Masamune Shirow

Masamune Shirow

Birth : 1961-11-23, Higashinada, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

History

Masamune Shirow is an internationally renowned manga artist, born as Masanori Ota on November 23, 1961. He is best known for the manga Ghost in the Shell, which has since been turned into two theatrical anime movies, two anime TV series, an anime TV movie, and several video games.

Profile

Masamune Shirow

Movies

Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War
Writer
In the year 2045, after an economic disaster known as the Synchronized Global Default, rapid developments in AI propelled the world to enter a state of "Sustainable War". However, the public is not aware of the threat that AI has towards the human race. A compilation film with newly added footage.
Ghost in the Shell
Comic Book
In the near future, Major is the first of her kind: a human saved from a terrible crash, then cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world's most dangerous criminals.
Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn
Creator
In an age when large-scale natural disasters frequently happen all over the world, when cyborgs and autonomous robots are beginning to appear on the market in technologically advanced nations, and major world powers compete for technology and resources, the divide between rich and poor grows and the future for the poor looks bleak. In this transitional stage, everyone wanders around in a self-indulgent daze and the way out isn't clear... This is the story of how two cybernetically enhanced girls meet.
Ghost in the Shell Arise: Border 5 - Pyrophoric Cult
Writer
Motoko and her squad are finally getting closer to Fire-Starter's broker, but things get tense when they're instructed to take a backseat role on a sting operation.
Ghost in the Shell Arise - Border 5: Pyrophoric Cult
Writer
Motoko and her squad are finally getting closer to Fire-Starter's broker, but things get tense when they're instructed to take a backseat role on a sting operation.
Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie
Original Story
When a ghost-infecting virus known as Fire-Starter begins spreading through the system resulting in the assassination of the Japanese Prime Minister, Major Motoko Kusanagi and her elite team of special operatives are called in to track down its source.
Ghost in the Shell Arise - Border 4: Ghost Stands Alone
Novel
The upcoming installment's story takes place amidst signs of postwar reconstruction in the winter of 2028. Tensions are rising in New Port City as demonstrations are held concerning the interests of foreign cartels. This leads to a shooting incident involving riot police. It all started with a cyberbrain infection released by the terrorist "Fire Starter." An independent offensive unit led by Makoto Kusanagi entrusts the suppression of the situation to their ghosts and aims for their own justice. Below the surface of the incident, lies the "tin girl" Emma and the "scarecrow man" Burinda Junior. As Kusanagi deals with the incident, she draws near to what those two ghosts were seeking.
Ghost in the Shell Arise - Border 3: Ghost Tears
Novel
Posing as lovers on vacation, Motoko and Batou work to try to stop a terrorist organization whose symbol is the Scrasath. Meanwhile, Togusa investigates a murder of a man who possessed a prosthetic leg manufactured by the Mermaid's Leg corporation.
Appleseed Alpha
Original Story
Based on the comic book by the creator of Ghost in the Shell, a young female soldier Deunan and her cyborg partner Briareos survive through the post World War 3 apocalyptic New York in search of human's future hope, the legendary city of Olympus.
Ghost in the Shell Arise - Border 2: Ghost Whispers
Novel
Freed of her responsibilities with the 501 Organization, Motoko Kusanagi must now learn how to take orders from Aramaki. Someone hacks the Logicomas, and Batou enlists the help of former army intelligence officer Ishikawa and former air artillery expert Borma. Kusanagi also seeks to enlist ace sniper Saito and undercover cop Paz into the new Public Security Section 9.
Ghost in the Shell Arise - Border 1: Ghost Pain
Creator
The story is set in 2027, one year after the end of the fourth non-nuclear war. New Port City is still reeling from the war's aftermath when it suffers a bombing caused by a self-propelled mine. Then, a military member implicated in arms-dealing bribes is gunned down. During the investigation, Public Security Section's Daisuke Aramaki encounters Motoko Kusanagi, the cyborg, wizard-level hacker assigned to the military's 501st Secret Unit. Batou, a man with the "eye that does not sleep," suspects that Kusanagi is the one behind the bombing. The Niihama Prefectural Police detective Togusa is pursuing his own dual cases of the shooting death and a prostitute's murder. Motoko herself is being watched by the 501st Secret Unit's head Kurutsu and cyborg agents.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society 3D
Writer
A new 3D version of Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society.
Ghost in the Shell 2.0
Novel
In the year 2029, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster'. Ghost in the Shell 2.0 is a reproduced version of its original 1995 counterpart. Among a numerous enhancements, for the film's 2.0 release, were a number of scenes were overhauled with 3D animation, visual improvements, and soundtrack rerecorded in 6.1 surround sound.
Appleseed: Ex Machina
Author
