dimensions 210x312 mm) of Motoko designed by Shirow for the game (in various costumes, army general costume, casual wear, cyber costume etc.) and used to advertise the game. The rest of the art in the book is by the designers of the game (the people who drew the cover and poster for the game) for a total of 96 pages (Japanese text). Contents (each chapter has an opening page art by Shirow):

1) Opening Movies
This chapter consists of all frames used in the opening movie for the game. This is followed by an introduction to Ghost In The Shell; with brief summaries of the manga and the movie.
2) Characters
There are 7 pages of Motoko Kusanagi designed by Shirow in different costumes, each page has full body pictures of Motoko (front and back view) and 1 page front view of a wired up Motoko (As seen in opening movies). These are interlaced by the final character rendition by Hiroyuki Kitakubo (Game Design staff) in same costumes that will be used in the game. There is also a front and bottom detail view of the Fuchikoma by Shirow, followed by 3D computer renditions. Other characters featured (art by Hiroyuki Kitakubo) are Batou, Togusa, Ishikawa, Aramaki, Sawamura, Zebra27, Saito, Borma and a girl operator.
3) Mission Previews
Basically this chapter covers the movie animation story as well as screen shots. There are 12 missions in all, and basically I think the story is about Hackers and Terrorists. There is also a "Training Area" featured in the game, for target practice I guess. There are also designs and drawings of the villains and bosses (all mecha) but not by Shirow, although the pictures are nicely done. There are however lots of Shirow elements in the mecha designs and I think Shirow must be quite involved in the design process. This is followed by ending movie shots.
4) Staff Interviews (black/white section)
An interview with Shirow Masamune based on the manga & character/machanical design. Round Table Talk features interviews with the rest of the team; the Animation Part Staff, Game Part Staff, Sound Part Staff, and the people who did Character voices. (Japanese text)
5) Continuity Scripts (black/white section)
Story boards/Rough sketches of the sequence of the movie animation. Very detail and all sequences are depicted here through rough sketches. Drawings by game animation staff.
6) The Original Pictures
Features 7 full color poster pictures by Toshiro Kawamoto and 1 CG rendition by Shinji Takagi. each picture occupies a page. Majority of the pictures are of Motoko, with the Fuchikoma. The final page is Shirow's 3D self portrait, a 3D octopus playing the PlayStation, by Shirow Masamune.

ISBN4-06-319829-4
2,000 yen
Published by Kodansha in 1997

GitS Mechanical Analysis reading-book Thanks to Matsuyama! This is a sort of databook about GitS and its original title is "Koukaku Kidoutai mekanikaru kaiseki-dokuhon" (the title above is translated from this). Its contents are similar to Analysis of GitS, but this one is related to manga, not the movie. It has 281 pages of Japanese text and black and white drawings, divided in 9 chapters (for example "Fuchikoma Mechanical Manual", "Making of Cyborg", "Military Scrap"). Moreover, there are 4 color stickers with illustrations taken from covers of the episodes Super Spartan, Junk Jungle, Dumb Barter, Brain Drain. There aren't any new images in the book, since all are taken from the manga. Anyway it's a bit like Appleseed Hypernotes or Appleseed Databook, so it should be interesting for every fan of Shirow, if he/she knows Japanese obviously. ISBN4-06-319890-1 890 yen Published by Kodansha in 1998
Analysis of GitS It is a sort of databook on the animated movie; slightly smaller in size than Intron Depot 1 (210x260 mm) and 164 pages long. It contains a full color pullout poster and 32 full color pages, lots of line art and storyboards for various scenes, background sketches, plus information (Japanese text) and artwork about weapons, vehicles, characters, and technology that was used in the movie. Very detailed (but I don't know how much of the content is Shirow's own ideas or the movie's producers). ISBN4-06-319640-2 1,600 yen Published by Kodansha & Young Magazine in 1995
	GitS Continuity Scripts This 240 page volume contains B/W pencil sketches of every shot as well as a running commentary by the creators of the film. Mamoru Oshii (the director of the movie) is shown as the official author. ISBN4-87376-147-6
	GitS Anime-Comic A full color anime-comic which uses cell art from the film plus word balloons to tell the story adapted from the movie. ISBN4-06-174480

