Masamune Shirow

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Masamune Shirow (士郎 正宗, Shirō Masamune^?) is an internationally renowned manga artist, born Masanori Ota (太田 まさのり Ōta Masanori)^{[citation needed]} on November 23, 1961.

Masamune Shirow is a pen name, based on a famous swordsmith, Masamune. He is best known for the manga Ghost in the Shell, which has since been turned into three anime movies, two anime TV series and several video games. Shirow is also popular for creating erotic art.

Born in the Hyōgo Prefecture capital city of Kobe, he studied oil painting at Osaka University of Arts. While in college, he developed an interest in manga, which led him to create his own complete work, Black Magic, which was published in the manga fanzine Atlas. His work caught the eye of Seishinsha President Harumichi Aoki, who offered to publish him.

The result was Appleseed, a full volume of densely-plotted drama taking place in an ambiguous future. The story was a sensation, and won the 1986 Seiun Award for Best Manga. After a professional reprint of Black Magic and a second volume of Appleseed, he released Dominion in 1986. Two more volumes of Appleseed followed before he began work on Ghost in the Shell. In 2007, he collaborated again with Production I.G to co-create the original concept for the anime television series Shinreigari/Ghost Hound, Production I.G's 20th year anniversary project. A new original collaboration with Production I.G began airing in April, 2008, titled Real Drive.

Contents 1 Fame 2 Heroine with a single face 3 Erotic art 4 Bibliography 4.1 Minor works 4.2 Other 5 Anime 5.1 Film 5.2 OVAs 5.3 Television 6 Video game adaptations 7 External links

[edit] Fame

Shirow is a world-famous illustrator. Indeed, for a time, he was more popular outside of Japan than inside.^{[citation needed]} He was chosen as an early author to bring to the West because of many stylistic similarities between his work and traditional American comics. Ghost in the Shell is a famous anime in the West based on his work, hence his popularity. Many people mistake him for the creator of the original anime movie, but he had no major role in its production. Mamoru Oshii directed both movies, which were adaptations of several chapters of the original manga put to film. However, he did play a role in the development of the TV anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

[edit] Heroine with a single face

Many of his works (Ghost in the Shell, Dominion: Tank Police, Appleseed) follow a common form: a strong female law enforcement officer/warrior battles external threats while facing difficulties from internal politics, in a near-future setting with strong cyberpunk and postcyberpunk influences.

His female lead characters (Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell, Leona Ozaki in Tank Police, Deunan Knute (or Deunan Nats) in Appleseed, and Seska in Orion) tend to look very similar to each other, with the exception of hair color.

[edit] Erotic art

Although his work is clearly contemporary manga in style, a substantial amount of Shirow's work has been released in artbook or poster book format focusing on female characters in provocative poses and various degrees of nudity.

Some earlier pinup artists that have styles from which Masumune may have been influenced are George Petty, Olivia de Berardinis, and Alberto Vargas. In addition, some of Masumune's work has been used in advertising such things as telephone cards, much as the earlier pinup girl art was used.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Bibliography

• Black Magic M-66 (1983)
• Appleseed 1 (1985)
• Appleseed 2 (1985)
• Dominion (1986)
• Appleseed 3 (1987)
• Appleseed 4 (1989)
• Ghost in the Shell (1991)
• Orion (1991)
• Intron Depot 1 (1992) (sci fi-themed color illustration artbook collecting his work from 1981 to 1991)
• Dominion: Conflict 1 (No More Noise) (1995)
• Intron Depot 2 - Blades (1998) (fantasy-themed color illustration artbook featuring female characters with armor and edged weapons)
• Ghost in the Shell 2: Man/Machine Interface (2001) (released in collected form in America on January 19, 2005)
• Intron Depot 3 - Ballistics (2003) (military-themed color illustration and CG artbook featuring female characters with guns)
• Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human Error Processor (2003) (original version of Ghost in the Shell 2, scrapped when Ghost in the Shell 2 was collected in a single volume, but recently rereleased in Japan)
• Intron Depot 4 - Bullets (2004) (color illustration artbook collecting his work between 1995 to 1999)

[edit] Minor works

• Areopagus Arther (1980), published in ATLAS (fanzine)
• Yellow Hawk (1981), published in ATLAS (fanzine)
• Colosseum Pick (1982), published in Funya (fanzine)
• Pursuit (Manga) (1982), published in Kintalion (fanzine)
• Opional Orientation (1984), published in ATLAS (fanzine)
• Battle on Mechanism (1984), published in ATLAS (fanzine)
• Metamorphosis in Amazoness (1984), published in ATLAS (fanzine)
• Arice in Jargon (1984), published in ATLAS (fanzine)
• Bike Nut (1985), published in Dorothy (fanzine)
• Gun Dancing (1986), published in Young Magazine Kaizokuban
• Pile Up (two parts) (1987), published in Young Magazine Kaizokuban
• Colosseum Pick (1990), published in Comic Fusion Atpas (fanzine)
• Neuro Hard - The planet of a bee (two parts in 1992, four in 1993, four in 1994), published in Comic Dragon

main source: shirowledge

[edit] Other

• Galgrease poster series (2002), published in Uppers Magazine
• design of the MAPP1-SM mouse series (2002, commissioned by Elecom; US importer, source)

[edit] Anime

[edit] Film

• Ghost in the Shell (1995) by Mamoru Oshii
• Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004) by Mamoru Oshii
• Appleseed (2004) by Shinji Aramaki
• Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society (2006) by Kenji Kamiyama
• Appleseed Ex Machina (2007) by Shinji Aramaki and John Woo

[edit] OVAs

• Black Magic M-66 (1987) by Hiroyuki Kitakubo and Masamune Shirow (this is the only anime Shirow played a direct role in the production of)
• Appleseed (OVA) (1988) by Kazuyoshi Katayama
• Dominion Tank Police (1988) by Takaaki Ishiyama and Kôichi Mashimo
• Land Lock (1995) (character and mecha designs only)
• Tank S.W.A.T. 01 (2006) by Romanov Higa
• Gundress (1999) by Junichi Sakai (character and mecha designs only)

[edit] Television

• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (1st GiG) (2003) by Kenji Kamiyama (26 25-minute episodes; also called Alone on Earth or GitS:SAC)
• Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG (2004) by Kenji Kamiyama (26 25-minute episodes; second season of GitS:SAC)
• Shinreigari/Ghost Hound (2007); original concept in collaboration with Production I.G
• Real Drive (2008); original concept in collaboration with Production I.G

[edit] Video game adaptations

• Super NES
  • Appleseed (Japan only release)
• PlayStation
  • Ghost in the Shell
  • Yarudora Series Vol. 3: Sampaguita
  • Project Horned Owl
• PlayStation 2
  • Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  • Appleseed EX (Japan only release)
• PlayStation Portable
  • Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
• Arcade
  • Horned Owl (lightgun shooting game)

[edit] External links

• Masamune Shirow Hyperpage
• Artistic Genius
• ShirowLedge - Bio, articles, manga, interviews, links and others
• Masamune Shirow at the Internet Movie Database
• Shirow Sama Blog - In Spanish