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cordiaelly's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
The colours are pretty (but the 3d is a bit ugly) and the drawings are beautiful. But above all there's a hypersexualisation of women's bodies. This was already the case in the first two volumes, but now it's worse. I ended up rolling my eyes every time I saw panties or a woman so arched she must have scoliosis; by the end I had a headache.
The story is rather slow and not particularly interesting, even incomprehensible at times; Kusanagi's shadow doesn't loom large enough to provide a real gripping plot.
The story is rather slow and not particularly interesting, even incomprehensible at times; Kusanagi's shadow doesn't loom large enough to provide a real gripping plot.
zare_i's review against another edition
4.0
First things first - if you were puzzled with story lines of Matrix, Inception, Dark City and Brazil movies this one will leave you more than puzzled and saying whaaat? page after page.
I like SF, have been reading it for decades now (hehehehe, man time flies by :)) but this comic is so filled various SF concepts and techno-lingo (and I come from IT background) - basically you get bombarded with so much terminology you'll loose the story thread in no time.
That's one thing I did not like - story line is so convoluted and hidden under the layers and layers of sentences like 'barriers are down.... deploy cetbots and combat suit K... My mines are duplicating.... Deploy decot at position H using code name K....' etc etc that only after reading more thoroughly through the novel way you'll figure out that story line is not so complex at all (I've seen more complex GitS TV episodes) - complexity seems to be artificial in nature.
What was the intent of the author - to experiment with the comic as a medium or something else, is completely beyond me, but I have a feeling that this would have been much better executed in movie media - in comics you only end up with excellent graphic, bedazzling effects, lots of hi-tech mumbo-jumbo [at least for most people, event seasoned SF lovers] but at one point you won't know what is going on in the first place story-wise (which should be a main point for each and every novel/graphic novel/comic).
But nevertheless it is an interesting concept. Considering the time when this issue was released it is very modern and not-so far-fetched (I can only say congrats to author for creating such a believable universe). If you enjoyed the GitS 1 and 1.5 you'll love this one but don't expect to figure everything out in the first,second or third reading :)
I like SF, have been reading it for decades now (hehehehe, man time flies by :)) but this comic is so filled various SF concepts and techno-lingo (and I come from IT background) - basically you get bombarded with so much terminology you'll loose the story thread in no time.
That's one thing I did not like - story line is so convoluted and hidden under the layers and layers of sentences like 'barriers are down.... deploy cetbots and combat suit K... My mines are duplicating.... Deploy decot at position H using code name K....' etc etc that only after reading more thoroughly through the novel way you'll figure out that story line is not so complex at all (I've seen more complex GitS TV episodes) - complexity seems to be artificial in nature.
What was the intent of the author - to experiment with the comic as a medium or something else, is completely beyond me, but I have a feeling that this would have been much better executed in movie media - in comics you only end up with excellent graphic, bedazzling effects, lots of hi-tech mumbo-jumbo [at least for most people, event seasoned SF lovers] but at one point you won't know what is going on in the first place story-wise (which should be a main point for each and every novel/graphic novel/comic).
But nevertheless it is an interesting concept. Considering the time when this issue was released it is very modern and not-so far-fetched (I can only say congrats to author for creating such a believable universe). If you enjoyed the GitS 1 and 1.5 you'll love this one but don't expect to figure everything out in the first,second or third reading :)
cortjstr's review against another edition
1.0
After reading the other reviews I decided to read this anyway "because it's Ghost in the Shell, how bad can it be?" And woof. Inexplicable technobabble with semi-related footnotes over partially 3D art and so much fan service.
When I got to the part with the see-through underwear and the footnote wondering why a fully cyborg body would even need to wear underwear and I realized that the part that made the most sense I almost gave up. And I should have but I continued the slog anyway.
When I got to the part with the see-through underwear and the footnote wondering why a fully cyborg body would even need to wear underwear and I realized that the part that made the most sense I almost gave up. And I should have but I continued the slog anyway.
jelek86's review against another edition
2.0
The art is great, but the plot line is fairly incomprehensible.
swingdingaling's review against another edition
2.0
Impenetrable. I loved the art because I am a dirty pervert man and I read this with my penis because the plot did less than nothing for my brain.
justiceofkalr's review against another edition
1.0
I really hate to give such a low rating to anything Ghost in the Shell, but this really deserved it.
