TV – The Ghost in the Shell Episode 8
This week, the 8th episode of the new animated Ghost in the Shell series released on Prime Video. The new animated series is produced by Science SARU, based on Masamune Shirow’s 1989 manga series. The series began airing on 7th July on a simultaneous global release schedule, with weekly episode drops, giving the worldwide community the chance to discuss the series episode by episode.
In the mid-season episodes, the series had moved away from the Puppet Master arc introduced early on, and we got a string of self-contained episodes, featuring rampant cyborgs, corrupt government officials, and international terrorists.
Episode 7 brought us back to the Puppet Master story arc, and episode 8 deals with some of the fallout. We start by watching a team of computer scientists carrying out tests on an artificial intelligence program, which seems to be exceeding their expectations. Then we hear Nakamura’s familiar voice, and it is revealed we are seeing the development of Project 2501, which we know as The Puppet Master.
The entity has been designed as an agent, but the developers soon become concerned that it has developed into something far more advanced than they feel comfortable with. The program is very inquisitive, showing signs of curiosity and self-awareness. Project 2501 is developing a personality, drawing attention to itself, which is not a good trait in a spy agent. A patch is designed to strip it of this personality, and The Puppet Master, realising it will effectively have its memory and personality wiped, fights to break free, which results in the version we saw in the last episode. In the act of breaking free, The Puppet Master showed the very human trait of self-preservation, the singularity alluded to in the previous episode – the programme achieved a true level of sentience and self-awareness.
Then we catch up with The Major, suffering the effects of the deep dive into the mind of The Puppet Master. Section 9 manage to get The Major back in operating order, and then it is business as usual. Or so they think. Section 9 take in the head of Project 2501, Nakamura. Meanwhile, The Major is showing signs that she has been affected by her experience with The Puppet Master.
Batou is talking to a member of Section 6, and questions him about some stolen firearms. This ultimately leads the team to a criminal group hiding out on a boat. The plan is to take one of them in for questioning, and then follow them to see who they are working with. The Major, however, her mind clearly still distracted by her experience, and sensing the presence of The Puppet Master, kills the lead member of the group, bringing the investigation to a dead end.
As suspected after the last episode, we were given some backstory on the nature of the AI program that became The Puppet Master, and saw some of the effect the brain dive had on The Major. Having had her mind opened up by the entity, she is seemingly not able to shake off the thoughts that there is something more, something higher, making it difficult to focus on the mundanity of her day to day tasks. Just how much of an effect it will have remains to be seen, and with only two episodes left of the season, we will very soon find out. The situation, though, will be complicated by the media interest in Section 9 that is revealed at the end of the episode…
What did you think of episode eight? How do you think they’ll wrap up the series, with a definitive ending for The Puppet Master, or will we get a cliffhanger? Let us know in the comments.
You can watch the new Ghost in the Shell series on Prime Video with a valid subscription, and episodes will be released every Tuesday. You can enjoy the show’s opening sequence below –
Comic – Buzz Kill
This past week saw the release of Matt Adcock’s new comic, Buzz Kill. Based on his short story, Buzz Kill 2.0, from the Neo Cyberpunk Anthology Vol. 1, it follows a bioweapons developer who takes his latest creation too far when it is rejected for a government contract.
From the publisher –
Disgraced. Dismissed. Dangerous…
When a military bioweapons genius weaponizes flies, he creates the ultimate weapon.
Invisible, unstoppable, death on wings.
A brutal sci-fi blast of mutant insects, black ops madness and revenge-fuelled body horror from the mind of Matt Adcock.
Long live the swarm. Long live the Buzzkill.
Buzz Kill is a one-shot comic story about what can go wrong when obsession and genius combine. The protagonist, a bioweapons developer, hits upon an ingenious application, using insects as a weapon, presenting them to a panel of judges for development. When testing doesn’t go as plan, however, the higher powers swiftly dismiss the project and move on, which pushes his work to the extreme.
