#hearttype

It sounds invasive to imagine myself in conversation with Motoko Kusanagi, following every step of her existential woes and making note of her introspections. *I even get possessive or defensive about how 1995!Motoko is approached. Unlike an actual parasocial relationship, this is in line with the idea of Motoko Kusanagi. Her existence already feels very interpersonal from the moment Ghost in the Shell (1995) starts, given the angle Oshii wanted to take with his interpretation of The Major.

At the same time, I still feel her as a person, not just the concept of a person introduced through fiction. Flowing through me, connecting with me through the Net. The more I analyze her and her world, the more it feels like she’s doing the same in return. It eats away at me, but not in a bad way. I can’t help but want to explore this more. If anything, I need to stop being hard on myself whenever the feeling washes over me.

There’s also topics that shape the worldbuilding of The Ghost in the Shell: geopolitics and the orchestration of global theater, domestic and international terrorism, diplomacy, the ethics of police and military operations, the ethics of separating the individual from the collective (be it in context to one’s state/government or in general), exploitation within the aforementioned systems, and much, much more. I want to list the scientific research Masamune recommended in his footnotes when I get home too. I know a couple of them aren’t translated, but who knows, maybe they can work as reading materials for my language practice. Although Masamune’s expository habits are still excessive, I really like those footnotes he leaves. It’s not every day when you see a mangaka infodump like that, and it’s also something I find myself doing as a writer. I just love storytelling so much!

Another personal project of mine is finding research on feminist theory in posthumanism and transhumanism. I already have A Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Haraway (who was referenced in Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence!) and Four Theses on Posthuman Feminism by Rosi Braidotti jotted down for future reading. I’m sure there’s feminist readings of Ghost in the Shell out there, especially with The Major’s body as a focus. From her rank at Section 9 to her evolution post-TGITS (1989), and then the sexual themes that follow her as a character introduced during the bishojo boom of the manga industry… there’s a lot of ground to cover!

I also wanted to check out other versions of Motoko’s story, starting with GITS’s source material. I wasn’t all that surprised when I learned every prior adaptation for GITS exists as its own continuity apart from the original 1989-1990 run of The Ghost in the Shell (I take it as a TMNT or Transformers type of situation); I caught the visual differences between 89!Motoko, 95!Motoko, and SAC!Motoko pretty early on. I figured there had to be some sort of explanation behind that.

Both Shirow Masamune’s manga and Mamoru Oshii’s films are major hearttales of mine. I can’t wait to see the original manga get a faithful adaptation, especially when it’s been thirty-seven years since its serialization. Its lighthearted moments are really appreciated. I feel a little closer to Motoko that way, like I’m getting to know her and not The Major.

Or the illustration of how was my active thought process going of what both of them mean to me, identity wise. I thought only one winner, one identity, was needed and then the other option is wrong. Later I understood that's not the right thinking.

Turned out a stone marten is a hearttype, I relate to them greatly but I'm not one. With pine martens, it's me, on all levels.