A True Synthesis between Man and Machine? Evolution! True Peace between all People? Well…

image courtesy of Masanori Ota, Darks Horse, Eclipse Comics and Netflix contributions

The Good to know Prologue Blog

“(*Quotes from a Discord conversation*)

Within open-world RPGs, you’re comforted by the fact that your companions will be at your side with an almost unconditional positive affinity, an unhealthy thought to have during adolescence, feeling undesirable or ignored by the real world like a ghost in a shell.

Karim Abbadi”

We are near our conclusion as I spotlight the final of the three legendary characters for our deep-dive dissection. I tackle Masamune Shirow (real name Masanori Ota), creator of Ghost in a Shell and Makoto Kusanagi in most of her story series interactions — or at least ones with a similar story arc. As usual, we will discuss the brief history of Masamune Shirow’s creative career and his work’s inspirations, where I attempt to pick his brain on the analysis of Makoto Kusanagi and her cyberpunk world. I will link more information upon key references in bold as per usual.

Major Makoto Kusanagi

With a pen name like Masamune Shirow, you expect great things. The name references a famous swordsmith, Masamune. Masanori Ota attended Osaka University of Arts, where he wrote and drew his first comic, Black Magic, for the fanzine Atlas. Between 1985-89, Masanori had released 4 volumes of his sci-fi polished work known as Appleseed (published by Dark Horse with Eclipse Comics.

The Appleseed series became enough of a hit for him to create a new original work, Ghost in a Shell, in the 1990s (first as a manga, then a release of its first movie in 1995.) Ghost in a Shell provides a heavy philosophical load about the synthesis of man and machine, the evolutionary cost, moral qualms and tropes similar to The Matrix and The Terminator franchises. There’s much more, but it would make this piece an essay.

Masanori Ota is quite the private individual, preferring to keep to himself and a close circle of individuals. So much so, in fact, that he rarely ever appears in public or permits photos of him. According to various articles about him, when he isn’t working on his creative profession, he’s an established professor at Osaka University of Arts within the oil painting department.

image courtesy of Masanori Ota, Darks Horse, Eclipse Comics and fan art contributions

Just a Whisper, I can hear in my SOOUULL! (Deep Dive Analysis Time)

Major Makoto Kusanagi is a formidable female lead with a resolute soul, wise, open-minded heart and dedication to her team that could be mistaken for maternal affection. This is especially shown in Netflix’s adaptation of Ghost in a Shell: SAC_2045. Kusanagi’s design is undoubtedly a graphical update since her 2D to 3D animation versions from the manga, movies and games. Ghost in a Shell SAC_2045 deviates a bit from the points the 1995 movie makes, so I won’t be using this Netflix series to contribute points. But I’m getting distracted here. On to the deep-dive analysis portion.

Viewers may be wondering after watching/reading something like Ghost in a Shell about the kind of bonds we have with technology. At times we love it for its tools for use in our daily lives to work, relax, find love or see “love” in the making. Heck! If the internet were a person, I’d stand my ground to debate Aladdin, mainly due to the meme-able ear-worm of a song that’s gradually humming in your head as you finish reading this sentence.

Deeper, Down! Briefer, NOW! (Extended Deep-Dive)

At the worst of times, technology has been the source of our nightmares and terrible experiences. From learning how to use over-complicated systems/functions, Y2K, cyberbullying, career-ending social demise at the cost of our mental health and livelihoods... With the cons of technology in our minds, these problems propose a sense of progress within a conflict, something in common with 1995’s Ghost in a Shell. They also comprise the thesis and antitheses of conflict that breeds the human’s resolution and future artificial intelligence. Masanori Ota takes a great part of its storytelling inspiration from Georg Wilhelm Friedrick Hegel, a European philosopher who views conflict (even menial ones) as a means of human historical progress.

With examples such as our infamous historical past of World Wars within the 20th century, every development to our current day is caused by forces that clashed to forge something. Ghost in a Shell is Hegel's Dialectics in a nutshell, with fundamental ideas of Hegel’s work being pronounced well in the Masanori Ota worldbuilding setting. As for “Mokoto Kusanagi, embodies and is defined by a similar sense of idealism to Hegel’s view on philosophy, “...believing that the world operates on rational principles and that the true meaning of reality is knowable.” stated by Wisecrack perception on Ghost in a Shell. Her dissatisfaction drives Kusanagi by her limited perspective, believing that there's a reality out there best suited for achieving such a seemingly unlimited view.

Courtesy of Wisecrack

(Spoiler Warning)

When the Major finally catches up with the Puppet Master, a super Artificial Intelligence that gains self-awareness, he proposes a merge of consciousness—stating that despite his knowledge of everything, he envies and desires the emotional and intuitive features of the human condition. Kusanagi views this offer with a certain optimism, complying as long as she retains the majority (pun intended) of her identity as the Puppet Master. They both agree with the Puppet Master’s desire accomplished, along with the ride to aid AI information and abilities to Mokoto’s future adventures.

I view this merge of Mokoto Kusanagi and the Puppet Master as an odd but well thought-out symbolism of Mototo’s desire for omniscient empathy and justice. Similar to Robocop, who's a human terminal of the law, Kusanagi desires to master the art of learning context to justify the best course of action of any given grey area situation while retaining human intuitions and empathy and minimizing the variable of contextual misunderstandings. With the Puppet Master’s help, the convenient trope of “ignorance is bliss” holds no valued excuse for the truth.

Thanks to all of you who managed to pass through Reading this Blog. I’m eternally Greatful!(Image courtesty of Warner Brothers) — Thanks to all of you who managed to pass through Reading this Blog. I’m eternally Greatful!
(Image courtesty of Warner Brothers)

I hope all is well with you and yours. Relax to some Lo-fi if you like,(image courtesy of Masanori Ota, Darks Horse, Eclipse Comics and fan art contributions) — I hope all is well with you and yours. Relax to some Lo-fi if you like,
(image courtesy of Masanori Ota, Darks Horse, Eclipse Comics and fan art contributions)

Continue with us next time, in another compact deep-dive.