# Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow

2 Hacker News commenters recommended Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for dense, maximalist cyberpunk ideas and author footnotes that expand on the story. One critic finds its sexual content off-putting and did not enjoy it much.

## Why people recommend it

- Packed with interesting ideas (1 comments): "It's packed with interesting ideas and author footnotes that the 1995 hints at but has no time to elaborate on." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48683536))
- Dense, maximalist, metaphysical writing (1 comments): "Man-Machine Interface is dense, maximalist, metaphysical, and sometimes abstract" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46206202))

## What people warn about

- Sexual content put off a critic (1 comments): "Shirow's manga is horny though, partly why I dislike it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48892186))
- Did not enjoy it much (1 comments): "I didn't like the manga all that much" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48892128))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/persepolis.md): 16 recommend
- [Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/transmetropolitan.md): 5 recommend
- [Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou](https://hackerapproved.com/p/logicomix.md): 5 recommend
- [Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gender-queer.md): 4 recommend
- [Frontier by Guillaume Singelin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/frontier.md): 4 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1845760182?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781845760182) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow", https://hackerapproved.com/p/ghost-in-the-shell-manga/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).