↑ arvau

Wikipedia / Masamune Shirow

, better known by his pen name , is a Japanese manga artist. Shirow is best known for his award-winning debut work, Appleseed, and his best-known manga, Ghost in the Shell. Both series have been adapted into theatrical or television anime films, anime television series, OVA or ONA productions, and several video games. Ghost in the Shell was additionally adapted into a Hollywood live-action film. He is a key figure in the development of cyberpunk aesthetics and themes in Japan during the 1980s and 1990s.

In addition to his mainstream manga and design work, Shirow has produced erotic and hentai manga and illustrations since the 1990s, with numerous art books and a 2025 exhibition dedicated to it.

Life and career

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 dōjinshi Atlas. His work caught the eye of President Harumichi Aoki, who offered to publish him.

The result was best-selling manga 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. In 1987 Shirow wrote the script for the OVA adaptation of Black Magic M-66 from his story, drew the storyboards, and co-directed with Hiroyuki Kitakubo, who did story layout and character design from Shirow's art. Two more volumes of Appleseed followed before he began work on Ghost in the Shell. His work has been cited as an influence on The Wachowskis and the development of the popular Matrix film series.

In 2002, Shirow provided plot for several episodes of season 1 of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, sketches of characters and mechanical designs (including the Tachikoma), and gave his approval to the scripts before production. Mamoru Oshii, the director of the first two Ghost in the Shell movies, took this role for season 2 of the series.

In 2007, he collaborated again with Production I.G to co-create the original concept for the anime television series Ghost Hound, Production I.G's 20th anniversary project. A further original collaboration with Production I.G began airing in April 2008, titled Real Drive. His work often explores the philosophical themes of cyberpunk such as the nature of post-human existence, AI and the ethics of biotechnology, human–machine relations, multiculturalism, and globalism.

Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn, based on a concept by Masamune Shirow, with editorial contributions by Shirow in every tankobon volume, and written and illustrated by Kōshi Rikudō, was published from 2012 to 2024. The series was conceived as an effort to officially merge the already connected universes of Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell, with the long-stalled Glitch Witch envisioned as the second half of that story. Additional information about his world is revealed in material available only in the Japanese e-book edition, including CG artwork and further editorial material by Shirow. This material introduces Ronne (ロンヌ), a fusion of Motoko Kusanagi and P2501 (the Puppet Master), and continues Ghost in the Shell 2.0. According to the editor of Pandora in the Crimson Shell, the story had already been illustrated, but its publication was delayed for various reasons, resulting in Ronne's debut in Kōshi Rikudō's manga. W-Tails Cat Vol. 6 is set to fully depict these events, as stated in Shirow's commentary accompanying the volume 20 material.

The The World of Shirow Masamune exhibition was held in 2025 at the Setagaya Literary Museum in Tokyo to commemorate the museum's 30th anniversary. The exhibition also featured collaborative works by artists including CLAMP, Hiroyuki Kitakubo, Ilya Kuvshinov, Jiro Konami, Kazuto Nakazawa, Oh!great, Tsutomu Nihei and Yu Nagaba. The adults-only exhibition GREASEBERRIES & W・TAILS CAT, showcasing his sci-fi themed hentai universe, was subsequently held at Vanilla Gallery in Tokyo.

Bibliography

Manga

  • series:

  • (1985–1989)

  • Appleseed Databook , or Appleseed ID (1990) A guide book, includes Chapter 26 Called Game.

  • Appleseed Hypernotes (1996) A guide book, includes chapters 1–4 of the unfinished fifth volume Artemis's Arrow first published in Comic Gaia in 1992.

series:

  1. (1985–1986)

  2. "Dominion: Phantom of the Audience" (1988) Short story.

  3. (1995) A reboot.

series:

  1. (1989–1990)

  2. (1991–1996)

  3. (1997)

Stand-alones:

  • (1983)

  • (1986)

  • (1987)

  • (1990–1991)

  • Exon Depot (1992)

  • (1992–1994)

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, divided into his commercial and Galgrease hentai line.

  • BLACKMAGIC M-66 Complete Data Sheets (1987) (Design & animation artwork for the OVA)

  • Black Magic M-66 storyboard (1992) (Storyboards by Masamune Shirow for the OVA)

  • Intron Depot 1 (1992) (Science fiction–themed color illustration art book collecting his work from 1981 to 1991)

  • 3D Action Shooting Game for Playstation - Ghost in the Shell Official Art Book (Game & animation artwork for the 1997 game)

  • Intron Depot 2: Blades (1998) (Fantasy-themed color illustration art book featuring female characters with armor and edged weapons)

  • 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) (Illustrations for novels 2007–2010)

  • Intron Depot 7: Barb Wire 02 (2013) (Illustrations for novels 2007–2010)

  • Intron Depot 8: Bomb Bay (2018) (Illustrations 1992–2009)

  • Intron Depot 9: Barrage Fire (2019) (Illustrations 1998–2017)

  • Intron Depot 10: Bloodbard (2020) (Illustrations 2004–2019)

  • Intron Depot 11: Bailey Bridge (2020) (Illustrations 2012–2014)

  • Intron Depot 12: Burnout Velocity (2024) (Illustrations 2015)

  • Intron Depot 13: Burnout Velocity 2 (2025) (Illustrations for novels 2015–2016)

