Ghost in the Shell (its definite article soon dropped) is a central work in appreciating Japanese sf in the 1990s, particularly within anime viewership and among foreign readers. This latter manga was serialized in a magazine for a notably older readership, and was a more sustained Cyberpunk policier, detailing the activities of the titular response unit, its jurisdictional spats with rival ministries and institutions, and its ongoing battle against an omnipresent adversary. Orion began publication when Shirow had already commenced the series that would be regarded as his masterwork, Kōkaku Kidōtai (May 1989-November 1990 Young). Other early works include DOMINION (January 1986-August 1986 Gekkan ComiComi) a playful Dystopia focusing on a police patrol unit that drives around in tanks – the Anime adaptation is Dominion Tank Police ( 1988-1989) – and Senjutsu Chōkōkaku Orion (1990 Comic Gaia), a retelling of Japanese myth, set in a Galactic Empire mixing science and magic, featuring suits of "armour" that are demonstrably Mecha. The subsequent animated adaptations, Black Magic M-66 ( 1987), directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo, and Appleseed ( 1988), directed by Kazuyoshi Katayama, played up pre-existing similarities to the work of James Cameron, particularly The Terminator ( 1984) and Aliens ( 1986), both early acquisitions for the overseas anime market in the wake of Katsuhiro Ōtomo's Akira ( 1988), and alongside the similarly influential work of Rumiko Takahashi. Appleseed won a Seiun Award for best comic, bringing Shirow to the attention of pioneers in the manga translation business, and also of Anime producers. The fanzine work was snapped up by the local publisher Seishinsha, as was his subsequent Appleseed (February 1985-April 1989 Comic Gaia), Military SF set in a balkanized future in which humanity lives in uneasy and increasingly fearful symbiosis with a new race of superior Androids. Purportedly set on Venus, it is a Technothriller in which humanoid robot Weapons ("bioroids") run amok. Shirow's meteoric rise in the 1980s found him catching the zeitgeist both in Japan and abroad, beginning with his comic "Black Magic" (1983 Atlas).
Beginning with Areopagus Arther (1980 Atlas), Shirow was published in the fanzine Atlas, home to his early work until he was reprinted by professional publishers. Pen-name and preferred romanization of Masanori Oda (1961- ), a publicity-shy Japanese comics artist crucial to the dissemination of Manga into the international market.
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