Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book Review

Posted By yonghow on August 10th, 2014

Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book 攻殻機動隊 原画集

The Ghost In The Shell Genga art book is a sumptuous collection of key animation drawings from Mamoru Oshii’s groundbreaking anime, with 1082 pieces of genga art work spread across 288 pages. The publication of this book is part of the 25th anniversary celebration for manga artist Masamune Shirow’s original Ghost In The Shell comic.

Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book

( above & below ) The intense assassination scene before the opening sequence, which introduces the viewer to the main protagonist of the film, Major Motoko Kusanagi. The reproductions of the genga pieces are huge, crisp and clean, which really allow you to see just how high quality and detailed each drawing is, and my reverence for the animators grow ever more.

Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book

( above & below ) The Major takes down a Puppermaster ghost hacked pawn with a 4 hit combo, finishing with a powerful round house kick. Director Mamoru Oshii sketched a nifty drawing using Lau Chan ( a character from the Virtua Fighter arcade game series that uses this attack ) as a guide for the animators working on this sequence, documented on page 272 and also found in The Analysis of Ghost In The Shell art book.

Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book

(above) Beginning scenes from the “Nightstalker” sequence, which give viewers a brief moment of quiet introspection and foreboding before the Major’s final confrontation with the Puppetmaster. The sequence is especially memorable and impactful also because of Kenji Kawai’s amazing score. ( watch sequence below )

Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book

(below) The final section of the book contains genga pieces that have been vetted by Mamoru and annotated with his handwritten notes. The notes are reproduced here in in type, with bigger print size for better readability.

Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book
Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book

A huge treasure trove of beautiful genga pieces from a true anime masterpiece.  My highest recommendations.

Folks who are searching for more Ghost In The Shell art should definitely check out the excellent Analysis Of Ghost In The Shell book and Ogura Hiromasa’s “Light And Darkness” art book (background art).

Ghost In The Shell Archives – Genga Collection Art Book 攻殻機動隊 原画集 details :

– Dimensions – 29.6 x 21 x 2.2 cm
– Softcover, 288 pages
– Black & White, in Japanese language

Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book Amazon Japan Buy Link
Buy From Amazon.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Amazon DE | Amazon ES

You might also be interested in these items :

How To Order From Amazon Japan - Detailed Buying Guide

Buying From Amazon Japan FAQ

18

8 Responses to “Ghost In The Shell Genga Collection Art Book Review”

GITS_Fanatic

Awesome. I already own The Analysis of Ghost in the Shell, Ogura Hiromasa’s Light & Darkness, Ghost in the Shell Continuity Script… now I must buy this one! I’d suggest you check out Proto Anime Cut: Archive, a huge book that contains art from several anime, including lots of stuff from GITS 1995. Most notably, it features background art pieces by Hiromasa which are not found in his Light & Darkness book.

yonghow

GITS_Fanatic – Thanks for the heads up on Proto Anime Cut ! :]

Here’s the Amazon link for anyone else who’s interested –

Amazon.com :
http://www.amazon.com/dp/846153557X/?tag=halcreal-20

Amazon Japan :
http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/846153557X/?tag=jpboxsets-22

Ji-L87

Occasional lurker here,
I saw you mention the book in your other post so I went ahead and put down a pre-order last week, and I got it today already! That’s crazy fast from Japan!

While I’ve only looked through it briefly at the moment, it really seems to be a fantastic book for any fan of the movie or animation fans in general – really stoked about it!
So, thanks for bringing it to my attention through your posts 🙂

yonghow

Ji-L87 – Thanks for lurking ! :] I’m glad you enjoy the book, it’s pretty awesome !

Oh and yes, shipping from Amazon Japan is lightning fast. 😛

Olbertfrog

Thanks again for this great page 🙂

I own analysis already does this new book features more material?

Thanks 🙂

yonghow

Olbertfrog – It’s very much a different book in terms of content – Analysis takes a broad look at all aspects of the making of GITS, but this book concentrates only on genga, so there’s very little overlapping material.

yonghow

spike2501 – I don’t have my copy of this book with me right now so I can’t give you a more definitive answer, but as the images above show there aren’t really a lot of text. There’s probably more text in Analysis as you surmised, but both books still contain so much great visual content that (personally) I won’t hesitate getting any of them. Hope that helps !

Trackbacks

  1. Batou (GITS) Illustration By Katsuya Terada - Halcyon Realms - Art Book Reviews - Anime, Manga, Film, Photography

Leave a Reply