The first-ever art exhibition dedicated to Shirow Masamune, titled “The World of Shirow Masamune: The Creative Evolution of Ghost in the Shell,”** opens on April 12 at the Setagaya Literary Museum. Coinciding with the event, the official exhibition artbook was released by Kodansha on April 11, and selected preview pages have been made available to the public.

This comprehensive collection features over 260 carefully curated illustrations drawn from a vast archive of both analog and digitally rendered works that Shirow Masamune prepared for this exhibition. Spanning more than 40 years of his artistic journey, the 300+ page volume includes works from his early art collection Black Magic, the breakout hit Appleseed that catapulted him into the spotlight, the iconic Ghost in the Shell, and titles adapted into animation such as Dominion and Orion. It also showcases his illustration work for games and novels.

Some of the illustrations included in the book are not featured in the exhibition itself, making this a must-have for fans. The artbook is printed in a large modified A4 format to fully showcase Shirow’s intricate and lustrous style. Notably, a fold-out illustration originally published in Soji Shimada’s novel Classical Fantasy Within is presented across three to four gatefold pages to reveal every fine detail of the artwork.

The complete artbook spans 304 pages and is priced at 6,000 yen.

Source : ORICON NEWS