  • Intron Depot 14: Burnout Velocity 3 (2026) (Illustrations for novels 2016)

  • Kokin Toguihime Zowshi Shu (2009)

  • Pieces 1 (2009) (Pieces 2-9 are hentai publications)

  • Pieces GEM 01: The Ghost in The Shell Data + α (2014) (GEM volumes combine old and new material for Shirow´s commerical manga work)

  • Pieces GEM 02: Neuro Hard Bee Planet (2015)

  • Pieces GEM 03: Appleseed Drawings (2016)

  • Artworks in the Shell (2025) (Exhibition catalogue from 'The World of Masamune Shirow', held at Tokyo's Setagaya Literary Museum)

Galgrease Art books

Galgrease (published in Uppers Magazine, 2002) is the collected name of several hentai 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:

Shirow revisited these characters and settings after each regular series of poster books was released, providing the basis for the ongoing hentai series Pieces with rotating settings and the science-fiction-oriented W-Tails Cat. The latter centers on Cyril Brooklyn and the beautiful women of MARS RISK MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY B&S, who had previously appeared in Pieces 2: Phantom Cats. Greaseberries subsequently developed as a school-themed spin-off of W-Tails Cat, centered on Grace Blackberry and other “Berry” characters with Cyril Brooklyn in a recurring role.

  • Pieces 2: Phantom Cats (2010) (Remade and continued as W-Tails Cat)

  • Pieces 3: Wild Wet Quest (2010)

  • Pieces 4: Hell Hound 01 (2010)

  • Pieces 5: Hell Hound 02 (2011)

  • Pieces 6: Hell Cat (2011)

  • Pieces 7: Hell Hound 01 & 02 Miscellaneous Work + α (2011)

  • Pieces 8: Wild Wet West (2012)

  • Pieces 9: Kokon Otogizoshi Shu Hiden (2012)

  • W-Tails Cat 1 (2012) (Military science fiction set on Mars)

  • W-Tails Cat 2 (2013)

  • W-Tails Cat 3 (2016)

  • W-Tails Cat 4 (2025)

  • W-Tails Cat Rough (2025)

  • W-Tails Cat 5 (2026)

  • Greaseberries 1 (2014) (School life sidestory to W-Tails Cat)

  • Greaseberries 2 (2014)

  • Greaseberries 3 (2018)

  • Greaseberries 4 (2019)

  • Greaseberries Rough (2019)

Minor works

  • "Areopagus Arther" (1980), published in ATLAS (dōjinshi)

  • "Yellow Hawk" (1981), published in ATLAS (dōjinshi)

  • "Colosseum Pick" (1982), published in Funya (dōjinshi)

  • "Pursuit (Manga)" (1982), published in Kintalion (dōjinshi)

  • "Opional Orientation" (1984), published in ATLAS (dōjinshi)

  • "Battle on Mechanism" (1984), published in ATLAS (dōjinshi)

  • "Metamorphosis in Amazoness" (1984), published in ATLAS (dōjinshi)

  • "Arice in Jargon" (1984), published in ATLAS (dōjinshi)

  • "Bike Nut" (1985), published in Dorothy (dōjinshi)

  • "Colosseum Pick" (1990), published in Comic Fusion Atpas (dōjinshi)

Otherhttps://www.shirowledge.com/novel.html小説表紙・挿絵 (Novel Covers & Illustrations)sTwo - 士郎正宗の温故知新！2026-08-09

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

  • Manga (2007), original concept

  • Manga (2008-2009), original concept

  • Manga (2008), original concept

  • Light novel (2008), original concept

  • Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn Manga (2012–2024), original concept

  • Design of the EHP-SH1000 and EHP-SL100 headphones (2016, commissioned by Elecom)

  • Black Magic Ghost Drive Manga (2019), original concept (Reboot of the 80s manga and OVA setting)

  • The Ghost in the Shell: The Human Algorithm Manga (2019-2025), original concept (Sequel to Ghost in the Shell 1.5)

Adaptations

Anime

Film

OVAs and ONAs

Television

Live action

Video gameshttps://www.shirowledge.com/novel.html小説表紙・挿絵 (Novel Covers & Illustrations)sTwo - 士郎正宗の温故知新！2026-08-09

Masamune Shirow contributed art and designs to a variety of TTRPG, PBM game, and Social game publications from 1988 onward. The following is a list of home console and PC games that he either worked on directly or that are based on his source material.

PC Engine

  • Toshi Tensou Keikaku: Eternal City (1991) Action Platformer, Designs featured in Intron Depot 1

  • Lords of Thunder (1993) Scrolling shooter, Designs featured in Intron Depot 2

Super Famicom

Nintendo DS

PlayStation

  • Project Horned Owl (1995) Light gun shooter, Designs featured in Intron Depot 4

  • Slime Shiyou! PlayStation Simulation (1996), Designs featured in Intron Depot 2

  • Ghost in the Shell (1997) Third-person Shooter, Designs featured in 3D Action Shooting Game for Playstation - Ghost in the Shell Official Art Book

  • Yarudora Series Vol. 3: Sampaguita (1998) Graphic Adventure, Designs featured in Intron Depot 4

  • GunDress (2000) Strategy RPG, Designs featured in Intron Depot 4

PlayStation 2

PlayStation Portable

Microsoft Windows

References

Further reading