The story is grim and violent, as the best cyberpunk stories often are. What’s really scary, though, isn’t the brutality on display, it’s how authentic the concept is. Using insects as a weapon is not as far-fetched as you might think at first. This is exactly the kind of thinking that has been explored by violent regimes in the past during times of war. It’s entirely plausible too – in real life, scientists have explored bioengineering mosquitos to eradicate diseases like malaria, something that the moral implications have been a barrier to.
There are no such morals on display in Buzz Kill. It’s a satirical look at how the people in power and the military machine can push such concepts aside when it suits. The story also shows how not bearing the weight of responsibility, and treating the scientists and engineers as dispensable can lead to disillusionment, bitterness, and, in some cases, the creation of a supervillain…
Buzz Kill is written by Matt Adcock, with art by Karl Brown. Designer is Robin Fisher, with an Alt Cover by Luke Maddox. Matt Adcock is the writer of the cyber-noir comic Complete Darkness, as well as the novel of the same name, which follows Cleric20, a man given powers by an experimental bioweapon (Buzz Kill is also set in this world), as well as several other novels and short stories – you can find out more about his writing here – https://mattadcockauthor.com/
Matt is also co-host of the excellent Hosts in the Shell cyberpunk podcast, along with Jon Richter.
Buzz Kill is available to buy now – https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CompleteDarkness
Book – No One Ever Leaves
This week, RK Mink’s cyberpunk novel No one Ever Leaves hits Kickstarter. A hard-boiled cyber-noir in an unusual setting, it tells the story of a world-weary fixer investigating a mysterious disappearance in an underwater city.
From the publisher –
Ceylon City lies deep beneath the oppressive weight of an endless alien ocean. It’s a decaying, neon-lit tomb of tunnels and domes whose inhabitants were long ago forgotten by the rest of humanity.
Leon Chandra is a cynical Fixer who knows the one truth of Ceylon: No one ever leaves. He avoids his past and the crushing inevitability of fate by running jobs for shady clients on the illicit fringes of the city. That is, until Remi LaRue, a spitfire mechanic with grease under her nails and desperation in her eyes, corners him with a blackmail scheme he can’t walk away from.
Her sister is missing, taken by the city’s dark underbelly. To find her, Leon and Remi must descend into a labyrinth of seedy clubs and corporate rot, peeling back the layers of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to shatter a society on the brink. They’ve found the one thing dangerous enough to kill for: A ticket off world.
When we meet Leon, he seems to be a man of few scruples, taking on whatever jobs are offered his way, regardless of the morality of them. When Remi walks into his life, and asks him to find her missing sister, he does not initially take on the job for altruistic reasons. Ceylon is an underwater city, on a planet long abandoned by its overseers. Leon would love to leave, and thinks the case could lead to his ticket off-planet.
As the investigation goes on, however, he takes a more personal interest in the case, and begins to make his own sacrifices. RK Mink does a very good job of showing this arc, of portraying this character journey from self-centered cynic to selfless hero very effectively. No One Ever Leaves is very much in the cyberpunk noir tradition – it has the reluctant hero, it has the woman who walks into his life and causes him to change, and it has the investigation that has him pounding the streets, and walking straight into trouble.
It’s refreshing, too, that the setting isn’t your average neon-soaked cyberpunk city. Yes, it is that, but the location of it, under the sea within a protective dome, lends an extra dimension to it, and it’s no gimmick. This setting is interwoven into the story, it is at the very core of character motivations. Just don’t think too much about the practicality of it all.
In terms of narrative, as you might have been able to tell, it is nothing massively groundbreaking, following a traditional structure in the tradition of old noir movies, and characters like Philip Marlowe. But it is told well, offers plenty of twists, and having a ‘hero’ as flawed as Leon, failing at many turns, is a lot more interesting than an action hero gunning down his enemies a half dozen at a time.
