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The Ghost in the Shell franchise is a long running cyber-punk manga and anime classic, which often blurs the lines between man and machine. While looking at its ensemble cast, the central character, Major Motoko Kusunagi, is a full-body prosthesis augmented-cyborg and field commander of Section 9, an anti-terrorist and cyber-crime division of a futuristic Japan National Public Safety Commission.

The Major was cyberized from a young age, due to an accident. Being "full body" or "Full metal", her only organic parts are her brain and spinal cord, and she has made use of, either via transfer or hacking, several "Shell" bodies over many years. Her "base frame" is that of a tall and well-developed Japanese female in her mid-20s. This base frame has several super human aspects, including strength, speed, agility, durability and endurance, but it's appearence has been said to be from a "mass produced model", which specs hacve been upgraded internally, yet retains the "Common" appearance.

All that being considered.... what does or did Major Kusunagi's real human body look like?

Put another way: Is there any record, picture or panel of Major Kusunagi's original human body?

This may be difficult to define, as there are several different versions of GITS to draw from, some with vastly different art styles. So any visuals, from the various manga, movies or series, could be used, with the caveat that it has to be the Major pre cyberization.

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  • I guess you didn't see this 2017 film with Scarlett Johansson... does it even count?
    – Mithoron
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 16:17
  • @MithoronNot to me personally my dude, as its within the same property, yes, but not made by the same writer and completely disregards some crucial points from the manga it's based on. It's like Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy; borrows some salient elements, but really not set within the same world as Batman, and takes pains to make that obvious.
    – Russhiro
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 20:18

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Not really, that I know of anyway. But in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG, in episode 11 the major finds what is later revealed to be her first (child's) prosthetic body, along with that of a boy, in a place that "stores external memories" looks kind of like a pawn shop inside. While the proprietor of the place tells her the story of the two, there's a flashback scene where her injured body is lying in a hospital bed. Unfortunately with all the bandages and the respirator, you can't really tell what she looked like.

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