|
Masamune Shirow (士郎 正宗 Shirō Masamune) is a manga artist of international renown. "Masamune Shirow" is a pen-name, based on a famous swordsmith, Masamune.
Most well known for the manga Ghost in the Shell (which was later turned into both an anime movie and a PlayStation video game).
Fame
Masamune Shirow is now one of the most famous anime and manga creators, even though he was originally only popular outside of Japan. He was chosen as an early author to bring to the west because of many stylistic similarites 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 anime, but he had no major role in its production. Mamoru Oshii is the true creator of the film.
Heroine with a single face
Many of his works ("Ghost in the Shell", "", "Appleseed") follow a common form: a strong female law enforcement officer/warrior battles external fights while under difficulties from internal politics, in a near-future setting with strong cyberpunk influences.
His female lead characters (Kusanagi in "Ghost in the Shell", Leona in "Tank Police", Deunan in "Appleseed", and Seska in "Orion") look nearly identical, with the exception of hair color.
Shirow got his start as a pornography artist and this is reflected in how he draws his women, providing them with very exaggerated sexual features. He is still drawing fanservice pornography in addition to sci-fi thrillers.
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)
- (1995) (No more noise)
- Intron Depot 2 - Blades (1998) (fantasy-themed color illustration artbook featuring female characters with armor and edged weapons)
- (2001) (the 'true' sequel to Ghost in the Shell has been translated and made its run as individual issues in the US; a collected version is due sometime in late summer 2004)
- Intron Depot 3 - Ballistics (2003) (military-themed color illustration and CG artbook featuring female characters with guns)
- (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)
Anime adaptations
Film
Television
External links
| 
