This deluxe edition will mark the first time the book has been published in its original Japanese right-to-left format in English. Deep into the twenty-first century, the line between man and machine has been blurred as humans rely on the enhancement of mechanical implants and robots are upgraded with human tissue. In this rapidly converging landscape, cyborg superagent Major Motoko Kusanagi is charged to track down the craftiest and most dangerous terrorists and cybercriminals, including "ghost hackers" who are capable of exploiting the human/machine interface and reprogramming humans to become puppets to carry out the hackers' criminal ends. Story Locale- Tokyo Series Overview- Following World Wars III and IV a Japanese-led Asian block dominates the world. A key element in the maintenance of the block's position is the elite Japanese security police, the SHELL task force. To give them an edge in their ruthless battles against terrorist groups, most of the force have had extensive cybernetic transplants that have left them only questionably human. This is an exciting and skillful work that realistically probes uses of artificial intelligence and "direct interfacing" with machines, and which questions where mankind's technological and medical progress will lead.