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Ghost In the Shell 2: Innocence: After the Long Goodbye
The hulking cyborg counterterrorist Batou doesn't have a family; his electronic brain never dreams. So why did he dream the other night--and dream that he has a son?At one time, Batou had a human love for his partner, the legendary Major, before he witnessed her transfiguration into something beyond humanity. Now he has only his job, and his beloved basset hound, Gabriel. But when Batou has a near-death experience in an arranged car "accident," he returns home to find Gabriel has gone missing--perhaps, to go look for her owner's lost soul.Batou's desperate search for Gabriel leads him down surreal streets where homeless men fight tanks and yakuza racing hounds chase rabbits downloaded into their heads. Batou fears his poor dog has made a horrible mistake out of innocence--for Batou has taken a cold look inside himself...and decided that he never truly had a soul...Innocence, After The Long Goodbye is the prequel to the Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence film, also available as a four-volume Ani-Manga box set from VIZ Media. The Innocence novel contains a special bonus discussion between the director, Mamoru Oshii, and the author, Masaki Yamada.
196 pages, Hardcover
First published February 29, 2004
9 people are currently reading
325 people want to read
About the author
Masaki Yamada
54 books16 followersMasaki Yamada (山田 正紀) is a Japanese crime and science fiction author. He has won the Nihon SF Taisho Award, the Seiun Award three times, and an award for mystery fiction. His first story was published in 1974. His novel Aphrodite was translated into English in 2004. He also wrote After the Long Goodbye, a Ghost in the Shell-related novel.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 8, 2013
Ever since I watched my first 'Ghost in the Shell' episode I was hooked. Instantly it became my notion of cyberpunk, leaving the worlds of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson far behind. Though I had never read the manga, the world seemed so well thought out and crisp and interesting; every new facet of technology had a spring of interesting plots that could surge from it. I must admit that when I bought my first novels, I had little hope for them; I assumed they were just some lower writer from the show penning a minor fan-fic to piggy back on the shows success. In a sense I was correct. They were written by a younger writer from the show and weren't as sturdy and engrossing as the show (though one of them, I do admit, was much better than the other one and was overall a good read). After finding the last novel was out of print, I stumbled upon 'Innocence'.
'Innocence' takes the (in my opinion) lesser path in the fork of the series. After the first movie, the Major enters the Net and disappears; however, in the animated series, other novels, and subsequent movie, the first movie is not included in any of the canon and the Major continues fighting cybercrime with Public Security Section 9. 'Innocence' belongs to the universe of the Major who disappeared. This naturally puts a bit of disappointment on the pages because of how much I enjoy reading about the Major, but the author didn't choose what was written before him so I can't fault him for it.
Now, on to the book itself. Overall, it was a good book. I wouldn't recommend it to any one who wasn't a Ghost in the Shell fan simply because the world and characters rely so much upon the pre-existing knowledge and feel of the series (which is both a crutch that keeps the author up but also inherently slows him down), but if you have a hunger for more Section 9 (specifically Batou), then the book delivers.
Yamada's style is decent, though not wholly memorable. He has a tendency to dice up thoughts and lines into smaller and smaller paragraphs (sometimes consisting of three or four consecutive paragraphs which are five to ten words each) as if that framing some how makes them more dramatic, which is doesn't. I also was not a particular fan of most of the action scenes. Perhaps this is more of an inherent flaw in the genre than merely this book, but let me try to explain regardless. There are so many new and amazing technologies in this world of computers and science. For people living in it, there would be no need to describe them in detail but we, as ignorant, fictional observers hovering around and in the thoughts of the players, need something that 'shows' that this world is science fiction. The result is about a paragraph or two cutting up some dramatic, fast paced action with a very technical description of some sensor or gun or e-brain program Batou has running. To me, it feels (for the most part) like the author has called a time-out and needs to explain one more rule he forgot to mention at the beginning of his game and puts a huge damper on the momentum the story had at that point. Is there a good way around this? For Yamada it's difficult because outside of vagrants, every one in this world all ready knows; we alone are the troglodytes. So while I cannot offer a fix, I can say definitively that for me it was a problem.