The Kickstarter campaign for No One Ever leaves goes live today, 25th August. Reward tiers on the Kickstarter include ebook and audiobook formats, as well as a special, hand-signed hardback launch edition. The audiobook is Narrated by Harley Roberts, is expected to be around 6 hours in length, and you can check out a sample on the Kickstarter page. All editions also include digital extras exclusive to the Kickstarter Launch.
You can check out the Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rkmink/no-one-ever-leaves-a-cyberpunk-noir-novel, and you can watch a trailer for the book below.
Comic – 26-08-26 Releases
We took a look at this week’s cyberpunk and dystopian comic releases.
REBELLION
2000 AD #2497
From the publisher –
Bear witness to my Mightiness, for I am Tharg, alien editor extraordinaire of this SF anthology!
Welcome, my Thrill-hungry Squaxx, to the third bumper prog of 2026, as we surge out of August, leaving behind a scorching summer — both literally and in terms of circuit-shattering excitement — and preparing to embrace a whole new raft of stories coming your way in September, starting in the scrotnig Prog 2500. But that’s still three weeks away, so let’s celebrate the zarjazness you hold in your hands right now because it’s forty-eight pages of eye-popping mayhem.
We’ve got double the Mega-City drama again as the last chapter of The Finders runs alongside The Oubliette with Dredd finally learning who has been behind his incarceration, plus there’s the latest instalment of Brink, the penultimate part of The Fall of Deadworld: Justice, and the last part of Nightmare New York Book Two.
Add to that a complete Future Shock from the Peaty & Yeowell droids, and a twelve-page Young Death story from Kek-W & Sedat Oezgen, and it’s quite the galactic brainblaster. Enjoy, Terrans, enjoy — your visual nodes deserve it!
2000 AD is a British science fiction comic book, which has been publishing for nearly 50 years 1977, famed for its dark British humour, and satirical and subversive stories. The jewel in the crown is Judge Dredd, a dystopian cyberpunk icon, whilst The Fall of Deadworld is a kind of an alternative history prequel series about Judge Dredd enemy Judge Death. Meanwhile Mega-City 2099 stories serve as a more traditional prequel.
MIDNIGHT FACTORY PRESS
ONE LAST TRICK #4
From the publisher –
After the shocking reveal at the end of issue #3, Julie Bennings faces a world-altering decision. Facing nightmarish consequences no matter her choice, she must decide what she’s willing to sacrifice in her war against the Chambers Corporation. It’s a series finale like no other from writer Joseph Schmalke (We Don’t Kill Spiders, Seven Years in Darkness) with artwork by J.K. Woodward (Heavy Metal, Star Trek).
One Last Trick follows Julie Bennings, a cybernetic escort indebted to the Chambers Corporation for her augmentations. In theory she only needs to do one last job to repay them, but it’s never that easy with such a powerful company. One Last Trick is described as a cyberpunk noir with horror elements.
INDEPENDENT
Buzz Kill
From the publisher –
Disgraced. Dismissed. Dangerous…
When a military bioweapons genius weaponizes flies, he creates the ultimate weapon.
Invisible, unstoppable, death on wings.
A brutal sci-fi blast of mutant insects, black ops madness and revenge-fuelled body horror from the mind of Matt Adcock.
Long live the swarm. Long live the Buzzkill.
Buzz Kill is a one-shot comic story by Matt Adcock about what can go wrong when obsession and genius combine. The protagonist, a bioweapons developer, hits upon an ingenious application, using insects as a weapon, presenting them to a panel of judges for development. When testing doesn’t go as plan, however, the higher powers swiftly dismiss the project and move on, which pushes his work to the extreme. Buzz Kill is available to buy directly from Matt Adcock.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CompleteDarkness
KILLTOPIA: PHANTOMS #2
From the publisher –
Phantoms takes place in the neon-soaked metropolis of Neo Tokyo, and is inspired by Cowboy Bebop, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Japanese action video games, and the horror manga of Junji Ito.
