Comment on [Discussion] New ‘Ghost In The Shell’ Anime Is Gloriously Goofy And Very Faithful To The Manga
emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days agoI dont even understand what’s happening in that first image. I couldn’t even figure out if it was supposed to be read left to right or right to left until I checked the second one.
zikzak025@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Yeah it looks like this particular translation edited the manga to be read left to right instead of right to left, presumably to be more legible to English readers who may not have been used to the conventions of manga at the time this was published.
The context of what is being shown happens a bit on the pages prior. Chief Aramaki, the old guy, had sent our squad of heroes into a dangerous mission that they weren’t fully briefed on, which led them to assume that they were being seen as expendable. After the mission turned out to be a success despite the odds, the character Batou decided to get a bit of revenge by planting explosives in Aramaki’s car, right before Aramaki reveals to the rest of the group that the mission was a test that they passed with flying colors.
When he leaves, his car explodes, and the Major assumes he must have been caught in it. So she panics, only for Aramaki to turn out perfectly fine as he comically scoots away on a motorcycle, which catches her off guard, so she gets angry at him again. I’m assuming the significance of him nonchalantly having the motorcycle while his car is on fire is meant to show that he anticipated his team’s reaction to his initial deception and already had a contingency plan prepared for his car being blown up, always being one step ahead.