Now as to the heart of the book; the plot and the characters. The plot was decent, on par with the above average episodes in the series. There are still a few gray areas for me (particularly concerning the motives of The Breeder in a few instances), but I don't doubt if I ever go back and read it with the fore knowledge they'll clear themselves out rather quickly. As I said before, I was pining for an appearance by the Major, but it was not to be (which I honestly should have known, seeing as how this book was a story leading up to the second Ghost in the Shell movie, where the Major makes a surprise appearance. In fact, one of the plots that I thought was a red herring turned out to move the plot of the story right into the plot of the second movie. Now I'll have to watch it again to see how well all the pieces fit). Batou, the lonely cyborg member of Section 9 who is depressed and suffering by his lonesome without the Major's presence, relies on the relationship he has with his basset hound to hold himself together. At first I thought this was a cheesy, cloying way of showing Batou's inner character, but I was wrong; how Yamada paints him as a smart, introspective, but doubtful and questioning character is wonderfully done. On the outside, he is a stern, bulwark of a man, but his inner guilt and borderline regret at being essentially a binary machine offers an interesting (and very real for this world) dichotomy. His musings, though sometimes seemingly incoherent on first glance, are very well thought out and rational, as we'd expect a computer to be. But they are also hopeful despite spawning from a depressed mind; though he is confident he does not have a soul, he knows he does have love and feelings for his dog and the Major and is willing to sacrifice all of his cold, mechanical self for just the chance to get them back.
As I read this, I empathized with his position and thought 'If this world were true, I could easily see a character struggle (and handle) his problems just the way he is'. And that is, in my view, the key to good sci-fi; the world can be as advanced and magical and awe inspiring as you want, but if it were to exist, would the players act as they are? I feel so many sci-fi authors build their novel around an interesting idea and forget the realistic human aspect of it, the part that every reader wants to empathize and relate to. If that's not there, the novel may be a unique, incredibly imaginative look at a new and dazzling world, but that's it; there are no characters to empathize with and give it flesh. 'Innocence' most certainly has flesh, even if it's made of ones and zeroes.
'Innocence' takes the (in my opinion) lesser path in the fork of the series. After the first movie, the Major enters the Net and disappears; however, in the animated series, other novels, and subsequent movie, the first movie is not included in any of the canon and the Major continues fighting cybercrime with Public Security Section 9. 'Innocence' belongs to the universe of the Major who disappeared. This naturally puts a bit of disappointment on the pages because of how much I enjoy reading about the Major, but the author didn't choose what was written before him so I can't fault him for it.
Now, on to the book itself. Overall, it was a good book. I wouldn't recommend it to any one who wasn't a Ghost in the Shell fan simply because the world and characters rely so much upon the pre-existing knowledge and feel of the series (which is both a crutch that keeps the author up but also inherently slows him down), but if you have a hunger for more Section 9 (specifically Batou), then the book delivers.
Yamada's style is decent, though not wholly memorable. He has a tendency to dice up thoughts and lines into smaller and smaller paragraphs (sometimes consisting of three or four consecutive paragraphs which are five to ten words each) as if that framing some how makes them more dramatic, which is doesn't. I also was not a particular fan of most of the action scenes. Perhaps this is more of an inherent flaw in the genre than merely this book, but let me try to explain regardless. There are so many new and amazing technologies in this world of computers and science. For people living in it, there would be no need to describe them in detail but we, as ignorant, fictional observers hovering around and in the thoughts of the players, need something that 'shows' that this world is science fiction. The result is about a paragraph or two cutting up some dramatic, fast paced action with a very technical description of some sensor or gun or e-brain program Batou has running. To me, it feels (for the most part) like the author has called a time-out and needs to explain one more rule he forgot to mention at the beginning of his game and puts a huge damper on the momentum the story had at that point. Is there a good way around this? For Yamada it's difficult because outside of vagrants, every one in this world all ready knows; we alone are the troglodytes. So while I cannot offer a fix, I can say definitively that for me it was a problem.
Now as to the heart of the book; the plot and the characters. The plot was decent, on par with the above average episodes in the series. There are still a few gray areas for me (particularly concerning the motives of The Breeder in a few instances), but I don't doubt if I ever go back and read it with the fore knowledge they'll clear themselves out rather quickly. As I said before, I was pining for an appearance by the Major, but it was not to be (which I honestly should have known, seeing as how this book was a story leading up to the second Ghost in the Shell movie, where the Major makes a surprise appearance. In fact, one of the plots that I thought was a red herring turned out to move the plot of the story right into the plot of the second movie. Now I'll have to watch it again to see how well all the pieces fit). Batou, the lonely cyborg member of Section 9 who is depressed and suffering by his lonesome without the Major's presence, relies on the relationship he has with his basset hound to hold himself together. At first I thought this was a cheesy, cloying way of showing Batou's inner character, but I was wrong; how Yamada paints him as a smart, introspective, but doubtful and questioning character is wonderfully done. On the outside, he is a stern, bulwark of a man, but his inner guilt and borderline regret at being essentially a binary machine offers an interesting (and very real for this world) dichotomy. His musings, though sometimes seemingly incoherent on first glance, are very well thought out and rational, as we'd expect a computer to be. But they are also hopeful despite spawning from a depressed mind; though he is confident he does not have a soul, he knows he does have love and feelings for his dog and the Major and is willing to sacrifice all of his cold, mechanical self for just the chance to get them back.