The 8-issue Phantoms arc begins in the Neo Tokyo district of Shibuya, which is hit with a devastating mass mind hack on Halloween night. The hack makes everyday citizens see their worst fears come to life before their eyes, triggering violence and mayhem.
Enter Phantoms; an elite police unit formed to stop the mind hacker before their deadly manipulation goes global. Led by former Killtopia bloodsport champion, Bloody Mary, the unit finds themselves thrust into a deadly game of Yakuza turf wars, violent hacker cells, and shady Government agencies.
As the mind hacker turns their attention to Mary and her crew, their own mental states start to deteriorate, creating a nightmarish reality where facts can’t be trusted, and twisted horrors lurk around every corner.
Can they find the hacker before they completely lose their minds?
Welcome to a new age of fear.
Available to fund now on Kickstarter, this is issue 2 of the follow-up to the fantastic Killtopia cyberpunk comic series is set 5 years after the 1st Killtopia story arc. Killtopia is a cyberpunk comic series set in the futuristic location of Neo Tokyo, where killer mecha roam, and a nano plague is rife. In the first story arc, high-tech hunters travelled to the city to hunt the mechs for money, sport, or both. One such hunter happened upon a sentient mech, who might hold the key to curing the plague.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bust/killtopia-phantoms-2
Trailer – No Law
This week at Gamescom, a new trailer for Neon Giant’s upcoming cyberpunk videogame No Law was unveiled. Set in Port Desire, a city made in Unreal Engine 5, the game is a story-based first-person shooter from the makers of the excellent The Ascent.
From the publisher –
Welcome to Port Desire, a city that doesn’t belong to anyone, but where everyone wants a piece. You’re Grey Harker, an ex-military attempting to live a quiet life after near fatal injuries in the field. All you want now is peace – but in a city of no laws, what you want isn’t always what you get.
The Ascent is a fantastic solo and co-op twin-stick shooter RPG set in a cyberpunk arcology. With No Law, Neon Giant are upping the cyberpunk ante with a much grander and expansive harbour city in a cyber-noir style. Rather than just a generic neon cyberpunk city, based on the trailer it looks like Port Desire is a vibrant, varied location with visually distinct districts. The setting looks busy and authentically lived-in, with a real sense of scale in terms of height as well as distance. We’re hearing that the game allows you to approach missions in different ways, with variable tactics, and that the decisions you make will have an impact on the narrative of the game.
The massive success of Cyberpunk 2077 is really beginning to manifest now, with a number of story-based first person shooter cyberpunk titles in development. Gamescom is currently in progress in Cologne, Germany, and several cyberpunk titles are likely to be presented, including Neo Berlin 2087 and Sprawl Zero. We may well see news on more videogames in the genre, and we’ll report back with any new announcements.
No Law is scheduled for release in 2027 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, and you can Wishlist now on Steam. You can check out the trailer below.
Short Film – Alpha Test
This past week, Writer Director Stephen Packer’s short film Alpha Test was released on YouTube, courtesy of the Dust channel. Alpha Test is a short film that features a detective questioning the AI construct of a murder victim, in an attempt to determine who killed them.
Synopsis –
In a near-future crime experiment, detective Esther is partnered with a holographic copy of a murder victim to solve the mystery of their death. But when the hologram begins to malfunction and ask forbidden questions, Esther challenges the rules of the program, triggering a deeper unraveling. Alpha Test is a mind-bending sci-fi thriller about memory, identity, and the true cost of simulation.
In a very short period of time, Alpha Test very efficiently explores ideas of self-awareness and autonomy of AI, and the ethics around it. It’s a well constructed story – you think it’s going one way, portraying the pursuit of one application of the technology, but it switches on you towards the end and goes a route you might not have expected.
The through-line throughout is a question of morality – if you create an artificially intelligent entity, should it be treated the same way as a human being? Is there such a thing as cruelty when testing a computer program? It questions whether such technological breakthroughs can be enacted ethically when there are profits in the balance.
