The Ghost in the Shell: The Human Algorithm

his brand-new chapter fills in the gaps between The Ghost in the Shell: Human-Error Processor and Man-Machine Interface manga with a tense cyberpunk thriller written by Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex script writer Junichi Fujisaku. Just in time for the release of the new Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 anime on Netflix! Hackers attempt to assassinate a politician during a speech preaching the advantages of cybernetic prosthetics. Fortunately, Togusa is there to whisk her to safety, and the investigation leads Batou to a suspicious factory in the artificial islands in southern Japan. Meanwhile, Chief Aramaki hears of a disturbing discovery at the other end of the country: dozens of artificial bodies, illegally dumped near a village where an anti-cyberization sect conducts their training and “rites.” Among the empty shells is one formerly inhabited by the woman who embodied Section 9 until she left it behind and disappeared: Major Motoko Kusanagi…

After hearing that the body of the presumed missing Major Kusanagi has turned up under mysterious circumstances, Section 9’s Togusa and Tsunagi take to the north to continue the search for answers. However, when their investigation into the involvement of the cultish Aterui community turns violent, the operation goes south fast as Tsunagi is taken by the shadowy and dangerous “White Bear.” Meanwhile, down south, Batou and Ishikawa end up in some hot water of their own with the Triads and their apparent involvement in the corrupt dealings of Osaki Heavy Industries…

Togusa and rookie operative Tsunagi of Section 9 have been sent north following reports that Major Kusanagi’s artificial body was seen in the city of Towada. Similar rumors send Batou and Ishikawa hundreds of miles south to infiltrate the ranks of a criminal organization in Okinawa. Over the course of both investigations, Section 9 learns that Hashikami and the killer known as the “White Bear” are plotting to assassinate Shinra Mikomoto, the recently elected mayor of New Port City. This news sends the scattered members of Section 9 swooping down on the city, where everything hinges on the mayor’s fate.

Togusa and Tsunagi are racing after a fleeing suspect when a van suddenly slams into the suspect’s car, killing the van driver instantly. As Togusa hooks into the man’s cyberbrain, he sees residual images of a group of children and a masked figure who says, “I am a warrior.” Later, an autopsy yields a shocking revelation: the driver was killed not by the collision, but by a neurotoxin derived from the venom of the African black mamba. Section 9 needs answers, so Togusa and Tsunagi get sent halfway across the world to the Sahel Special Economic Zone. What mysteries await them in the “oasis of the Sahara”?

Togusa and Tsunagi set out for Africa to investigate a poisoning death at the Japanese consulate in the Sahel Special Economic Zone. Using their “honeymoon” as a cover, the two trace the black mamba snake venom used in the assassination to an oasis outside the zone that’s part of Gili tribal lands. While they’re gone, a coup rocks the Madisi Republic that governs Sahel, and General Mosey seizes control, sparking conflict with the “liberation forces” of the Gili. What does snake venom have to do with a civil war rising from the baked desert sands? That question is the key to Togusa breaking the case…

Hesitant to hurt others but longing to protect his family, the gentle Ajili has been conned into undergoing a “ceremony,” where he thinks he’s been chosen from among all others to don a terrifying prosthetic and fearlessly light the fire of revolution. In fact, he’s been poisoned with a cyberdrug derived from the venom of the black mamba—one that renders him nearly fearless and his cyberbrain susceptible to the installation of whatever new software his puppeteers desire. Meanwhile, Togusa and Tsunagi’s murder investigation, Batou’s failed training mission, a child organ harvesting ring, and a Chinese spy’s greed intersect all collide. Against the backdrop of the brutal Sahara, the stage is set for an explosive climax…