As I read this, I empathized with his position and thought 'If this world were true, I could easily see a character struggle (and handle) his problems just the way he is'. And that is, in my view, the key to good sci-fi; the world can be as advanced and magical and awe inspiring as you want, but if it were to exist, would the players act as they are? I feel so many sci-fi authors build their novel around an interesting idea and forget the realistic human aspect of it, the part that every reader wants to empathize and relate to. If that's not there, the novel may be a unique, incredibly imaginative look at a new and dazzling world, but that's it; there are no characters to empathize with and give it flesh. 'Innocence' most certainly has flesh, even if it's made of ones and zeroes.
February 11, 2025
Fantastic hardboiled cyberpunk novel that walks a fine line balancing technological descriptions, philosophy, and the somewhat detached and very self-deprecating perspective of everyone's favorite full replacement cyborg Batou. I think you can enjoy this book even if you're not a fan of Ghost in the Shell. You can enjoy it even if you didn't like Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (for some reason). Though, you'll probably enjoy it a lot more if you LOVE Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.
A lot like the film it serves as a prequel for, After the Long Goodbye is not strictly about plot points. Yes, stuff happens, but the how and why are much more interesting than the what. Highly recommended.
A lot like the film it serves as a prequel for, After the Long Goodbye is not strictly about plot points. Yes, stuff happens, but the how and why are much more interesting than the what. Highly recommended.
August 12, 2013
A beautifully written but oft-times confusing and meandering short novel. I may have to read this again to get a better understanding of the story, but I still recommend it for any cyberpunk/GITS fans.
December 10, 2016
Interesting insight on what it means to be a cyborg, but unfortunately there's little else to be found here.
July 14, 2024
I had read this novel a few already, and never really seem to remember what happens in the story. So I have a vauge Idea of what, the story is about when I reread it.
The story takes place a little bit before the events of Ghost in the shell 2 innocence. Batou while shopping for dog food for his beloved dog has an incident at the store parkings lot. Then when he returns home, the dog leaves and gets dognapped. Batou has to go look for him.
This is a interesting read. A lot of complex thoughts on the mature of intelligence, and the nature of the soul. Enough action to make it interesting. Do watch the movie after reading the book.
The story takes place a little bit before the events of Ghost in the shell 2 innocence. Batou while shopping for dog food for his beloved dog has an incident at the store parkings lot. Then when he returns home, the dog leaves and gets dognapped. Batou has to go look for him.
This is a interesting read. A lot of complex thoughts on the mature of intelligence, and the nature of the soul. Enough action to make it interesting. Do watch the movie after reading the book.
March 6, 2022
Actual noir. A good man, reason for life gone, becomes a not so good man. Goes looking for his dog and getting really lost.
September 24, 2007
Somewhere online, I read a review that described 'After the Last Goodbye' (written as a prequel to the Japanese animated movie 'Ghost In the Shell: Innocence') as being a slow burning jazz song infused with an extended action sequence. And that’s exactly what this story is.
This story is essentially three different stories. On one hand, it's an action thriller with yakuza, armored car chase scenes and explosions. On the other hand, it's an existential story of a cyborg and his own personal levels of humanity. As a third story-- one can say it's just a simple story of a man searching for his dog.
Some people have compared this story to Bladerunner and Do Sleeping Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep. I would say: Certainly! This is, after all a cyberpunk novel. However, Masaki Yamada manages to give a sense of hopeful humanity that I often find missing in the nihilistic, painful and almost anarchist dystopias that one often finds cyberpunk worlds to be. Because the story is told from an adult outsider's point of view, this story gives an interesting angle to the old questions of what it's like to have friends, to want to live, to want to have some sort of meaningful interaction with other humans. It asks the rather melancholy questions of, "How can one be certain that one is feeling something? Do my emotions and dreams become less and less legitimate the more hardware I add to my body and brain? Where is the legitimate emotion? The heart or the brain? Can I even be counted as human any longer?" These questions are even more poignant because the man was once completely human and has very legitimate reasons to ask these questions.