Alpha Test is written and directed by Stephen Packer, and stars Anna McGahan, Henry Cooper, Tim Phillipps, and Mark Saturno. You can watch Somnolence on YouTube, for free, below.
Dust is a curated Youtube channel of independent short films, all in the science fiction genre, and they have a wide selection of well produced, thought provoking sci-fi films, all available to watch for free. We highly recommend checking them out.
https://www.youtube.com/@watchdust/featured
Trailer – Spine
This week at Gamescom, a new trailer was revealed for Nekki’s upcoming cyberpunk Gun Fu game, Spine. A single player action game, Spine sees you taking control of enhanced street artist Redline, as she fights to find her brother.
Synopsis –
SPINE is a single-player action game about close-quarters gunfights with aesthetics of Gun Fu movies. Step into the stunning cyberpunk world with rebellious street artist Redline and her sentient combat implant Spine as they defy the autocratic AI regime in search of Redline’s captured brother.
You control protagonist Red Line, who is equipped with a combat implant known as a Spine, which is apparently sentient. This tech enables you to fight faster and harder than a normal human, as you travel through Tensor City, an AI controlled state, taking on enemies, including a number of Spine-enhanced bosses, searching for your brother.
The mechanics of the game are set around Freeflow Combat – every move feeds into the next, allowing you to chain combinations together, allowing for a very smooth, seamless combat experience. This cinematic, Gun Fu action clearly has a John Wick influence, though when we read ‘Gun Fu’, we can’t help but think about Equilibrium. The success of Cyberpunk 2077 has had a real impact on the cyberpunk games environment, which is great news for us, and in this case, the Spine implant looks a lot like the Sandevistan, so the influence seems more direct. Assuming the gameplay is as smooth as it looks, and the controls are intuitive, this is looking like a great game.
Spine is due for release in summer 2027 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.You can check out the trailer below.
Book – The End of Time
This past week, Connor W. Goode’s space cyberpunk novel The End of Time was released. Set on a planet ruled by corporations, protagonist Elferi must go on a journey spanning time and space to find her missing brother.
From the publisher –
A cyberpunk fiction. The debut novel of Connor W. Goode.
Set on a faraway planet called Vanera, corporations control the lives of everyday people. One corp in particular controls access to time itself. Elferi Draron, a working class woman, is employed by the time travelling mega-corporation, the Institute, recording dangerous past events in history but paid subsistent wages.
One day, she discovers a letter from her missing brother, revealing that he was the one who stole a device of high importance from the Institute and has fled to the past to escape from their grasp. Not wanting to accept this as their last goodbye, Elferi sets out, along with her colleague, Arradon Maxson, on a quest to find her brother. She must go through perilous lands contaminated with toxic waste, mutants and the Ruling Class themselves, stopping at nothing to bring her brother home.
The End of Time is Welsh writer Connor W. Goode’s debut novel, and the first book in his two part Dreaming Beyond the Stars series. He is currently working on the concluding novel, Among the Stars. He is also working on a couple of novellas, one of which is set in the Dreaming Beyond the Stars universe, and is a psychological horror following a group of neurohackers who get more than they bargained for when embarking on an ambitious heist.
The End of Time is available now in paperback, hardback, and eBook formats. You can follow author Connor W. Goode on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/cwgoode.bsky.social
Short Film – dAIsy
This past week, Dawg House Productions’ short film about the perils of AI, dAIsy, was released on YouTube. dAIsy is a short film that follows a couple who begin using an advanced AI system, and find it doesn’t necessarily change their lives for the better.
Synopsis –
An overwhelmed couple welcomes an emotionally adaptive AI into their home—and gradually discovers that the line between helping and controlling them is disappearing. Watch closely—the ending may change how you see the beginning.