As members of ESWAT, the elite forces serving Olympus, Deunan and Briaereos are deployed anywhere trouble strikes. Olympus finds itself under a stealth attack - cyborg terrorism, deadly nanotech zealots, and rioting citizens are just some of the threats that Deunan must contend with as she fights to save Olympus!
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society
Original Series Creator
The story takes place in the year 2034, two years after the events in Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG. Female cyborg Major Motoko Kusanagi has left Public Security Section 9, an elite counter-terrorist and anti-crime unit specializing in cyber-warfare, which has expanded to a team of 20 field operatives with Togusa acting as the field lead.
TANK S.W.A.T. 01
Original Story
Masamune Shirow presents a story about the Dominion Tank Police dealing with terrorists taking over the NT Building with AI driven tanks.
Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG – Individual Eleven
Writer
The year is 2030. Six months passed since the Laughing Man Incident was solved. About 3 million refugees are living in Japan, invited to fill the labor shortage. However, the emergent presence of the invited-refugees intensified their confrontation with the "Individualists", who called for national isolation, which then led to the increased incidences of terrorist attacks. Under these circumstances, a terrorist group called the Individual Eleven carries out a suicide attack. But there was a greater scheme behind their action. When Section 9 learns this, they attempt to nail down the mastermind of the incident. Meanwhile, Kuze, a surviving member of the Individual Eleven, becomes a charismatic leader of the invited-refugees and intensifies the confrontation against the government. And Motoko starts feeling a strange sense of fate connecting her with Kuze...
Appleseed
Comic Book
In a utopian society created at the end of the third world war, a female warrior who has been plucked from the badlands begins to see cracks in this new facade. And what does this community have planned for the rest of humankind?
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Comic Book
Cyborg detective Batou is assigned to investigate a series of murders committed by gynoids—doll-like cyborgs, which all malfunctioned, killed, then self-destructed afterwards. The brains of the gynoids initialize in order to protect their manufacturer's software, but in one gynoid, which Batou himself neutralized, one file remains: a voice speaking the phrase "Help me."
Gundress
Character Designer
In 2100, the newly built Bayside City serves as Japan's premier international port. The Angel Arms Company is established by a former policewoman named Takako, to help wage war on terrorism with armed security suits. When the mayor is assassinated, the women of Angel Arms end up protecting the evil crime-lord Hassan, in hopes that his information will help bring down a global terror ring. Takako's back is to the wall as a band of criminals plot to kill Hassan, and the organization's leader is revealed to be the former lover of Angel Arms' own Alisa.
Ghost in the Shell
Original Story
In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster.
Landlock
Writer
The land of Zer’lue is in turmoil, ravaged by the technological might of Chairman Sana'ku and his evil, militaristic Zul’earth forces. In a rapidly unfolding story of treachery, deceit and betrayal, only one boy holds the power to defeat such overwhelming odds... a boy named Lue'der, who possesses a mysterious red eye and the ability to control the power of the wind itself. With the fate of the world at stake, Lue'der must learn to unlock his legendary power and battle against the evil which threatens to engulf his planet.
Bounty Dog
Character Designer
In the future, mankind has colonized the bleak expanses of the moon. Cities now stand proudly where there was once only desolation and emptiness. But there are alien forces that do not want mankind to succeed and only one man can stop them. He is a member of the Bounty Dog Investigation Unit, a high-tech cybernetic mercenary team.
Appleseed
Writer
In the futuristic city of Olympus, built on the ashes of the third world war, a police officer and her cyborg partner fight terrorism.
Appleseed
Original Story
In the futuristic city of Olympus, built on the ashes of the third world war, a police officer and her cyborg partner fight terrorism.
Black Magic M-66
Storyboard
A freelance reporter stumbles on a desperate military operation. An army chopper has crashed and its cargo has been activated. Now there are two killer androids running loose in the wilderness and have the daughter of their inventor as their target. Can the army stop them or can the reporter reach the little girl before the droids do?
Black Magic M-66
Writer
A freelance reporter stumbles on a desperate military operation. An army chopper has crashed and its cargo has been activated. Now there are two killer androids running loose in the wilderness and have the daughter of their inventor as their target. Can the army stop them or can the reporter reach the little girl before the droids do?
Black Magic M-66
Director
A freelance reporter stumbles on a desperate military operation. An army chopper has crashed and its cargo has been activated. Now there are two killer androids running loose in the wilderness and have the daughter of their inventor as their target. Can the army stop them or can the reporter reach the little girl before the droids do?