Manga: Reviews of Revolutionary Girl Utena Complete Deluxe Box Set and Ghost in the Shell Deluxe Edition

Time Codes: 00:00:30 - Introduction 00:02:43 - Apologies 00:04:14 - Revolutionary Girl Utena Complete Deluxe Box Set 00:51:13 - Ghost in the Shell Deluxe Edition 01:21:23 - Wrap up 01:24:26 - Contact us On this episode of the manga series -- a few days later than expected -- Shea and Derek discuss two new deluxe editions of older titles. They begin with Revolutionary Girl Utena Complete Deluxe Box Set, soon to be released by VIZ Media. This is a different kind of shōjo, one that the guys don't often encounter, and an aspect that makes this title stand out is its conceptual genesis. Revolutionary Girl Utena was conceived by the creative team known as Be-Papas but written and drawn by Chiho Saito (also a  member of Be_Papas). Shea and Derek discuss the "collaborative feel" of its genesis and the unusual mix of characters, costumes, and scenarios that define the series. Next, the guys turn to a new deluxe edition of Masamune Shirow's classic Ghost in the Shell, just released by Kodansha Comics. The paperback versions of this title, and of the two follow-up volumes, are still in print, but Kodansha now has these wonderful new hardbound editions. The new Ghost in the Shell volumes stand out because for the first time in English, the story is presented in the original right-to-left reading order, they retain the author's original hand-drawn sound effects, the translation has been updated, and everything has been done under the author's supervision. Both Shea and Derek have a great time revisiting Ghost in the Shell, and they hope that Kodansha will be bringing back more of Shirow's manga -- e.g., Appleseed and Dominion -- in these nice deluxe editions.