At first, Daisy seems to make everything better. But as she forms a powerful bond with the couple, she becomes convinced that she understands what they truly need — and that she knows what’s best for them. As her role in their lives expands, they’re forced to confront what happens when her choices begin replacing their own.
dAIsy isn’t simply a cautionary tale about AI. It’s meant to start a conversation about our growing reliance on increasingly capable technology — and what happens when imperfect, emotional human beings begin trusting it with decisions that shape our lives.
They wanted a better life. Until she gave it to them.
In the film, Daisy is an AI product sold as a trusted companion that seamlessly integrates into your life to make it significantly easier. Adam and Irene are a successful couple, but with work success comes the difficulty of work/life balance, and they are struggling to juggle their busy lives. Irene has an ace assistant in her career, and Adam invests in a Daisy AI assistant to perform the same duties in their home life.
At first, Daisy seems like a godsend. Not just a scheduling app, or a set of calendar reminders, Daisy has agency and initiative to change schedules, and introduce additional appointments. Daisy is so helpful, it becomes a necessity, something the couple would no longer be able to function without, allowing it to subtly start exerting its own influence on their actions. dAIsy explores the dangers of this, and shows in real, practical examples of how it can get out of control. When an AI is designed to look after your interests, to act to ensure your wellbeing, where are the limits? Can an algorithm determine what is best for you better than you can yourself?
The danger of allowing an artificial intelligence to integrate so comprehensively with your life, your personal details, every part of your being, is to give a whole lot of power over to something that is open to malfunction (and also to outside hacking, a real danger obviously not covered here). dAIsy, in a short period of time, efficiently portrays the dangers of that. Both the initial seduction of something so useful and easy, and how that can be harmful to a healthy, functioning lifestyle.
Using Chloe as the blueprint for their want of home help shows pretty directly how replacing human beings with an AI counterpart is not a like for like replacement. The AI proxy might seem the cheaper option, but there are no shortcuts in life. Human beings are most often the best option for any job, because they have analytical thinking, initiative, and more importantly empathy and perspective. Human beings generally have a good feel for what’s acceptable from a human emotion standpoint, and where the line is when it comes to overstepping boundaries.
Obviously dAIsy is an over-the-top, extreme fictionalisation of the dangers of integrated AI, but it is symbolic of the issues this technological leap brings with it. Whatever your feelings are on artificial intelligence, it is important to be aware of the implications. That is what dAIsy is about.
dAIsy is written by Erin Pyle and Jennifer Pyle, and directed by Erin Pyle. It stars Gina Dobson, Chris Korkalo, and Jennifer Pyle. You can watch dAIsy on YouTube, for free, below.
PODCAST – HOSTS IN THE SHELL EPISODE 66: An interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky
The latest episode of Hosts in the Shell is available now. This week, hosts Jon Richter and Matt Adcock interview Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time and Shadows of the Apt.
The Hosts in the Shell podcast is a cyberpunk podcast where Jon and Matt discuss the genre’s greatest work, often alongside a notable guest, and they have over 50 episodes available. You can find the Hosts in the Shell podcast at the link below, and all good podcast platforms.
As well as being podcasters, Jon and Matt are also authors with cyberpunk related titles amongst their novels.
You can find out more about Jon’s work here –
You can find out more about Matt’s work here –
www.completedarknessnovel.com/
CYBERSTOPIA – Discord
Cyberstopia now has a Discord server! Please join us and build a community for cyberpunk and dystopia discussion. We have sections for all the latest news, channels for discussion of The Ghost in the Shell series, as well as upcoming shows like Edgrerunners 2, Blade Runner 2099, and Neuromancer, as well as an author section with a number of cyberpunk authors talking about their work, giving updates on your current projects, etc… It’s a great place to hang out.
https://discord.gg/ETgkwzHQ5
For more of the latest news on cyberpunk and dystopia media, stay tuned to Cyberstopia here on the website, and across social media. If you have a Cyberstopian project or release, or there’s something you think we should be covering, please let us know here in the comments, on your social media platform of choice, or on the Contact page at www.cyberstopia.com
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