Despite the two typos I spotted, which is unfortunate and the editor's fault not the translator's; the translation is strong. It flows nicely and smoothly, without any sense of questionable synonym choice that sometimes appears in translated works. The prose is dreamy at times, melancholy, easily transitioning to something more coolly analytical and robotic. Other times, the voice is mildly sarcastic and amusingly self-aware. The main character knows he's big and scary, and his observations of people's reactions and his own attempts to mitigate his big scariness is fun to read.
I bought the hardcover version of this book on impulse, drawn by the texture of the matte cover, and the wonderful size that fit snuggly in my hand. As I read, I kept saying to myself, "Wow, this is good." It turns out that writer is famous in Japan and winner of multiple awards in science fiction. Go figure. I have to say that I hope more of his books become available in English, because I am very much interested in reading them. This prequel to the latest Ghost in the Shell movie manages to do, textually, what the movie did visually. It fully compliments the movie conceptually. Where the movie failed in its script, Yamada picks up and runs with it in a far more effective manner. I have to say this book is an improvement to the themes and concepts that are presented in the movie and currently one of my favorite novels.
This story is essentially three different stories. On one hand, it's an action thriller with yakuza, armored car chase scenes and explosions. On the other hand, it's an existential story of a cyborg and his own personal levels of humanity. As a third story-- one can say it's just a simple story of a man searching for his dog.
Some people have compared this story to Bladerunner and Do Sleeping Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep. I would say: Certainly! This is, after all a cyberpunk novel. However, Masaki Yamada manages to give a sense of hopeful humanity that I often find missing in the nihilistic, painful and almost anarchist dystopias that one often finds cyberpunk worlds to be. Because the story is told from an adult outsider's point of view, this story gives an interesting angle to the old questions of what it's like to have friends, to want to live, to want to have some sort of meaningful interaction with other humans. It asks the rather melancholy questions of, "How can one be certain that one is feeling something? Do my emotions and dreams become less and less legitimate the more hardware I add to my body and brain? Where is the legitimate emotion? The heart or the brain? Can I even be counted as human any longer?" These questions are even more poignant because the man was once completely human and has very legitimate reasons to ask these questions.
Despite the two typos I spotted, which is unfortunate and the editor's fault not the translator's; the translation is strong. It flows nicely and smoothly, without any sense of questionable synonym choice that sometimes appears in translated works. The prose is dreamy at times, melancholy, easily transitioning to something more coolly analytical and robotic. Other times, the voice is mildly sarcastic and amusingly self-aware. The main character knows he's big and scary, and his observations of people's reactions and his own attempts to mitigate his big scariness is fun to read.
I bought the hardcover version of this book on impulse, drawn by the texture of the matte cover, and the wonderful size that fit snuggly in my hand. As I read, I kept saying to myself, "Wow, this is good." It turns out that writer is famous in Japan and winner of multiple awards in science fiction. Go figure. I have to say that I hope more of his books become available in English, because I am very much interested in reading them. This prequel to the latest Ghost in the Shell movie manages to do, textually, what the movie did visually. It fully compliments the movie conceptually. Where the movie failed in its script, Yamada picks up and runs with it in a far more effective manner. I have to say this book is an improvement to the themes and concepts that are presented in the movie and currently one of my favorite novels.
January 5, 2018
“All I have is my dog Gabriel. I have no friends, no lover. My former partner the Major is gone. I have no family. And I don’t dream.”
It’s not so easy being a cyborg, as you’d quickly learn from Batou. Fully “cyborgized” from skin to bone, his every sensation is literally virtual. From feelings of fear and excitement down to the simple tightening of the chest, everything’s a simulation—mathematical equations running on an artificial neural network that serve as an electronic clone of the original cranial tissue. All that he is, or was, now exists inside an e-brain. A digital ghost inside a cold mechanical shell.
In After the Long Goodbye, award-winning sci-fi writer Masaki Yamada follows this lonesome counterterrorist agent as he broods over the disappearance of his partner Motoko—a.k.a. the Major—and begins to contemplate on his own existence. Acting as a prequel to the sequel, Yamada’s graceful narrative sets the stage for Innocence, Mamoru Oshii’s 2004 follow-up to his 1995 animated feature Ghost in the Shell. Sometime after the original heroine’s trans-corporal rapture into cyberspace at the end of the first film, Batou finds himself at a total loss when his beloved basset hound also vanishes without a trace. He begins a thoughtful search, and the hulking cyborg who cannot dream ends up in a dumbfounding trail that is not so far from dreamlike. In this gloomy post-cyberpunk saga where even human perception can be subject to artificial intelligence, it seems that nothing is always what it seems to be.