The majority of this manga is, to put it bluntly, complete and utter crap. I love Ghost in the Shell and I usually love Shirow's art, but this book was pretty terrible. We'll start off with the story. Most of it gets lost completely in all the technobabble (complete with rambling footnotes) and most of the time I had no idea what was going on. Motoko (not the same as the original) spends most of the story floating around nude in cyperspace while ordering her ridiculous looking AI assistants to put out decoys and toy bombs and other techno jargon nonsense. Most of this could have been cut and the story might have seemed a bit more cohesive. Then there's the art. It's pretty terrible too. Shirow seems to be using some weird combination of more 3-d realistic looking art and flat anime art and it just doesn't work well. It's jarring and most of the 3-d looks bad. He also randomly switches between color and black & white, sometimes right in the middle of the page. Plus there was a ridiculous amount of fanservice everywhere. I'm used to some from Shirow, but the majority of the book was Motoko floating around nude or running around in various bodies flashing her underwear in awkward action shots. Overall I don't think I'd recommend this to anybody. Really the only merit I saw in it was in elements of it that were drawn on for the anime.
The majority of this manga is, to put it bluntly, complete and utter crap. I love Ghost in the Shell and I usually love Shirow's art, but this book was pretty terrible. We'll start off with the story. Most of it gets lost completely in all the technobabble (complete with rambling footnotes) and most of the time I had no idea what was going on. Motoko (not the same as the original) spends most of the story floating around nude in cyperspace while ordering her ridiculous looking AI assistants to put out decoys and toy bombs and other techno jargon nonsense. Most of this could have been cut and the story might have seemed a bit more cohesive. Then there's the art. It's pretty terrible too. Shirow seems to be using some weird combination of more 3-d realistic looking art and flat anime art and it just doesn't work well. It's jarring and most of the 3-d looks bad. He also randomly switches between color and black & white, sometimes right in the middle of the page. Plus there was a ridiculous amount of fanservice everywhere. I'm used to some from Shirow, but the majority of the book was Motoko floating around nude or running around in various bodies flashing her underwear in awkward action shots. Overall I don't think I'd recommend this to anybody. Really the only merit I saw in it was in elements of it that were drawn on for the anime.
averypleasantpineapple's review against another edition
2.0
WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?! ...is what I was asking myself for the whole time I read this book. I found the story incomprehensible, because of very confusing storytelling, covered in impenetrable technobabble. It did seem to touch on some interesting themes but for the most part consisted of naked women floating around in cyberspace. While the visualisations of cyberspace were interesting to look at, I generally found the art extremely ugly. As a fan of the franchise I really wanted to like this but was, sadly, very disappointed. I'm afraid this manga will have zero appeal to anyone but hardcore Ghost in the Shell fans. Or people who enjoy looking at poorly rendered CGI boobs.
griesskopf's review
1.0
That was... disappointing.
I had my troubles with the first installment, but this one is much worse.
Most of the (at times incoherent) story consists of a naked Motoko (a ... variant? ... "daughter"? of the protagonist in Ghost in the Shell) floating through cyberspace and commanding small .. AI-assistants(?). I'm still not sure if they only existed in cyberspace or if they had a physical body in the real world. But I am sure that their design looks horrible and that I miss section 9 with its characters and even the Fuchikoma.
I was also not a fan of the 3D-ish artstyle. Neither of the coloring, which changes from fullcolor to black & white apparantly at random, or the excessive fanservice. And can anyone with actual knowledge about hacking tell me what over 50 percent of dialogue are supposed to mean?
In short: The art was not my cup of tea and there was too much tech-babble for me to care and try to understand the all over the place plot better than I do.
I had my troubles with the first installment, but this one is much worse.
