Episode 001: Section 9 (2010)
Author + Illustrator: Yu Kinutani | Page Count: 248
"[W]e've determined the contents of the brain are fake. So where's the real one?"
A number of cyborg Geishas have taken clients hostage, among them a high-ranking government official who at the time of his capture was engaging in some odd activities with the pretend ladies.
The Prime Minister summons the country's best counter-terrorist unit: Public Security Section 9. Led by the cybernetically enhanced Major Kusanagi, the team are called upon to not only resolve the situation, but to find out who's behind it, and why.
It's a manga adaptation of an anime TV series that was inspired by a film adaptation of a manga. If you're familiar with all of those things, then the book might be of interest to you, but know that it's the entire first episode of the GitS SAC anime in manga form - it's almost verbatim, except for some minor changes in the action scenes that don't alter the main storyline one bit. It's arguably less fun than watching the anime, so is probably best recommended for super-fans or folks who prefer manga, only.
Artwork is good and the story is well-paced. It has its own unique brief Tachikomatic Days at the end, although it lacks the audible and infectious curiosity of their animated counterparts.
Episode 002: Testation (2010)
Author + Illustrator: Yu Kinutani | Page Count: 277
A heavy-assault multi-ped tank goes crazy and escapes from a testing facility with live ammunition equipped. The tank's designer is suspected, but he died a week earlier. Section 9 must stop the tank somehow before it can reach a heavily populated civilian area.
Episode 002 is the second episode of the GitS: SAC anime in manga form. It's illustrated well, and like the first book is full of dynamic panels and crazy sound effects. The action is punctuated with some minor back-story that was absent from the anime, offering a welcome break from the tank moments. Unfortunately, unlike 001, there's no Tachikomatic Days episode at the end.
Episode 003: Idolater (2012)
Author + Illustrator: Yu Kinutani | Page Count: 208
Seeing as how books 001 and 002 were episodes one and two of the anime, respectively, I'd expected it to continue with 003 being a retelling of episode three, but it isn't. Instead it's a retelling of episode seven. For those that watched the anime, it's the one with Marcelo Jarti, the Jenoma revolutionary leader, drug dealer, and one of the most wanted men in the world.
Jarti is in Japan. He's been visiting periodically for a number of years. Section 9 want to find out why, and determine if he poses a threat to public security. The Major and her team tail him and discover something unexpected that forces them to make a very difficult decision.
Yu has been drawing the Major for so long that she and the rest of the team are represented perfectly. The lines are drawn with almost machinelike precision. If being too perfect can be considered a criticism, then it qualifies. I've a few other problems with this one, though. The story isn't as well-suited to the manga format as the previous two works were, and the many action scenes use an excessive amount of speed lines that I personally find irritating. It gives Jarti a new scene, but overall suffers from not having enough dialogue throughout.
Episode 004: ¥€$ (2013
Author + Illustrator: Yu Kinutani | Page Count: 256
Another retelling, but a big leap to episode fourteen. It sticks to the same plot, but there are some significant differences in how it gets from beginning to end. Kinutani has sexed it up with more suggestive POV angles and gratuitous panty-shots. I feel that kind of thing cheapens SAC, but the changes made in other areas are interesting.
The action scenes have been extended, or in some cases added anew, giving the work more immediacy. There's some aggressive flashbacks that establish a deeper emotional connection and offer up a more sympathetic view of the antagonist.
Art is great, as usual, except for the occasional elongated limb that's very unlike Kinutani. It's the kind of thing you'd expect from inbetweeners on a bad day.
Tachikomatic Days returns in a double dose that makes up for their absence last time.
Episode 005: Not Equal (2014)
Author + Illustrator: Yu Kinutani | Page Count: 282
As mentioned, the manga has been leaving out episodes of the anime. Book 005 gives us one of the missing ones (episode thirteen), but that means the two mediums are presenting the same stories in a different order. Thankfully, the continuity is intact because a minor reference to a previous adventure that was in the anime has been removed from the manga. Yay?
A child that was abducted sixteen years previously by an extremist organisation is recently spotted on a surveillance camera, but she hasn't aged. Logic says that a replacement prosthetic body could explain that easily, but things aren't that simple. A mystery needs to be solved and Section 9 is called in to solve it.
The original anime episode was split between exploration and dialogue in the first part and action in the second (of the gung-ho kind for some of the team!). Someone must've thought that needed redress, so additional action scenes have been added in the first half and, not to be outdone, even more explosive moments squeezed into the already combat-packed finale. It's a little overwhelming.
NOTE: a promised sixth volume was due for publication on 12th May 2015, but was cancelled. It was to be the beginning of Kinutani's four-volume adaptation of the Laughing Man arc. At time of writing, no official English language translation of it exists on paper format.
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