This deluxe edition will mark the first time the book has been published in its original Japanese right-to-left format in English. The long-awaited sequel to Shirow Masamune's groundbreaking The Ghost in the Shell, and one of the most highly anticipated graphic novel events in many years, Man-Machine Interface is Shirow's most ambitious and complex story yet, with deep forays into philosophy and the meaning of artificial life, intelligence, and existence. Utilizing awe-inspiring digital effects on a level never before seen in the annals of graphic fiction, Shirow has raised the bar for what can be achieved, page after page! 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.