Most of the (at times incoherent) story consists of a naked Motoko (a ... variant? ... "daughter"? of the protagonist in Ghost in the Shell) floating through cyberspace and commanding small .. AI-assistants(?). I'm still not sure if they only existed in cyberspace or if they had a physical body in the real world. But I am sure that their design looks horrible and that I miss section 9 with its characters and even the Fuchikoma.
I was also not a fan of the 3D-ish artstyle. Neither of the coloring, which changes from fullcolor to black & white apparantly at random, or the excessive fanservice. And can anyone with actual knowledge about hacking tell me what over 50 percent of dialogue are supposed to mean?
In short: The art was not my cup of tea and there was too much tech-babble for me to care and try to understand the all over the place plot better than I do.
leviathandreamer's review against another edition
2.0
I feel like this instalment should have never happened. While I do think the series is a bit overrated overall, the first volume had an interesting premise, it did a nice job of posing complex questions and stretching the topics of technology further to identity, personal freedom, individuality etc. It was dynamic, modern and I could understand its 'cult' status and the impact it had on the cyberpunk genre.
This second volume is, however, hopelessly flat. The only redeeming factor is the art, which is unorthodox and the 3D aspect might not be everyone's favourite, but I liked it quite a bit - it's something new and it works well with the series' overall tone. There are issues too, though - one of them being the fact that it switches between black and white pages and full colour, completely haphazardly (and if there was a symbolic meaning hidden somewhere, I missed it and in that case, enlighten me, please).
The story is very difficult to grasp because it's buried under tons and tons of technical blabber and in the end you're smacked by a 'wtf' moment which was supposed to be a big revelation but it just seemed silly and random and lazy, since the author's notes literally say: ''There's no point in explaining what it all means... I know it's similar to Shinto but actually it's not.'' Well, thanks for fucking nothing, maybe explain it next time instead of 100 pages of neuromancer-like nonsense and Motoko's boobs.
Which brings me to my last point - the fanservice. I couldn't care less about it if it's done tastefully and when it's not overdone (in a medium which is not marketed as hentai/ecchi), which is not the case of GiTS II, at all. It's. In. Every. Panel. It's very difficult to take the main character seriously. How am I supposed to believe Motoko is the badass all-knowing cyborg and mastermind when she's flashing her underwear every few seconds? She can literally hack people but can't get her sizing right. Not to mention the fact that it makes the action scenes look awkward, not cool.
I might just forget this exists, and I recommend others to do the same. It really isn't worth it and adds nothing to the series.
This second volume is, however, hopelessly flat. The only redeeming factor is the art, which is unorthodox and the 3D aspect might not be everyone's favourite, but I liked it quite a bit - it's something new and it works well with the series' overall tone. There are issues too, though - one of them being the fact that it switches between black and white pages and full colour, completely haphazardly (and if there was a symbolic meaning hidden somewhere, I missed it and in that case, enlighten me, please).
The story is very difficult to grasp because it's buried under tons and tons of technical blabber and in the end you're smacked by a 'wtf' moment which was supposed to be a big revelation but it just seemed silly and random and lazy, since the author's notes literally say: ''There's no point in explaining what it all means... I know it's similar to Shinto but actually it's not.'' Well, thanks for fucking nothing, maybe explain it next time instead of 100 pages of neuromancer-like nonsense and Motoko's boobs.
Which brings me to my last point - the fanservice. I couldn't care less about it if it's done tastefully and when it's not overdone (in a medium which is not marketed as hentai/ecchi), which is not the case of GiTS II, at all. It's. In. Every. Panel. It's very difficult to take the main character seriously. How am I supposed to believe Motoko is the badass all-knowing cyborg and mastermind when she's flashing her underwear every few seconds? She can literally hack people but can't get her sizing right. Not to mention the fact that it makes the action scenes look awkward, not cool.
I might just forget this exists, and I recommend others to do the same. It really isn't worth it and adds nothing to the series.
sizrobe's review against another edition
1.0
Awful. The plot is completely incoherent and there are blatant fanservice crotch shots on roughly 1/3 of the pages (conservatively). I made it about half the way through before giving up. The first manga had the same problems, there is just a lot more of it here.