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Masamune Shirow

Masamune Shirow

Born in Kobe, Japan
November 23, 1961

Masamune Shirow (士郎 正宗 ) is an internationally renowned manga artist. 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. Shirow is also known 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.

Manga

Art books

A substantial amount of Shirow’s work has been released in art book or poster book format. The following is an incomplete list.

  • Intron Depot 1 (1992) (science fiction–themed color illustration art book collecting his work from 1981 to 1991)
  • Intron Depot 2: Blades (1998) (fantasy-themed color illustration art book featuring female characters with armor and edged weapons)
  • Cybergirls Portfolio (2000)
  • Intron Depot 3: Ballistics (2003) (military-themed color illustration and CG art book featuring female characters with guns)
  • Intron Depot 4: Bullets (2004) (color illustration art book collecting his work between 1995 and 1999)
  • Intron Depot 5: Battalion (2012) (game & animation artwork covering the period 2001–2009)
  • Intron Depot 6: Barb Wire 01 (2013) (illustrated for novels 2007–2010)
  • Intron Depot 7: Barb Wire 02 (2013) (illustrated for novels 2007–2010)
  • Kokin Toguihime Zowshi Shu (2009)
  • Pieces 1 (2009) – Premium Gallery
  • Pieces 2 (2010) – Phantom Cats
  • Pieces 3 (2010) – Wild Wet Quest
  • Pieces 4 (2010) – Hell Hound 01
  • Pieces 5 (2011) – Hell Hound 02
  • Pieces 6 (2011) – Hell Cat
  • Pieces 7 (2011) – Hell Hound 01 & 02
  • Pieces 8 (2012) – Wild Wet West
  • Pieces 9 (2012) – Kokon Otogizoshi Shu Hiden
  • W-Tails Cat 1 (2012)
  • W-Tails Cat 2 (2013)
  • Greaseberries 1 (2014)
  • Greaseberries 2 (2014)

Galgrease

Galgrease (published in Uppers Magazine, 2002) is the collected name of several erotic manga and poster books by Shirow. The name comes from the fact that the women depicted often look “greased”.

The first series of Galgrease booklets included four issues each in the following settings:

The second series included another run of 12 booklets in the following worlds:

After each regular series, there were one or more bonus poster books that revisited the existing characters and settings.

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” (manga, 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

Other

  • Design of the MAPP1-SM mouse series (2002, commissioned by Elecom)

Anime

Film

OVAs

Television

Video games

Arcade

PC Engine

Super Famicom

Nintendo DS

PlayStation

PlayStation 2

PlayStation Portable

Sources: Wikipedia and Goodreads