Another interesting thing about the novel is you don’t have to be a fan of the original anime franchise in order to appreciate the smooth flair of Yamada’s writing. You don’t even have to have seen the movie that came before it. Surprisingly, despite Batou’s constant lectures that quickly progress from technology to philosophy, the book is substantially standalone and fairly comprehensible even without a degree on cybernetics or neuroscience. Yamada’s metaphysical tale is consistent with the bewildering world of Innocence, but the novel adds depth to the central character in ways a 90-minute movie alone cannot accomplish. And befitting of its popular title, this Ghost in the Shell story talks as much about the recurring theme of purity as about the idea of a “soul”—though not in the traditional religious sense of the word, but more as an abstraction for a higher form of consciousness. This is Murakami and Descartes together in one book.
A fine piece of literary science fiction, After the Long Goodbye features a narrative style that’s almost as elegant as the intricate algorithms powering its augmented characters.
http://absorbedinwords.blogspot.com/2...
April 14, 2010
This book was okay, but I really would only recommend it for fans of Ghost in the Shell.
The entire book is written from the perspective of Batou, which is interesting. I was surprised at how well the writer was able to communicate his character given that the author isn't one of the writers on the show.
Speaking of the show, it's important to point out that this book is in the GitS movie universe as opposed to the series universe. The technology is substantially different. This novel talks about the technology, specifically e-brains, very frequently. Too frequently, in fact. I started to get the feeling that the discussion of technology was just filler because it wasn't really adding to the story.
It's definitely a hard-boiled story that does provide a great gritty feeling throughout urban cityscapes. That was certainly my favorite aspect of the book.
The entire book is written from the perspective of Batou, which is interesting. I was surprised at how well the writer was able to communicate his character given that the author isn't one of the writers on the show.
Speaking of the show, it's important to point out that this book is in the GitS movie universe as opposed to the series universe. The technology is substantially different. This novel talks about the technology, specifically e-brains, very frequently. Too frequently, in fact. I started to get the feeling that the discussion of technology was just filler because it wasn't really adding to the story.
It's definitely a hard-boiled story that does provide a great gritty feeling throughout urban cityscapes. That was certainly my favorite aspect of the book.
December 3, 2016
I am really in the dark here. Dogs kidnapping? Memory loss? Super delicious mantou? What the hell was this all about? After I read the interview, now I got really confused what innocence really means.
September 29, 2008
the book was a very good book. this included a dog and a man. it was very interesting. I SUGGEST U TO READ IT.
October 7, 2008
You need to knowthe characters and the concepts to fully appreciate it, but it is great. Probalby the only time I would recommend watching the movies/ series first.
August 4, 2011
A quick read, but good. Tightly focused on Batou in a story that preceeds the Innocence film. Afterward discussion between the author and Mamoru Oshii is a nice bonus.
January 27, 2021
You can see my review on my website. Long with the Ghost in the Shell series as a whole.
https://nerdylifeofmine.com/2021/01/2...
https://nerdylifeofmine.com/2021/01/2...
September 22, 2013
I love Batuo. He was my favorite character on the show. I'm not really into science fiction novels but I made an exception for this one. And I loved it.
November 11, 2013
Good read that featured Batou's point of view for the most part.
April 23, 2016
Witty writing, great translation, meandering existentialist story that's characteristic of the GitS series. I still don't like basset hounds.
March 28, 2017
Despite a horribly muddled and overly complex third act, I adored this book. The first half is a wonderful exploration of Batou's character and the nature of a cyborg consciousness, something that is never so explicitly described in the GiTS film universe.
Although this isn't the strongest book on the whole, it's clear that Masaki Yamada is a strong writer with a vivid imagination and solid scientific chops as well, particularly his use of trivia-as-a-metaphor. Batou's digressions into the mechanics of cyborg consciousness, or studies of animal intelligence and psychology, were some of the highlights of the book.
The conversation between Yamada and Oshii following the novel is an added bonus, and it serves to flesh out the themes of the novel and of Innocence, the film.
Although this isn't the strongest book on the whole, it's clear that Masaki Yamada is a strong writer with a vivid imagination and solid scientific chops as well, particularly his use of trivia-as-a-metaphor. Batou's digressions into the mechanics of cyborg consciousness, or studies of animal intelligence and psychology, were some of the highlights of the book.
The conversation between Yamada and Oshii following the novel is an added bonus, and it serves to flesh out the themes of the novel and of Innocence, the film.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews