Pieces Gem 01 – Masamune Shirow Art Book Review

Posted By yonghow on June 2nd, 2016

Pieces Gem 01 – Ghost In The Shell Data + Alpha is an art book by renowned manga artist Shirow Masamune, and collects previously unpublished and miscellaneous “rare” art work created for the Ghost In The Shell manga and anime. There are a couple of pieces I recognize from the Intron Depot art book, and many others I’ve not seen before.

Pieces Gem 01 - Shirow Masamune Art Book Review

Shirow is an amazing artist and by virtue of creating Ghost In The Shell has earned himself legendary status in the manga/anime world, but his transition from traditional to digital art work has been less than successful, in my opinion. The CG backgrounds are often too crude, messy or distracting and often take away from what is otherwise fantastic art work.

All that said, this book comes at a low price, with plenty of art work and is an easy one to pick up, especially for fans of Shirow’s art.

For the best of his work, my pick is still Intron Depot. I also recommend Pieces Gem 02, featuring some of his older creations.

“Pieces Gem 01 – Masamune Shirow 攻殻機動隊データ+α 士郎正宗” manga details :

Dimensions – 21.2 x 15 x 1.4 cm
Hard cover, 87 pages
Full color, in Japanese