Thanks to the recent anime adaptation by Science Saru, the world is finally aware just how weird and horny the original Ghost in the Shell manga is. What better time for a sequel?

Glitch Witch is not just a new story set in the same universe as Masamune Shirow’s seminal series, but one that takes place at the very same time. In fact, chapter one actually begins with a full on reprint of the iconic opening scene to the 1989 original before giving way to a new setting and new characters. That does serve to drive home the connection even further, but also invites several important points of comparison. 

One of the first differences comes in the visual style. While Shirow is the one behind the story of this new addition, Naoki Azuma is handling illustration duties this time around. He worked previously on the manga adaptation of Shouji Koukami’s book about a kamikaze pilot during World War Two that survived nine suicide missions, featuring plenty of mechanical designs and aerial warfare. You could argue that this makes him uniquely suited to the futuristic world of Ghost in the Shell, but he naturally lacks many of Shirow’s idiosyncrasies.

In my opinion, the thing that makes Shirow’s original series so compelling is the sheer amount of information crammed into every single page. Man-Machine Interface is especially so rife with footnotes and narrative asides that trying to consume the story feels more like an exercise in ergodic literature than mere manga. None of that flair is present in Glitch Witch; Azuma’s upbringing in the modern landscape means that he prefers to use clean, understandable compositions that are easy to read but fail to leave a strong impression.

Speaking of Man-Machine Interface, there are echoes of that story in this follow-up some three decades later. Glitch Witch follows one of America’s top AI researchers Dr. Vivian Vares as she is recruited by the FBI to investigate a series of car jackings that might involve the technology. Just like the last time Shirow explored his own cyberpunk world, the line between virtual space and material reality is purposefully blurred here: Vivian has a long conversation with her employers about the mission in a room that appears tangible, before logging off abruptly to reveal that the whole thing had taken place remotely in her self-driving car.

Nevertheless, Glitch Witch doesn’t push the envelope quite as far as Man-Machine Interface did, nor does it seem as pregnant with musings about the true nature of existence. It’s hard to guess where Shirow is going with this new storyline after just one chapter, but the base elements do seem somewhat pedestrian and derivative of his previous work. Here’s hoping that he can get weird once more.

Chapter One Club is a weekly column that aims to spotlight the latest in new series and one-shots from across a wide variety of different demographics and publications.