Ghost CDs

	Title: Megatech Body CD. Code: SRCS 8381 Price: 2,548 yen This is the first CD of techno songs from the GitS PlayStation Game. 1. Ghost in the Shell 2. Firecracker 3. Ishikawa surfs the system 4. Spook&Spell (fast version) 5. Featerhall 6. The vertical 7. Blinding waves 8. The sercher part 1 9. Spectre 10. Can u dig it 11. To be or not to be (off the cuff mix)
Title: Megatech Body CD., LTD. Code: SRCS 8382~3 Price: 3,568 yen Another box from the game. This set contains two CDs and the first is equal to the Megatech Body CD (look above). There is also a vinyl edition (name: Megatech Vinyl. LTD.; code: SRJS 6004~5; price: 3,568 yen). The second CD: 1. Fuchi Koma 2. Down loader 3. Thanato 4. Moonriver 5. Brand dive 6. Spook&Spell (slow version) 7. Die dunkesequenz 8. Section 9 theme 9. So high 10. To be or not to be (the mix of mix mix)
Title: Ghost in the Shell - Original Soundtrack Editor: BMG Code: BVCR-729 Play Time: 45:33 1. Making of Cyborg 2. Ghosthack 3. Puppet Master 4. Virtual Crime 5. Ghost City 6. Access 7. Nightstalker 8. Floating Museum 9. Ghostdive 10. Reincarnation 11. Bonus track
Title: Project 2501 The Real Image Collection of GitS Code: BVCH-1524 Play Time: 51:43 M: four songs (most with only Japanese names). SE/: sound effects of shooting weapons. smg means Sub Machine Gun; getemono is the cannon used by Batou (inside the cover his name is written as Bateau) to destroy the tank. The other tracks are the voices of the main characters from the original Japanese edition. 1. Prologue (1:44) 2. M1 (5:56) 3. Motoko Kusanagi 1 ~ in the battle field ~ (4:41) 4. M2 (5:40) 5. Bateau ~ the partner of Motoko ~ (4:18) 6. SE/1 (Handgun by Motoko) SE/2 (Handgun by Bateau) (1:04) 7. Togusa & Ishikawa ~ unit member of section 9 ~ (4:39) 8. M3 (Fang Ka Wing) (3:25) 9. SE/3 (Handgun by Togusa) SE/4 (Chinese UZI smg) (1:18) 10. Section 9 of Public Safety ~ the secret service ~ (4:03) 11. SE/5 (smg by the bodyguard) SE/6 (9 weapon by Motoko) (0:55) 12. Puppet Master ~ infamous hacker ~ (3:58) 13. SE/7 (sniped by Section 6) SE/8 ("getemono") (1:07) 14. Motoko Kusanagi 2 ~ ghost in the shell ~ (3:08) 15. M4 (One Minute Warning) (4:57)
Title: GitS - Photo CD (CD-ROM) Editor: Kodansha Code: ISBN4-06-208008-7 This photo CD includes pictures from the movie and manga. There are two Galleries: Animation Gallery, with images from the movies, frame by frame sketches, animation cells, design drawings for weapons, and more; Masamune Shirow's Gallery with images from the comic book, all the color cover designs and variant covers. It has music, animation/movies and an interactive plot, plus a full color 14 page booklet. Will work on Macs as well as Windows. Wonderful Photo CD by the Master of Japanese Animation, Masamune Shirow of Ghost In The Shell, this CD contains illustrations, sketches, stories from the movies and also from the comic book. Vibrant, sharp, high resolution images.
Title: Making of GitS (CD-ROM) Editor: Kodansha/GHQ/Pine Field Date: 1996 The contents of this CD look similar to the previous, but this one is more focused on the movie back stage. It has been created using Macromedia, so it can be watched using Windows only, and contains 258 Mb of movie clips, rough designs, some illustrations, few music files and storyboards (you can compare them with the complete animation). Also there are many pages of Japanese text (probably interesting, but...). Anyway what delights me is an interview with the staff members and naturally this includes the creator of the original story: Shirow himself! There are some seconds of interview with him and, as usual, you aren't able to watch Shirow's face but only a sort on animation. He has drawn himself as in the top picture of my Shirow page and during the interview the face changes (this is why you could have seen the same picture with different expressions). Anyway I think that the voice is original. Thanks to Kevin Woods!
Title: Ghost in the Shell Final Edition (DVD) Editor: Manga Entertainment Play Time: 123 Price: 9,800 yen
More Ghosts GitS Trading Cards Every successful production has its own trading card series, GitS Movie too! These set has been made using the original Japanese cells with English translations. There is one Holochromium cards in every pack and special Clear and Super Rare (as usual) cards. 6 cards per pack. 1000 Editions Prints This company is producing huge 728x1014 mm full color wallpapers and most are images from Cyberdelics. The price is rather expensive ($25), but they are printed on really good paper and they look beautiful. Go to 1000 Editions Home Page for more information and previews.